New Film Captures NH Poet Celia Thaxter and her Nineteenth Century Garden

Recently I saw the new short video Celia Thaxter’s Island Garden about the late nineteenth century poet Celia Thaxter (1835-1894).

During the summer she  lived on Appledore Island, located off the coast of Rye, New Hampshire. Her family owned the hotel on the island and Celia worked there for many summers.

In the garden she loved  Celia grew annuals to decorate the hotel during the summer. Her garden measured 50 feet by 15 feet.

The new video, which runs for about thirty minutes, captures the spirit of her garden, past and present.

The house went down in a fire in 1914, but volunteers have preserved Celia’s garden.  In the garden today you see the flowers in the same spot that Celia planted them. She left the details of her work in the garden in her book An Island Garden, probably her most famous book and still worth reading today.

The video uses photographs from the nineteenth century as well video of the present garden. Several interviews of volunteer gardeners appear as well.

Today the plants for the garden are started at the UNH greenhouses in Durham.

The most popular flower, and the one many people ask about, is the Scabiosa. The hop vine that Celia grew in her garden continues in the same spot.

Marigolds and Calendula were her favorite flowers, along with the blue Batchelor button.

Celia collected her seeds from friends who came to the hotel, but also from seed companies. Perhaps one of her seed sources was  the James Vick Seed Company from Rochester because she mentioned his death in a letter to a friend within weeks after his passing.  She wrote, “Old Vick has died.”

Today, as the film portrays, people visit the garden every summer from the end of June until the third week of August.  The property provides a learning environment as part of Cornell University’s  Shoals Marine Laboratory.

What astounded me was that the garden today includes every plant variety Celia details in her book. The total number planted each summer is 1600.

If you get a chance to see the video, take the opportunity and learn about one of America’s most celebrated nineteenth century gardeners.

Here is a chance for you  to check out the video.  I have included here the video’s trailer [below].  Enjoy.

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