Reviews (20)

Lawn Mowinget al
Pollans description of what is a green thumb and the sysiphean art of mowing reminded me how therapeutic gardening can be and why it cures depression. Thank you Michael for making me look at my roses in a totally different way.You will love this book if you tend to think in pictures and love the art and hard work of gardening.

For the virtual gardener
I picked up this book when I didn't have my own dirt to get my hands into, and I was hoping to garden vicariously through Pollan's essays.
grass is overrated.
This was probably the first book I read that dealt with relations to nature on a practical and philosophical level.I'm not sure if Pollan counts as a philosopher, but the views he presents are very accessible and bring a lot into question.
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Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Flowers - General    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. General    7. Horticulture (General)    8. Life Sciences - Biology - General    9. Philosophy Of Biology   

Reviews (5)

AMystic's, From Mystic, Mystical Garden

Drink of Water for the Soul
In our increasingly fast-paced, outwardly focussed culture of immediate gratification, Norris' book calms and refreshes like a drink of water for the soul. She reminds us that every visible blossom has deep and hidden roots that followed their own natural rhythms to produce the splendor that we call Spring.She calms the anxiety by reminding us that all good things take time. Her writing touches the universal heart and is as exquisite in its focus and simplicity as it is profound in depth. A must read for anyone ready to marry intention with action to create a meaningful life.

magical and poetic
Gunilla Norris is a truly gifted writer.She has a unique way of understranding the world and an equally unique way of communicating that understanding in her books.She savors everyday events and turns them into poetry.She asks us to take the time to appreciate the process of cultivating and nurturing a garden while being mindful of the kind of hard work that goes into creating its beautiful bounty. The parallel to life is clear.This book is a real treasure! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art Therapy    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Gardens    6. General    7. Horticulture (General)    8. Inspirational    9. Inspirational - General    10. Meditation    11. Meditations    12. Religious aspects    13. Seasons    14. Spiritual    15. Religion / Inspirational   

Reviews (5)

Is a plant a material object, or a conscious life form?
This is anexquisite cheerful presentation of a book
Treelicious!!!!
This is a moving, and a very informative book.Previously I never gave thought to Nature and saw it as a mere adjunct to us and not as an integral part of Creation. The humans have dominion over nature and so we have the right to lord over it. This is a very unbalanced viewpoint and this book shows that nature too has a consciousness and must be considered to lead a fulfilling life.This little volume is truly marvellous buy it, It is well worth your time and money.

wonderful words of wisdom, a must read for all
Talks with Trees was recommended to me by a friend and I am so grateful she told me about it.I found it to be an amazing little book. Talks with Trees is funny, sweet and extremely enjoyable.I will read this book many times and recommend it to all. It is filled with wonderful messages and wisdom that will inspire you and enhance your daily life. Keep an open mind and an open heart and enjoy. Read Talks with Trees to enrich your life and the life that surrounds us each day. Thank you Leslie Cabarga for this truly incredible book! I hope there is another to follow. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. General    3. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    4. New Age / Parapsychology    5. Gardening    6. Horticulture    7. New Age    8. Spirituality    9. channeling    10. devas    11. trees   

Reviews (6)

A visual treat, a true delight
I purchased this book when I was in Art college over ten years ago. Sara abilility to capture her interest with her illustrative talent is amazing . It is definately the most interesting book I ever read without seeing typesetting, but with her beautifully hand painted type.

Enchanting book of exquisite watercolors and garden wisdom!
What an enchantingly beautiful book! This is one of my favorite books, and I love giving it as a gift to gentle souls. If you like gardens, watercolor paintings, and calligraphy, you will love this beautifully bound book thatis filled with Sara Midda's exquisite watercolors. Each page is a miniaturepainting of breathtaking intricacy and delicacy celebratingthe myriadforms of gardens, flowers, vegetables, and herbs in which we delight. Thebook is filled with boundless garden wisdom, recipes, and poems, allcharmingly set forth in Sara Midda's beautiful calligraphy. You have to seethis book to know how beautiful and inspirational a gem it is!

An escape route from hustle and bustle day.
I've gone through this book again and again.I think whoever like calligraphy, water color painting and gardening would love this book.Although it's quite difficult to concentrate on the attennuated of watercolor written content. But it strongly inspires me to grasp by brushes andcalligrpahy pens again. It becomes one of my possessive books and alwaysadded in my bag wherever I go since then. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening/Plants    4. General    5. Photography    6. Gardening / Essays    7. Works by individual poets: from c 1900 -   

Subjects:  1. Christianity    2. Devotional    3. Essays    4. Gardens    5. Landscape Horticulture    6. Meditations    7. Religion    8. Religion - Inspirational/Spirituality    9. Religious aspects    10. Spiritual Healing    11. Spirituality - General   

Reviews (1)

An Abundance of Garden Dreams!
Rare is the gardening book where I actually read the text instead of just gazing at the photos.This highly readable resource first caught my eye in the bookstore just by its title - I am a student of the "say yes to abundance" way of spirituality and I am grateful I said "yes" to this book!Its tone is not a bit hoity-toity like some of its ilk, and it offers a very approachable, manageable, yet dramatic method of banishing any signs of visible dirt from your flower gardens.Although I have been gardening for 20+ years, when I moved into a newly constructed house with unconstructed garden space two years ago, I made the mistake of buying hundreds of plants in a frenzy just to fill the spaces.Currently I am left with a haphazard melee of my own design (or lack of design) and now I need to put some fundamental order into the chaos.This book is going to be a close companion for me this summer.And the photographs - wow, I made myself take two days just to look at them all when the book arrived because I simply did not want the experience to end.There are chapters on gardens for cut flowers and romantic cottage venues.Other chapters provide ideas on how to use architecture, water features, and garden-related implements in the plantings.Each chapter visits a specific garden and gives insight into each owner's personality as manifested in their creations.And the captions of each photo are actually useful; they identify plants while at the same time explaining methods involved to create the look.I highly recommend this book for any flower gardener.It's already a favorite for me! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Garden Design    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens    7. Landscape gardening    8. Gardening / Garden Design   

Editorial Review

There is no question that gardening inspires creativity and playfulness. A full measure of both is captured in this book on garden accessories. Giant bronze frogs standing erect and playing the sax and cello, sunflowers sporting hats, fence posts sprouting gloves, and a bench with undulating serpent arms are just a few of the compelling images captured in the many color photographs.Read more

Reviews (1)

Garden Whimsey
Beautiful pictures of smatterings of whimsical art in gardens. Tasteful and fun. A winner! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Garden Design    3. Garden Furnishings    4. Garden ornaments and furniture    5. Gardening    6. Gardening / Horticulture    7. Gardening/Plants    8. Home Gardening    9. Pictorial works    10. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (2)

Abook to cherish
This book is worth twice what the publisher is charging!A sensitive and carefully chosen compilation of observations on everything to do with gardening from design to detailed horticulture over the last two thousand years that anyone with the faintest interest in the outdoors will treasure.The essays are just as good as the illustrations and that's saying alot!

A Consistent 2,000 years
This is a delightful book is a combination of beautiful photographs combined with writings that go back to about the time of Christ. There are all types of gardens from the formal English country manor house and the gardens surrounding a Frech Chateau that were designed in 1656. There are gardens that are almost jungles and desert landscapes with lots of rocks. There are beautiful gardens with ponds, streams and pools, and an article that says, 'Don't Build a Water Garden' (unless you have lots of money).
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Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Design    3. Essays    4. Garden Design    5. Gardening    6. Gardening / Horticulture    7. Gardening/Plants    8. Gardens    9. Horticulture (General)    10. Landscape    11. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (4)

The Studs Terkel of Gardening
In the early 1970's Studs Terkel traveled across the country interviewing people about their work, and eventually compiled the interviews into the book Working. In the early 2000's, Patricia Klindienst took a similar approach, traveling around the USA to interview ethnic gardeners, immigrants who maintain their cultural identity through their connection to the earth.
I wanted more
I would have purchased this book even if I did not know some of the people and places in this book.Patricia's material and writing are inspirational not just for gardeners but for anyone who is interested in where their food originates.The diversity of the gardens and gardeners made me realize again, the necessity of supporting our local growers. My only complaint is that I wanted more and found myself rationing my chapters.Hopefully there will be a sequel to include the gardens she omitted. I strongly recommend this book. Makes a great gift.

Will interest not only gardeners, but any intrigued by immigrant history and cross-cultural encounters
THE EARTH KNOWS MY NAME: FOOD, CULTURE, AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE GARDENS OF ETHNIC AMERICANS isn't just from a single gardener's perspective: master gardener Patricia Klindienst traveled across the country for three years to write this, gathering stories of urban and rural gardens from American gardeners whose immigrant roots reflect their gardening choices. Hers combines a history of how immigrant Americans grew food and transmitted cultural background in the process, with chapters blending their oral stories with such background. It's a wide-ranging title which will interest not only gardeners, but any intrigued by immigrant history and cross-cultural encounters.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Essays    3. Ethnic groups    4. Farmers    5. Gardeners    6. Gardening    7. Gardening / Horticulture    8. Gardening/Plants    9. General    10. Interviews    11. United States    12. Gardening / General   

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. 20th century    6. Biography: general    7. England    8. Garden design & planning    9. c 1800 to c 1900   

Features

• Special Edition

Reviews (7)

An Island Garden
This book is well-written and has beautiful color illustrations by Childe Hassam.It will appeal to gardeners especially, and also bird-lovers and those who are smitten with the coast of Maine.It comes in a slipcase, with an attractive gold-embossed cover and an introduction by Tasha Tudor.

Allen Lacey wrote the intro - Not Tasha Tudor
Sorry folks, Tasha Tudor didn't write the introduction to this fine book.Allen Lacey wrote it. That doesn't detract from the book, but it does correct the listing above. An absolutely wonderful book!
In the closing years of the Nineteenth Century, Celia Thaxter (1835-94) lived on Appledore, one of the Isles of Shoal off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Contemplating the lovely garden that she had created there, she decided to write down her thoughts and share them with us. Taking the form of a yearlong calendar, she walks us through her experiences in her garden, as she tends it and protects it throughout the year.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1835-1894    2. Appledore Island    3. Celia Thaxter's Garden (Appled    4. Celia Thaxter's Garden (Appledore Island, Me.)    5. Essays    6. Gardening    7. Gardening / Horticulture    8. Gardening/Plants    9. Gardens    10. General    11. Maine    12. Thaxter, Celia,    13. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (10)

An Eye-Opener for Every Food Consumer
Keith Stewart gently prods us, especially those of us who live in urban areas,to become acutely aware of every bit of food we choose to eat:how it is grown, where, by whom, at what heavy physical and financial cost to the farmer and to society.The book is an engrossing essay about the author's difficult journey from being an unfulfilled middle aged city-dweller to becoming someone in touch with the acres he feels privileged to tend. Woven into the narrative is much wisdom about the choices we as consumers and as a nation have made (hugh subsidies to agribusiness that encourage production of unhealthy food heavily reliant on petrochemical fertilizers).
This book changed my life
This simple, beautiful story describes with perfect eloquence our elemental relationship with the planet by way of the food we eat. This book changed my life. If everyone read this book, we'd live in a much better world. It's wise and delicious from cover to cover.

food for thought
A truly delightful read. Written with great care and concern for the world in which we live, Mr. Stewart has given all of us, and not only New Yorkers, a real taste for a different way of life and not necessarily a simpler one.
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Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography    3. Essays    4. Farmers    5. Gardening    6. Gardening / Horticulture    7. Gardening/Plants    8. New York (State)    9. Orange County    10. Organic    11. Organic Gardening    12. Organic farming    13. Regional - Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)    14. Truck farming    15. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (12)

Charming, Engaging Read
The first volume of a trilogy about the author's time at Merry Hall, this book is more humorous garden writing than strict autobiography. We know (primarily from the dust jacket) that Beverley Nichols was a widely-travelled journalist and prolific author, but aside from the occasional mention that he needs to keep working (hard) to pay the (very high) bills, Nichols doesn't mention his life outside of Merry Hall or, more specifically, its garden.
Welcome Haven inTurbulent Times
This book is so wonderful.I only allowed myself to read small amounts at a time because I didn't want it to end!Beverly Nichols transports you into a live of civility, manners, tranquility and politeness.He is a gentleman in every sense of the word. This marvelous novel refreshes your faith in the fact that there are good people in the world ( at least fictionally ) and that there is still a higher standard of living incorporated within some households.
passing the torch
Just as Trollope passed the literary torch to Angela Thirkell, so did E. F. Benson pass his to this good fellow!Mr. Nichols' trilogy about Merry Hall is so entertaining, even though at times he comes across as a bit "twee".As you get to know him and his neighbors through the books, you come to realize that yes, some things are more important in your own blinkered surroundings than in the big wide world.I would recommend these books to anyone who loves gardening (on a grand scale), gossip, and the minutiae of life. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1899-    2. 20th century    3. Authors, English    4. Biography    5. England    6. Essays    7. Gardeners    8. Gardening    9. Gardening / Horticulture    10. Gardening/Plants    11. Homes and haunts    12. Nichols, Beverley,    13. Surrey    14. Gardening / Reference    15. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)    16. Nichols, Beverley   

Editorial Review

Diane Ackerman relishes the world of her garden. As a poet, she finds within it an endless field of metaphors. As a naturalist, she notices each small, miraculous detail: the hummingbirds and their routines, the showy tulips, the crazy yellow forsythia. Of visiting deer she writes, "I love watching the deer, which always arrive like magic or a miracle or the answer to an unasked question."Read more

Reviews (23)

not what I was looking for
In an earlier book, Ms. Ackerman congratulates herself on being open to experience more than most people. In light of this, I found that in this book she is too self-absorbed in herself (ironic for someone who does at times describe the natural world so beautifully) and too enamored of her ability to write prose.
brilliant, meditative, poetic and charming
i checked this book out from the library during the drab winter months of oregon, and i was so enraptured with it that i kept it for 3 weeks, reading it as slowly as possible, savoring every page.it's on my list of books to buy for myself, as well.i thought her writing was fluid and descriptive.i thoroughly enjoyed meandering along with her through her garden and through her life.i imagine her garden must be incredible.i'm no book reviewer, but i can say this: i haven't read any of ackerman's other books (yet), but this one is spectacular.

a gardener's deligh
I read this book from the library and then bought it for myself because it is definitely a re-reading book. I have read it several times now and it amazes me every time.The depth of knowledge and the decriptions of her plants along with the distractions of her life are interesting, engaging and wonderful to read. Diane is one of my favorite authors but this book combines her scientific wordy writing style with one of my loves - plants and gardening. I read it when I'm sad and it reminds me of the wonders in the world and in my yard and neighborhood.I envy her spending so much time in her garden. I highly recommend it to plant people who like to read books besides the plant manuals that tell you how to grow things, enjoying the plants is the ultimate pleasure. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening / Horticulture    3. Gardens    4. General    5. Natural history    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Gardening    9. Nature / General   

Reviews (4)

The Painted Garden
Very simple book. Easy to understand. Would recommend this book for the beginning watercolorist.

Exquisite
I received this book as a gift for Christmas and I look at it every day.This is a "must" purchase for anyone who has any interest in a garden of any type.It is wonderful to enjoy lounging in the bathtub, while sipping a cup of tea or just enjoying some quiet time.Give this as a gift to your best friend.Better, get this as a gift to yourself.You deserve this beautiful book.

ThePainted Garden A Year in Words and Watercolors
This is a MUST have beautiful, as well as enchanting journal to read!I purchased it for two reasons.I have begun a watercolor class and this book is full of beautiful pictures. So I can try for some similar resultsafter I practice, practice, practice. Secondly, after visiting Gloria, afriend with a georgeous flower garden, I want to start my own small flowergarden.This book is full of names of flowers along with their pictures,so I can determine what I like most and where it will grow.Already mygardening and painting friend, Gloria has purchased this book after onlyglancing through my copy. Now I would like to purchase other titles by MaryWoodin.I have discovered she was also into ceramics, as I am intopottery, maybe we are kindred spirits. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. General    6. Sale Books   

Reviews (6)

A deftly amusing celebration of a widely beloved hobby and the people who embrace it
Garden Lunacy: A Growing Concern is an utterly irreverent gardening book. Not intended as an instructional about raising plants or gardens (though the astute reader will acquire many tips on what not to do!), Garden Lunacy offers sharp-tongued wit and humor about the unique manner in which gardeners see the universe: plants first, humans last. Eccentric, covetous, even compulsive gardener traits are explored with a wink and a smile, sure to sound a sympathetic chuckle in plant lovers everywhere. A deftly amusing celebration of a widely beloved hobby and the people who embrace it.
Gardeners: Their Lunacy Revealed
As a non-gardener who hates plants (all they do is give me allergic reactions!) and has no interest in gardening, I was as eager to read this book as most youngsters are to eat their vegetables.But I gave it a try, and what a pleasant surprise!
Laughing through the pages
It's been a long time since a book made me laugh out loud and this book does it over and over again.I found myself reading it aloud to my husband so that he would understand why I was giggling while reading a book on gardening.You don't have to even like plants to love this book.Art Wolk is the Dave Barry of the garden. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Form - Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Humor    7. Flower shows    8. Anecdotes   

Reviews (11)

A little corner to sit, observe and rest....
I have the 1977 version and I think it is far better than the recent one. It's lovely to follow the months day by day, learning facts about trees, flowers, insecs. The artwork she drew is enchanting.....
Lovely elegant book
I borrowed this book from the library and fell in love with the delicate watercolors of plant and animal life, the occasional quotes from poetry, and the rare observations about the weather, etc.Then the book went out of print but it has returned and remains a treasure on my bookshelf, a book I will not lend out to anyone lest it not come home again.A resonant reminder that there is so much going on if only the train would break down and leave us free to walk a while.

Edith's Life & Work
I became drawn to the work and life of Edith Holden after I saw the TV series that was made of her life. I became very intrigued and even bought and read the Ina Taylor biography. Her bizarre and mysterious death intrigued me almost as much as her life. Although there was no sign of struggle, and the inquest ruled her death an accident, I'm not entirely convinced that Edith died accidentally. I'm somewhat convinced that she may have committed suicide. Even if she couldn't swim, it's hard to believe that a woman can drown in 4 feet of water that close to shore unless she did it intentionally. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Essays    3. Europe - Great Britain - General    4. Gardening    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Historical - British    7. Women    8. Gardening / Essays    9. NATURE - NATURE WRITNG TRD HC   

Reviews (3)

very pleasant
This is a lovely book. It gives a lot of garden advice, just between the lines.
delightful reading
A wonderful narrative about this man's first garden in England in 1932 and his various experiences with it and the people around him.A rare combination of eloquent writing and down to earth humor left me chucklingthroughout the book.Wonderful language and very entertaining.Besidesthe charming style, there is real gardening information to satisfy theplant-person. I got it at the library, and am here to buy it for my mother,whowill love the tongue in cheek, English humor.Wouldrecommend it asa feel-good book to curl up with, with your cup of tea!

bautifully written,so very english
Nothing much happens in Beverly Nichols book.No sex, no crimes, just the miracle of growth,of life in a cottage garden.A witty,charming book that makes you look at your own garden with different eyes. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1899-    2. 20th century    3. Authors, English    4. Biography    5. Cambridgeshire    6. Cambridgeshire (England)    7. England    8. Essays    9. Gardening    10. Gardening / Horticulture    11. Gardening/Plants    12. Homes and haunts    13. Nichols, Beverley,    14. Gardening / Essays    15. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Editorial Review

A few years back, escaping the sound and fury of New York, Richard Goodman moved to a small southern French farming town he calls by the alias St. Sebastian de Caisson, everything about which "suggests the uneventful, and the eternal." There Goodman found a tiny plot of streamside land and set about raising a copious vegetable garden, about as uneventful an event as a seasoned New Yorker is likely to experience. He writes lovingly of tilling the soil and watching his lettuce, tomatoes, and leeks spring from the ground, but at heart his book is about the generous people he met during his stay and what they have to say about life on the land. Armchair travelers, gardeners, and small-scale farmers alike will enjoy his charming memoir. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

French Dirt - inspiring
I really loved this book.It made me laugh out loud.It made me tear up.It made me want to get my hands dirty.

Oooo la la
What a lovely visit to France.I enjoyed Goodman's honest appraoch to this book.It was like having a conversation.As a fairly advid gardener myself, I especially enjoyed the discussion of his garden.The people he encounters seem quite genuine and true to nature.Sometimes, it's inspiring to live in a foreign land--- even if for just a handful of hours.

Skillfully written and heartfelt,...
Skillfully written and heartfelt, I found Richard Goodman'sRead more

Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Essays    3. Essays & Travelogues    4. Europe - France    5. France    6. France, Southern    7. General    8. Goodman, Richard,    9. Travel    10. Travel - General    11. Vegetable gardening    12. Gardening    13. Travel / Essays & Travelogues    14. Travel writing   

Reviews (1)

A Blessing of Toads
I have collected an entire gardening library so besotted am I with this gender of reading and gardening. This book is a treasure! Clearly the best reflection on nature in your garden I have ever had the pleasure to read. Amusing and full of directions and advise this book should never be put away but left out to consult and muse over. Get it and give it! You cannot miss!! Susan ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Essays    3. Garden animals    4. Gardening    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens    7. General    8. Home Gardening    9. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    10. Lovejoy, Sharon,    11. Science    12. Gardening / General    13. SPORTS - NAUTICAL TRD HC    14. Sale Books