Julia Skinner Memorial Lectures

"Living the Quiet and Riveting Life of a Gardener: At Home with Elizabeth Lawrence"
Emily Wilson

"Tiptoeing Through the Tulips with You: Flowers, True Love, and Popular Songs"
Michael Lasser

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  • Sunday, October 30, 2005 – 1:00 pm–3:00 pm

Emily Herring Wilson, author of Two Gardeners/Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence: A Friendship in Letters and No One Gardens Alone: A Life of Elizabeth Lawrence, will bring her vivid sense of storytelling to a presentation of the life of Lawrence, named by Horticulture magazine as one of twenty-five of the "world's best" gardeners. Emily Wilson will introduce Elizabeth Lawrence to those who do not know her already, and to add new insights for readers already familiar with her life and work.

Elizabeth Lawrence lived and gardened at 115 Park Avenue in Raleigh for more than thirty years, until she and her family moved to Charlotte in 1948. Plants from her Raleigh garden were rescued by Edith Eddleman and planted at the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Raleigh author and preservationist Catherine Bishir calls Emily's biography "beautiful" and "riveting." The New York Times calls Two Gardeners/Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence: A Friendship in Letters "one of the best gardening books in years."

Emily Wilson, who lives and gardens in Winston-Salem, is the co-author with Margaret Supplee Smith of North Carolina Women and other books, and is a frequent lecturer and workshop leader.

Two Gardeners/Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence: A Friendship in Letters and No One Gardens Alone: A Life of Elizabeth Lawrence as well as Elizabeth Lawrence's books will be for sale after the lecture.

"Tiptoeing Through the Tulips with You: Flowers, True Love, and Popular Songs"

Tracing back at least as far as the sonnets and songs of the Renaissance, flowers have played an essential role in the profession of love. They remain a richly suggestive and varied part of the familiar imagery of popular songs, where lyrics return again and again to tulips, violets, daisies, and roses. Their depiction shapes the song's emotions and attitudes. In the process, they give us insight into how popular songs reflect the beliefs, desires, and dreams of their time as they turn the familiar into the memorable.

Kevin Moss, Community Outreach Coordinator for Cornell (University) Plantations, wrote, "Michael Lasser is an engaging, astute and articulate speaker.... His presentation is at once enlightening and entertaining, amusing, and serious, light-hearted and poignant. Added to this is Michael's deep passion and enthusiasm for the subject.... Using recordings of popular tunes to illustrate his talk, he adroitly describes the ways in which popular music uses botanical references to reflect the social and emotional context of its day.... As he artfully interprets the music of the time period, he offers deep insight into the hearts and minds of the people who lived it in a way no history book can ever teach."

Cost
Free.
Registration
Advance registration is not available.
Location
Ruby C. McSwain Education Center at the JC Raulston Arboretum.
Directions
Need directions? Click here.
Parking
Free parking is available at the JC Raulston Arboretum and along Beryl Road.
Questions
Please call (919) 515-3132 for more information about this event.