Sandy Ellis

1. Tasha Tudor & Family website

Hardworking and creative are good words to describe the most resolute gardeners. Tasha Tudor was no exception. Born in August 1915 in Bostin into an elite New England family, she made a living writing and illustrating children’s books.

One illustration from her first book (Pumpkin Moonshine) was estimated to be worth $8,000-$10,000 on The Antiques Traveling Show on PBS. She illustrated and/or authored one hundred books and won prestigious awards for them. She first developed an interest in gardening at the age of 5 while visiting the garden of Alexander Graham Bell and nurtured it gardening alongside her mother.

One of Tasha’s intriguing choices was immersing herself in 1750s New England heritage. When she was 60, she asked her son to build her a home in the style of a 1750 New Hampshire farmhouse. He built it using only hand tools, according to Tasha Tudor and Family — The Woman.

She chose to live in this small cottage in New England shunning modern conveniences (electricity for one) and clothing herself in the garments of the 1750 era (bonnets, long flowing dresses and often bare footed). Here she focused her creative skills on a beautiful garden and simple life. She named her home “Corgi Cottage,” a nod to her beloved Corgi dogs which could be found trotting alongside her in the garden.

According to Kathleen Horan in Mother Earth News, Tasha’s property included a 250-acre forest. She developed 2 to 3 acres of it into gardens that include orchards and terraces of unending flowers. Her gardening style was free and wild. She denied ever drawing up a garden plan for her cottage-style garden. She terraced her land and took care of it often barefooted while tending to her goats, cats, dogs, geese, and chickens. She valued natural remedies using home grown herbs and nurtured her garden using homemade compost.

The natural beauty of her gardens is well documented in books and the gardens can be visited by appointment.

She appreciated plants with an alluring fragrance such as roses and peonies. If faced with budget limitations, she recommended large swaths of one plant for the biggest effect. Tasha valued sunsets, tea, firesides, candlelight, beautiful plants, cooking, her animals, and her family.

Tasha passed away in her beloved Corgi Cottage in 2008 at the age of 93.

Sitting in the comfort of air-conditioning, drinking Keurig coffee, typing on my PC by lights Siri turned on, I am in awe of her discipline and dedicated appreciation of a simpler life. Gardeners share a love of natural beauty and simpler times. Few have the material means, inner discipline, and knowledge to bring that vision to life. Tasha’s dedication to achieving a beautiful garden and living her life in a manner that brought her peace and accomplishment is inspiring and hints to inner strength and clarity.

Perhaps I should give up Siri. It is a start.