How Naturalist John Burroughs Inspired His Neighbor Frances Parsons to Write “How to Know the Wildflowers”

June 10, 1952

On this day, gardener and nature writer Frances Parsons died.

When researching Frances Parsons, I discovered that her childhood neighbor was John Burroughs. 

John inspired her to write her wildflower book.

John had been featured in a magazine article, and he'd said,

"One of these days, someone will give us a handbook of our flowers." 

John even laid out how to organize the book. He said,

"We shall have a list of all our flowers  - arranged according to color,  with the place of growth, and the time of blooming." 

Fanny was off to the races; she wrote her wildflower book, a model for all other gardening books after hers. 

Here are a few excerpts: 

Of the Columbine, Fanny wrote:

There is a daring loveliness which stamps it on the memories of even those who are not ordinarily minute observers."

Of Wildflowers, she wrote:

Their lovely constellations make a little heaven on earth of the grassy places that have been brown and bare for months. They touch the heartstrings in much the same way as the early notes of the robin.

and

The pleasure of a walk in the woods and the fields is enhanced a hundredfold by some little knowledge of the flowers we meet at every turn.