Women Who Shaped Garden History
Margery Fish championed the English cottage garden at a time when modernism was dominant. At East Lambrook Manor in Somerset, she created a garden that celebrated traditional plants and informal planting, and her books — particularly We Made a Garden — are regarded as classics of garden literature.
Fish came to gardening relatively late, after marrying Walter Fish in 1937 and moving to East Lambrook Manor. Her first book, We Made a Garden (1956), is a frank and often humorous account of the couple's struggles to create a garden together. Walter, a former newspaper editor, favored tidiness and straight lines; Margery preferred abundance and informality. The book became a beloved classic and helped define the cottage garden as a valid and desirable style.
Fish was a tireless collector of traditional cottage garden plants, many of which were falling out of cultivation in the post-war period. She sought out old varieties, propagated them, and shared them through her nursery at East Lambrook. Her garden became a living reference collection of hardy perennials, ground covers, and old-fashioned plants. She wrote several more books on specific plant groups and gardening topics.