Writing the Garden

White Garden, Sissinghurst. Photo: ©National Trust Images/Annaick Guitten

Throughout history, gardeners have been compelled to put pen to paper to capture the beauty, seasonal changes and quiet philosophy of their plots. Claire Masset’s new book, Garden Voices: A Year of Gardeners’ Writing, brings together some of the best of these musings—through letters, diary entries, and articles—in a unique anthology organized around the calendar year. Readers are transported across time and place to enjoy rare horticultural glimpses from both world-famous gardeners and lesser-known—though no less inspiring—garden writers. 

Claire Masset will explore a selection of these voices, from artists Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Van Gogh to writer-gardeners Celia Thaxter, Derek Jarman and Vita Sackville-West. Accompanied by carefully selected paintings and photographs, the talk will offer insights into their lives, thoughts, and achievements, revealing gardens not only as places of beauty, but as powerful sources of artistic and personal expression.

CLAIRE MASSET is a Franco-British author, journalist, and publisher. Her previous books include the best-selling Secret Gardens, Cottage Gardens, and Buckingham Palace: A Royal Garden. She is also the author of Why We Garden, which offers unique insights into our universal motives for garden-making, and draws on the wisdom and experience of artists and writers such as Claude Monet, George Orwell, William Morris, Vita Sackville-West, and Virginia Woolf. Her journalism has appeared in Country Life, Homes & Antiques, Gardens Illustrated, Art Quarterly, and The English Garden. Born and raised in France, she now lives in rural Oxfordshire.