Louisa Boyd Yeomans King
| Louisa Boyd Yeomans King | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Louisa Boyd Yeomans October 17, 1863 Washington, New Jersey |
| Died | January 16, 1948 (aged 84) |
| Resting place | Kingstree, South Hartford, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Mrs. Francis King, Louisa Yeomans King |
| Occupation | writer |
| Spouse(s) | Francis King |
Louisa Boyd Yeomans King (October 17, 1863 – January 16, 1948) was an American gardener and author who became a leading advocate of gardening and horticulture, especially in connection with the garden club movement. She wrote on horticultural topics as Mrs. Francis King.
Louisa Yeomans was born on 17 October 1863 in Washington, New Jersey, the third of five children of Alfred and Elizabeth Blythe (Ramsay) Yeomans. Her father was a Presbyterian minister. She received secondary education from private schools in New Jersey and so far as is known did not go on to college.
On 28 June 1890, she married a wealthy Chicago man, Francis King (1862–1927), and moved to Elmhurst, Illinois, near the home of Francis's parents. The couple had three children, Elizabeth, Henry W., and Frances. Francis's parents were Henry W. and Aurelia King. The senior Kings lived at an estate called Wilder Park, which they had inherited from wealthy businessman Seth Wadhams, who had originally named it White Birch. Louisa's mother-in-law was a skilled gardener, having cultivated 200 varieties of herbs, flowers, plants, and fruit trees, and her library was well-stocked with books on horticulture. Under the instruction and encouragement of the elder Mrs. King, Louisa King developed both an academic interest in the study of plants as well as a practical enjoyment of the hands-on work of gardening: amending soils, pruning, and controlling pests.
In 1902, as a result of poor health, Francis King moved to a sanitarium in Alma, Michigan. The couple built a home called Orchard House, and Louisa King began to create gardens there, with the assistance of gardener Frank Ackney. In the planning of her garden, Louisa King was influenced by the then-popular books Elizabeth and Her German Garden (1898), by Elizabeth von Arnim, and A Woman's Hardy Garden (1903), by Helena Rutherfurd Ely. The garden at Orchard House would later feature in a number of her writings.
Louisa King quickly rose to prominence as a lecturer, author, and organizer of garden clubs. By 1910, she was contributing articles to magazines such as Garden Magazine, House Beautiful, Saturday Evening Post, Garden Life, and Country Life. For three years, starting in 1922, she wrote a monthly gardening column for House Beautiful.
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