Henry Mitchell on Gardening and Life

Site compiled by David Neumeyer, with generous assistance from Virginia Mitchell, Nicholas Weber, and, through Mrs. Mitchell, the Washington Post and Frances Tenenbaum of Houghton Mifflin. The table of contents for THE ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN was reproduced here by permission of Indiana University Press. Additional information on permissions may be found at Publication and copyright details.
Email: David Neumeyer
Personal home page of David and Laura Neumeyer

Go to:

File created 31 December 2004. Links were effective as of that day. Last updated 15 March 2005.

Henry Mitchell remains a unique voice in English-language garden writing. As Allen Lacy puts it in his introduction to HENRY MITCHELL ON GARDENING, "Mitchell was the best garden writer in America, but he was more than that. He was a master essayist, with such a highly distinctive voice and style that his newspaper pieces didn't really need a byline. Two or three sentences were sufficient to make it clear that Mitchell had written them." Other writers and reviewers have called him gardener, journalist, and philosopher, all in one.

Here are the bare outlines of his life, as provided in Lacy's introduction:

And here is the final paragraph of his last newspaper column, published a few days before he died. In this column, Mitchell records his thoughts for us as he walks about his own garden and front walk on a November day. Appropriately for his temperament and message, his last subject is not one of the rarities about which he knew a great deal, but the ubiquitous Dutch crocus:

Among friends and acquaintances was the plantsman who supplied several of Mitchell's roses: Nicholas (Nick) Weber of Heritage Rosarium. Mr. Weber recalls that Mitchell "was so genuine, and such a gentleman that he always put me and most others at ease. Cherished memories of those meetings help renew me in my growth as a gardener. I think that Henry Mitchell believed like Jefferson that he may be old yet he was a young gardener. Henry was always trying something new."

Weber also recalls that "Christmas time was always special with Henry. His columns around that time of year suggested practical things for the gardener, but items of particular interest or 'need' that would fit a niche still unattended such as a couple of flagstones that would be fitting for a path or a load of manure to spread after the new year. Times like this -- sharing a gift with Henry during the holidays while sipping his favorite strong Louisiana coffee in the living room with Ginny, a small fire, and his dogs -- made about as nice a day as one would ever want. I cherish those visits as much as poking through his garden looking for the plant that he had just written about on a Sunday in July near the brass dog." The brass dog appears in one of Weber's slides (see the "Photo" section below).

I have built four gardens now, over a period of twenty eight years. In all but the first of them, the guidance and wisdom in Henry Mitchell's essays have played a major role. As fanatical a rosarian as Mitchell was an iris lover, I have taken much longer than he to temper that intensity with a realistic view of the rose's weaknesses as a landscape plant (as I was fond of saying a decade ago, "I no longer grow roses -- I have only two dozen"). Now, finally, in my latest garden roses are one element, but nothing more: sages, rosemaries, crape myrtles, buddleias, and others are given as much attention as the china and tea roses. I have no modern roses at all, except for Griffith Buck's Prairie Princess, which struggles a bit in this southern latitude, and Mitchell's own Ginny (see "The Rose Arches" below for more on this rose). With three exceptions, all my current plants come from The Antique Rose Emporium.

Overall, my attitude toward Mitchell's writings, which I have re-read many times over the years, has the same double aspect that Deborah Needleman describes (Needleman essay). On the one hand, "I learned many things from Henry, such as the lesson of dividing up a small space to make it seem bigger; the importance of small bodies of water in a garden; and how to nurture tender plants through the winter. But mostly I learned to get over myself." In part, this is because Mitchell "was one of the few garden writers to admit that misery is a major operating principle in the life of the gardener, which is one 'of unexpected failures and sorrows, somewhat redeemed by unexpected and utterly accidental triumphs.' Devastating winds, early frosts, late frosts, killing storms, bad luck, bad timing, and general human stupidity are the norm." If he was "probably the smartest, funniest, most literate American garden writer," still, like Needleman, "I read and reread him mostly for self-help, as if he were a sort of garden shrink. I read not as much for how to do this or that in the garden as for how to be a better gardening person." Or, one might simply say, better person.

Publications:

Four books by Mitchell have been published: two during his lifetime, and two since. All remain available for purchase. The books are compilations of columns and essays originally published in the Washington Post.

The publishers of Henry Mitchell's books are listed below. For detailed publication and copyright information, go to Publication and copyright details.

                 

Contents:

Return to top

Photographs of Mitchell's Garden:

These photos are slides taken by Nicholas Weber, who has graciously provided them and given me permission to post copies. Since Weber is a rosarian, it is not surprising that images of roses predominate, but there are a few general views and images of garden statuary that will be familiar to Mitchell's readers. Note: The graphic files are stored on another server and may not load as quickly as expected.

Return to top

Quotations from Mitchell's books:

Many individual quotations appear on internet sites. If you are looking for quotations and want to reduce the number of hits in a search, try using: "henry mitchell" garden writer. Or, even narrower: "henry mitchell" garden writer late. The terms "wrote" "great" and "beloved" may also help.

Return to top

Related links:

A few other garden links:

Return to top

For permissions information, go to Publication and copyright details. The compilations and all original material on this site, including its associated pages, are copyright David Neumeyer 2004. All rights reserved.