The craft and dedication of gardening and writing

A Facebook post by musician, Mississippian, and one-time Wyomingite Jason Burge caused me to go on a tour of writers' gardens. Jason showed a little envelope of zinnia seeds from Eudora Welty's garden. His aunt sent them. What a gift. It caused me to seek out Welty's garden. The Eudora Welty House & Garden is located in Jackson, Miss. It's the house where Welty grew up and wrote her stories. I've read her "One Writer's Beginnings" more than once. I read some of her stories in high school but they hardly made a dent in my consciousness. I've read others since and now I know what kind of craft goes into them. I also know the craft and dedication that goes into a garden. It takes time. You may plant something today that you may never see. Others will.

The web site says this:

Conversations with Welty, her photographs, and her mother’s detailed garden journals guide our historic restoration. Welty asked that the garden not be turned into something it wasn’t, explaining it was never a show garden -- merely a work of love, typical of its time.

A work of love. There is a 20-minute audio tour of the garden here. In it, Susan Haltom leads the tour and Welty’s niece Mary Alice Welty White reads author’s excerpts. Interesting to note that Haltom refers to each section as “garden rooms” which I assume is a Southern expression as I’ve never heard it Out West. We hear from Welty’s stories and novels including “A Garden of Green,” “The Robber Bridegroom,” and “The Optimist’s Daughter.” I’ve never read these stories but I will and notice the sections that call out roses and camellias and many other growing things in Welty’s garden. I don’t know how many writers’ homes feature gardens. I recall a fine one on the Thurber House grounds in Columbus. I know Flannery O’Connor’s house in Georgia features a big garden as well as peacocks. There should be a national garden tour of writers’ homes. Is there?