In 1906, Beatrix Potter acquired a farmhouse in the Lake District of England. A few months earlier, her fiancé, Norman Warne, had died, so she threw herself into working in her garden at Hill Top, as she attempted to deal with her grief.
Her new house and garden became incorporated into her stories about the famous characters in her books, such as Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tabitha Twitchet, that still delight children today.
She had half an acre around her Lake District cottage and delighted in the plants that her neighbors gave to her: roses, hollyhocks, and phlox, and the fruit trees and vegetables growing in an informal way among the flowers. She blended the practical with the beautiful. There was a long flower-edged path leading up to the house, and she described her gardening style as higgledy-piggledy. Both Beatrix and her garden were utterly unpretentious.
In time, she married a lawyer who lived nearby, and they eventually acquired many acres of land that they left to the National Trust to be preserved as it is, unspoiled forever.
In Bloomington, Indiana, we have a lovely garden on the Indiana University campus, created by Professor Barbara Shaluca, who named it after Beatrix's famous garden in England. It offers wonderful programs for both children and adults to learn about plants.
This is Moya Andrews and today we focused on Hill Top.
