News at Eleven: "The people of Amherst who were the friends

of Emily Dickinson and her family often received these poems, these short poems with presents of flowers or food," [Gregory] Long says. "They knew her as a poet because of these. Because nothing was really published in her life, or very, very little. So they found the poems, of course, very eccentric."

In fact, Dickinson was better known as a gardener than as a poet.

from NPR: A Flowering Tribute To Emily Dickinson
also The Washington Post: Emily Dickinson's poetry blooms at New York Botanical Garden exhibit
also The Washington Post: Emily Dickinson blossoms at the New York Botanical Garden

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