Cynthia Westcott

Cynthia Westcott (June 29, 1898 – March 22, 1983) was an American plant pathologist, rose expert, journalist, and author of seven books. She was elected in 1938 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was named in 1982 to the Garden Communicators International Hall of Fame.

Quotes

Raspberry Horntail, Hartigia cressoni (Kirby). One of the stem sawflies, a western species, injuring young shoots of blackberry, loganberry, raspberry, and rose. Bright yellow-and-black females appear in April and May to insert eggs with a curved point under epidermis of tender tips of host plants.
- The Gardener's Bug Book (3rd ed.). Doubleday. 1964. p. 235. (625 pages; 1st edition 1946; 2nd edition 1952)

Dogs sometimes disturb roses by burying their bones too near the roots, but in general rose thorns provide adequate self-protection.
- Anyone Can Grow Roses: The Plant Doctor's Rose Book (2nd ed.). Van Nostrand. 1954. p. 124. (159 pages; 1st edition 1952)

Our new headquarters were at the laboratory at Lyngby, outside of Copenhagen, right next to King Christian's summer palace. He was always going out alone on horseback by our building and I always just missed seeing him.
- Plant Doctoring is Fun. Van Nostrand. 1957. p. 36. (280 pages)

Hand pick the snails where you can and use slug bait. A barrier of lime on the soil around trees will keep snails away.
smuts
Smuts are named for their sooty black spore mass. They are important on grains and grasses, not too common on ornamentals. Corn and onion smuts appear in backyard gardens.
- Garden Enemies. New York: Van Nostrand. 1953. p. 144. (261 pages; 1st part of quote; last part of quote)

Thrips are tiny insects with rasping-sucking mouthparts, gradual metamorphosis. They feed by macerating surface layers of plant cells and sucking up the juices. They belong to the order Thysanoptera ...
- p. 149

In 1933, Dr. Westcott bought a garden in Glen Ridge, N.J., as a laboratory. She described it as "equipped with all the common plant diseases." Home studies and experiments with plant problems led to a career as a plant doctor, and for many years, she tended gardens in the New York area.
The first of her seven books,The Plant Doctor, published in 1937, was based on her experiences. She wrote on rose growing, plant diseases and pests.
The Gardener's Bug Book appeared in 1946 and is undergoing its fifth revision. Dr. Westcott was a contributor to many publications. During World War II, she lectured on pest control for victory gardens. Dr. Westcott was known for her annual Rose Day Open Houses for hundreds of visitors at her gardens in Glen Ridge and, later, at her retirement home in Springvale in Croton-on-Hudson.
- Joan Lee Faust, (March 24, 1983) "Dr. Cynthia Westcott: Rose Expert and Pathologist". The New York Times: p. 10, Section B.