The Magic Garden

A Sylvan Grove Public Library copy of Gene Stratton-Porter's The Magic Garden last due to the library on October 23, 1959 made it to my hands recently. Published in 1926 (two years after Stratton-Porter had died, according to her wikipedia article) the book reminded me of an awkward cross between Sabrina (the rich people on Long Island movies, not the teenage witch) and The Pilgrim's Progress. Romantic, moralistic, high-handed and far-fetched, I first thought The Magic Garden was an excellent choice purely as a foil for the near-contemporary The Blue Castle, which seems incredibly modern and well-crafted by comparison. Two days after reading it, however, while I still think that it has issues (lots of them), I've found myself picking it up, re-reading pieces and crying over characters, so it can't be all bad. Of course, the first hint that it wasn't all bad was that the garden scenes are botanically correct and Stratton-Porter isn't afraid to use "calyx" and "syringa:" in a children's book. The author, it turns out, was also an acclaimed naturalist with her own wetland preserve.

While nothing like the garden of the title, I found the pictured woodland to be magically brimming with mountain laurel when the Mister and I hiked through last weekend.