Bea Howe

JL moved a little away from gardening with the first book she was able to turn her mind to writing after her husband died: The Lady's Country Companion: or How to Enjoy a Country Life...

The Ladies' Companion to the Flower-Garden: Being an alphabetical arrangement of all the ornamental plants usually grown in gardens and shrubberies; with full directions for their culture is a systematically-ordered reference book, small but important...

For Sylvia: An Honest Account, VA 's confessional memoir, was finally published by Chatto and Windus , after the deaths of both Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner , with a foreword by Bea Howe .

Bea Howe valued Bulbous Plants for its enchanting colour plates, including some depicting species which have been lost since to cultivators.

Howe called the Companion a mine of clear-cut and well arranged plant-and-flower information. On discovering it she became an ardent fan of Jane Loudon, whose writing she found rich in wise advice and lucid instructions.

JL was quickly forgotten by the literary world, and memory of her practical work was submerged in that of her husband. A few writers on gardening continued to voice their admiration: William Robinson in 1869...