Love of gardening blossoms into a book

By Kalen McCain
Posted 6/11/20

Beth Cody has fallen in love with gardens.

Her mother, a botanist, sowed the seeds of understanding early on, but Cody had neither space nor interest to plant her own gardens until moving to the …

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Love of gardening blossoms into a book

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Beth Cody has fallen in love with gardens.

Her mother, a botanist, sowed the seeds of understanding early on, but Cody had neither space nor interest to plant her own gardens until moving to the countryside between Kalona and Iowa City 12 years ago.

Before her passion grew, however, Cody was initially interested in the artistic appeal of gardening books rather than the activity itself. Garden photography is a genre of its own, with immense artistic talent required both to plant in a visually interesting way, and to capture that beauty in a photograph.

“I started reading garden books and thought, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool, I better actually do some gardening,’” Cody said. “It was the opposite of normal people who want to garden and then buy books.”

Since that initial spark of interest, Cody has built a beautiful garden of her own on her five-acre property north of Kalona and converted her porch into an insulated sunroom to accommodate even more plants.

Her collection of books has blossomed alongside her love of gardening, growing piece by piece at book sales and stores, expanding gradually during her decade of experience.

Among the home library’s categories of garden history, techniques and photography, Cody’s personal supply of garden literature is 700 books strong. Despite the vast knowledge within that collection, Cody said she noticed a sizable gap missing from the material.

“In all of these garden history books, they have these beautiful pictures of gardens but never was there any pictures of Iowa gardens,” she said. “I thought, ‘Well, surely there must be some, it must just be because we were overlooked, not that there weren’t any,’ so I started looking around.”

Her instincts were right.

Despite its lack of national spotlight, the state has an intimate history with the art of cultivation, featuring a plethora of ornamental and functional designs, plus the unique phenomenon of radio stations owned by seed companies.

After five years of extensive research and editing, Cody self-published her own book, “Iowa Gardens of the Past.” The 320-page book about the history of gardening in Iowa covers both famous and obscure gardeners and their work across the state from 1850-1980 in an effort to fill the gap in existing garden history literature.

“I thought I would have to have a traditional publisher, but then I realized it’s become a lot more inexpensive to print overseas, even though I did want a full color hardcover book,” Cody said. “I ended up laying out the whole book myself and then ordering a 1,000 copies from overseas.”

Although it’s a substantial part of her life, gardening is not all of it. Cody owns A-1 Uniforms on the Coralville strip and lives with her husband and two children, whom she homeschools. She said she had little trouble maintaining life-work-garden balance, despite the competing demands for her attention.

“You know, I only do it when I enjoy it,” she said. “When something comes up or I have to go to work, that comes first, of course.” She said the book served as a winter hobby, a necessary commodity for any gardener.

While many of the state’s landmark gardens have faded into memory, a few historical gardens exist today, such as the Brucemore Historic Estate in Cedar Rapids and the historic Musser-McColm home in Muscatine.

For others, their beauty was not maintained in life, but on film. Many historical gardens were preserved in photographs and illustrations which Cody compiled from a litany of magazines, newspapers, postcards and road atlases. She hopes her work will keep such gardens from fading into the past.

The research process was daunting and took Cody four years, by her count. She used historical archives like the State Historical Library in Iowa City and a variety of public domain sources, as well as extensive hunts through eBay for private photos she could buy rights to print.

She used a variety of internet resources to research the gardeners and photographers behind those photos.

Following her research and collection, Cody spent another year editing and navigating the publishing process.

“It was really interesting, I almost didn’t want to wrap it up and continue on,” Cody said.

Copies of the book may be purchased from its website at IowaGardens.com.