1. Home
  2. Travel
  3. Greece Travel

"Making a Garden on a Greek Hillside"

By , About.com Guide

Making A Garden Greek Hillside book

An enchanting book for anyone who loves Greece and its plants.

Courtesy of Denise Harvey, Publisher
Readers who enjoyed "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "A Year in Provence" will delight in this book filled with the glow of Greek light and life.

Faced with a barren, goat-ravaged Greek hillside, amateur botanist and British expatriate Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt decided something needed to be done. And she did it, using both native and imported plants to create a thriving garden.

Her account of the life of her garden and how it intersects with traditional Greek country life through the months of the year is enchanting.

"I am just back from the first day of the Yannkou family's trigos or grape harvest and this is probably as good a day as any to begin to describe the garden year in Greece..." the book opens. With Tyrwhitt's keen eye for detail, infused with a never-failing joy in plants, Greece, and the people who tie them together, it is true that any day is a good day.

Not that Tyrwhitt is a saint. She proves herself capable of veering off the straight and narrow garden path when a shipment of imported roses faces impounding by the Greek authorities and she has to employ some artful strategy to save a rosebush endangered by government bureaucracy.

The section on "Horta" which closes the book describes what native plants go into the popular Greek salad. If you've yearned for the taste of true horta at home, you may not have far to look for the ingredients, many of which, such as the Malva silvestris grow wild in many places around the world.

Two decades after Tyrwhitt's passing, her garden on the slopes of Mount Hymettus in Attica still thrives under the watchful eye of the Mediterranean Garden Society, and can be visited by prior arrangement through the society. Called "Sparoza" or "Hill of the Sparrows", the garden is open to private individuals only; they have no desire to become a tour bus stop.

The Mediterranean Garden Society in Greece offers many garden- and plant-related events for members throughout the year. "Making A Garden on a Greek Hillside" can be ordered from Denise Harvey, Publisher, Katounia, 340 05 Limni, Evia, Greece. Tel. +30 222 7031154. Email: denise@teledomenet.gr.

Plan Your Own Trip to Greece

Find & Compare Discount Flights to Athens

Find & Compare Discount Rental Cars in Athens

Find & Compare Rates on Hotels in Athens and throughout Greece and the Greek Islands

Book your Own Day Trips Around Athens

Book your Own Short Trips Around Greece

Some of The Best Greek Islands

Temple-crowned Aegina - Natural Alonissos - Traditional Carpathos - Chewy Chios - Cos, The Doctors' Island - Queenly Crete - Dignified Delos - Do it all on Donoussa - Hydra, Artist's Island - Odysseus' Ithaca - Kalokairi "Mamma Mia" Island - Spongy Kalymnos - Aphrodite's Kythira - Lesvos, More than Sappho - Lovely Leros - Mighty Mykonos - Paros Paradise - Pirate Islands - Pastoral Patmos - Volcanic Santorini - Sexy Skopelos - The Dreamy Small Cyclades - Easy Spetses - Symi Summers - Very Greek Syros - Honeyed Thassos - Tilos, Island of Elephants

Explore Greece Travel
About.com Special Features

Holiday Central

What to eat, where to go, fun things to do and how to save money on the perfect gifts. More >

Hot Winter Travel Deals

Check out these tips on finding the best airfare, hotel rates and cruise deals. More >

  1. Home
  2. Travel
  3. Greece Travel

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.