Emily Dickinson’s Fabulous Gardens Are Being Resurrected
The poet had more than 400 plants in her collection
Emily Dickinson is most widely known for her poetry, but she was also a lifelong gardener. And now, after many years of dormancy, her gardens, orchard and greenhouse are being coaxed back into bloom by the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Mass.
“Dickinson’s two chief vocations were inextricable: Her passion for all things botanical is essential for a complete understanding of her personality, spirituality and verse,” writes Ferris Jabr for The New York Times.
The museum has been slowly restoring the grounds of her estate, he reports. This spring, they planted a grove of apples and pear varieties grown in the Dickinson family orchard. Dickinson’s greenhouse is also being rebuilt and re-populated, while archaeologists are excavating her gardens.
There’s plenty to keep them busy; Dickinson eventually amassed more than 400 plants.
