Eleanor Spencer Stone Perényi (1918–2009) was an American writer, editor, and gardener known for her literary works and insightful reflections on horticulture. Her writings blended personal experience with historical and cultural analysis, earning recognition across multiple genres.
Born in Washington, D.C., Perényi was the daughter of novelist Grace Zaring Stone and U.S. Navy officer Ellis S. Stone. She married Hungarian nobleman Baron Zsigmond Perényi and lived in Hungary until World War II disrupted their lives. Her experiences inspired More Was Lost (1946,) a memoir recounting her marriage and the war’s impact on rural Hungary.
Perényi later edited Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, contributing essays on literature and gardening. Her most celebrated work, Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden (1981,) remains a classic in garden writing.
She also wrote The Bright Sword (1955,) a Civil War novel, and Liszt: The Artist as Romantic Hero (1974,) a biography of Franz Liszt, nominated for a National Book Award.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Eleanor Perenyi
It takes a while to grasp that not all failures are self-imposed, the result of ignorance, carelessness or inexperience. It takes a while to grasp that a garden isn’t a testing ground for character and to stop asking, what did I do wrong? Maybe nothing.
—Eleanor Perenyi
Topics: Gardening, Self Respect
To garden is to let optimism get the better of judgment.
—Eleanor Perenyi
Topics: Gardening, One liners
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