“How many kinds of sweet flowers
grow in an English Country Garden? We’ll tell you now of some that we know.
Those we miss, you’ll surely pardon. Daffodils, heart’s ease and phlox, gentian,
lupine and tall hollyhocks, meadowsweet and lady smocks, roses, foxgloves,
snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots. In an English Country Garden.” – Lyrics by
Jimmie Rodgers.
This was one of my favorite children’s
songs.
The opening scene in my next
release, a Regency, takes place in the heroine’s enclosed garden, so naturally I
want to have one on the cover.
As you can tell from my research
pictures, there are many flowers growing in an English garden. Too many for a
book cover. As beautiful as those flowers are, they can’t compete with the
subjects.
You’ll notice that the gardens of
great estates were quite formal, laid out with precision and detail. The
country garden, however, were less formal. The flowers seem artlessly placed,
as if they’d just sprung up where nature put them. Nothing could be further
from the truth, though.
I know. My mother had such a garden
with meandering paths. Pansies, phlox and lilies competed with each other in
front of azalea, bride’s wreath, and roses. Some places were sparse, others
crowded. Flowering shrubs and small trees were allowed to spread out. They
provided wonderful hiding places for a little girl to play house.
Of all these English garden pictures,
which would you say I should choose for my book cover?
Comment on any post through Apr 16 to win a copy
of Bonnie Leon’s Return to the Misty
Shore.
