The Plant-Lore & Garden-Craft of Shakespeare

Shakespeare wrote in a world where every flower carried meaning. The violet signified faithfulness, the pansy spoke of lovers' thoughts, the willow mourned forsaken love. Ellacombe uncovers this botanical intelligence embedded in the plays and sonnets, examining every plant Shakespeare ever mentioned and revealing what those references meant to his original audience. Each entry offers the relevant quotation in context, explores the cultural and symbolic weight the plant held in Elizabethan England, and provides practical advice for growing it in your own garden. The result is a book that bridges two worlds: rigorous literary scholarship and hands-on horticultural knowledge. Dozens of engravings illustrate the plants themselves, while full-page scenes transport you to Shakespeare's Avon. For anyone who has ever wondered why Ophelia Distributed flowers, or what Juliet meant by "that which we call a rose," this book unlocks a richer way of reading the greatest dramatist in the English language.