Karel Capek & "The Gardener's Year"

I mentioned in my last post that I came across several books that I had not read before while I was reorganizing my library.  One of them was a tiny volume titled "The Gardener's Year" by Czechoslovakian writer Karel Capek. I cannot remember where I found the book but I was vaguely familiar with it. It is considered a classic in horticulture literature. 

Before I get to the book, I wanted to share some information about the author.

Karel Capek (1890-1938) was a writer, playwright, critic and journalist. His works cover a wide variety of genres, but he was best known for his political journalism and his sci-fic/utopian works, particularly the play "R.U.R." (1921) and the novel "War With The Newts" (1936). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times but never received one.

Capek received a Doctorate of Philosophy in 1915 from Charles University in Prague. He then began his writing career as a journalist along with his brother Josef. He and Josef were close and would work together as a team on many projects. Politically, Capek was an out-spoken anti-fascist and warned his readers about the threats of Nazism and fascist dictatorships. He developed close relationships with political leaders and they would meet for weekly garden parties at Capek's home. As the Nazis came to power, Capek would be labeled "public enemy number two" (not exactly sure what that means and could not find a definition).

Karel and his brother Josef Capek (Photo: Novinky.cz)

In 1921, Capek published "R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)", a play about a scientist who invents human-like machines. The word "robot" was coined by Capek's brother Josef. The play was a big success and is still performed today. (The American premiere featured a young Spencer Tracy in his first stage role in which he played one of the robots).

In 1933, Capek published the now children's classic"Dashenka, The Life of a Puppy" which was inspired by his beloved fox terrier. You can read more about the book here.

Capek and Dashenka (Photo: Radio Prague International)

 

After a fifteen-year friendship, Capek married actress and writer Olga Scheinpflugova in 1935. She was his inspiration for the heroine in his novel "Krakatit" (1923).  Capek suffered from a genetic spinal disease called spondyloarthritis. Three years later, on Christmas day 1938, Capek would die in a hospital from pneumonia.

A few months after his death, Hitler's Gestapo agents appeared at his residence to arrest him, not knowing that he had died. Instead, they arrested Olga and his brother Josef. Olga was later released but sadly, Josef was sent to a concentration camp where he would die in 1945. Olga died in 1968 when she suffered a heart attack while performing in Capek's play "Mother". 

Capek with his wife, Olga Scheinpflugova (Photo: Radio Prague International)

Capek's literary output was prolific. In addition to the political and science-fiction writings mentioned earlier, he also wrote travel books, detective stories, biographies, fairy tales and.... one gardening title.

"The Gardener's Year" was published in 1929. It is a charming, whimsical and humorous little book, a quick read but one that resonates. The chapters take us through each month of the year, and it is apparent that gardeners throughout the world, whether here or in Czechoslavakia, deal with the same issues - fretting about the weather, coveting plants, wrestling with hoses, etc. 

Equally appealing are the drawings that illustrate the book. They were made by brother Josef Capek. The style is greatly reminiscent of James Thurber, so much so that I wondered who might have influenced who. 

I chose this page with an illustration because I love this passage. I have often thought how wonderful it would be if I could fly or float above the borders and especially our laurel hedge with pruning shears or hedge trimmers in hand.

My favorite chapter in the book and the one I think was the funniest is the one for August. In it, he writes about the turmoil gardeners go through when they must leave their gardens to go on vacations. He gives an example of a man who decides to take a vacation in August when not much is going on in the garden. He asks a friend if he would watch over it and come by "every three or four days to water and so forth", stressing the fact that there isn't much to do - "five minutes will be enough, just a glance around..." The friend accepts but then begins to receive daily letters -

Day 1 - "I forgot to tell you that the garden must be watered every day, the best times for doing it are five in the morning and towards seven in the evening...

Day 2 - "It is frightfully dry, will you give every rhododendron about two buckets of tepid water, and each conifer five buckets, and other trees four buckets?..."

Day 3 - "I forgot to tell you that the lawn must be cut; you can do it easily with the mower, and what the mower does not take, you can cut with clippers. But beware! After mowing, the grass must be raked, and afterwards swept with a sweeper!..."

And so it continues on to the point where he is sending him cuttings and rootings of plants that he had collected and asking him to pot them up for him. It is all too funny.

I found a few photos of Capek's home and garden today -

The house is now a museum and is open to the public (from what I gather, it seems that it is only open periodically but I could not find a clear answer to this) -

Photo: PKC Archive

Judging from this photo that I found on Trip Advisor, it appears that the garden could use some renovation. Again, there wasn't much information to go on. Perhaps it is restored now -

Photo: Trip Advisor

And finally, a photo of a young Capek sitting in his garden -

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy