Reviews (1)

A broad-based survey of the psychological sociological and botanical roots of landscape gardening
Plenty of books on the market survey flowers and gardening, but THE PASSIONATE GARDENER offers something different, being a handbook and memoir from a naturalist, philosopher, and poet who is as interested in the garden as a symbol as in gardening as a talent. His discourse on flowers, botanical history, and the act of planting blends literature and science with history and offers college-level readers a broad-based survey of the psychological sociological and botanical roots of landscape gardening.
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Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Gardens    6. General    7. Philosophy   

Reviews (1)

Buy this for your favorite gardener
This isn't a book that will explain why aphids are eating your roses, or why the tomoatoes are yellow---but it will tell you why a gardener cares. It would make a lovely gift for a gardener at Christmas or Hanukkah--thetime of the year when we long for a little bit of sun, or perhaps a weed topull. Simon's prose perfectly captures the essence of _why_ we garden, andthe added whimsy of the "correspondance" with Jefferson allowsher to add fascinating information about gardening andhow it has changedover the years. An excellent read on a rainy, non-gardening day ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Imaginary letters    6. Massachusetts    7. Nantucket    8. Virginia    9. Gardening / Essays   

Editorial Review

In rural Auburn, California, Shatoiya and Richard de la Tour have created an elaborate herb garden full of secret pathways and hidden rooms. Open to the public during the day, the garden has become their home, their religion, and their livelihood. "On our two and a half acres we now have ten theme gardens, three ponds, a nursery, two classrooms, a cabin for overnight students, an herb-drying shed, a chicken coop, a llama pen, and a thriving herb shop."Read more

Reviews (5)

Truly Inspiring
I number THE HERBALIST'S GARDEN among the most inspiring books I've read.This guided tour of several outstanding herb-based gardens (public, private, small, large, urban, rural, you name it) is filled with informative and charmingly written text along with gorgeous color photography, and augmented by little "boxes" that suggest ways to incorporate an idea into your own gardens, or provide neat recipes for teas and baked goods. (The peppermint brownies are especially fantastic -- and easy!) What can I say? This is my favorite herb garden book!...
Herbalist Shatoiya de la Tour, her husband, Richard, along with a very talented photographer, Saxon Holt, have produced a treasure of a book! This book takes us on a journey to visit ten exceptional herb gardens in the United States.First stop - Richard and Shatoiya's own garden which she describes as "a garden to serve the community". She shares her story of how her garden, Dry Creek Herb Farm came into being and has evolved over the years to become a refuge for herb lovers and learners across the country. Next stop is Sage Mountain, the Vermont garden of the highly respected herbalist, Rosemary Gladstar. Also spend time at Deer Run Herb Sancuary, Plimoth Plantation, Evergreen Herb Garden, the city garden of Brian Fikes and Greg Howes, Dr. Dukes "Farmette", Ravenhill Farm, Caprilands, and Saso Herb gardens. A book for witches and other magi.....
THE HERBALIST'S GARDEN is subtitled a "guided tour of 10 exceptional herb gardens" and it is just that. I don't think you could get much closer to the real thing unless you made the actual physical trip to each of these gardens. Perhaps the only drawback for me is that so many of them are on the West Coast because seeing them makes me want to SEE them. Read more

Subjects:  1. British Columbia    2. Essays    3. Garden Design    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Herb gardens    8. Herbs    9. United States    10. Vancouver Island    11. Gardening / Garden Design   

Features

• Illustrated

Subjects:  1. Gardening/Plants    2. Gardening / Horticulture    3. Floriculture    4. Flowers    5. Gardening / Flowers / Roses    6. History of specific subjects    7. ROSE CULTURE    8. Flowering Plants (Angiospermae)    9. Essays    10. Gardening   

Reviews (6)

Explores the relationships of women with their gardens
In Garden Voices: Stories Of Women And Their Gardens is a compendium of twelve stories in which Carolyn Rap explores the relationships of women with their gardens, discovering that gardens can grow a lot more than flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Susan's garden led her from breast cancer back to health. Carol finds inspiration for her watercolors. Francie's garden transports her imagination to Elizabethan England. Judy's garden nourishes her friendships. Nancy's garden (which she shares with her husband) is an ongoing experiment to learn if men and women can find common ground. Garden Voices is especially commended to the attention of gardening enthusiasts as well as Women's Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Wonderful and Inspiring
My book group chose this book and it led to a rich discussion of what gardens mean in each of our lives. It is extremely well-written and each reader related to a different story. Our group usually reads fiction, and this book offered the opportunity for a refreshing change.

Digging In The Dirt
I'm vindicated. Thanks to GARDEN VOICES, there's a story to my passion to dig in the dirt. I found myself in the gardens of the women in GARDEN VOICES...and thoroughly enjoyed their company!
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Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens    7. General    8. United States    9. Women gardeners    10. Gardening / General   

Reviews (2)

This book is one of my all time favorites
This is Ms. Norris' best book, in my opinion. I own all of her books, and by far this is my favorite.

Healing a Broken Spirit
My mother died unexpectedly in August 1995.She fell alseep and never woke up.For weeks after her death I could find no solace.My beloved garden lost all meaning to me. Several months later, in early November, I was browsing through the garden section of a bookstore I visited once or twice a year.A small hardcover book, wedged between large volumes of gardening advice and gorgeous picture books, caught my eye, and I took it down from the shelf. Its title, Journeying In Place: Reflections from a Country Garden, seemed rather long for a book of less than one hundred pages.I opened it and began reading.It is All Saints'Day, a year after the author, Gunilla Norris, found her mother dead. Sadness gripped me as I read the words that I could not utter, the words that would help me begin my journey back from grief: "The killing frost has happened both in my garden and in my life.I have lost my mother."Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardens    3. Inspirational    4. Inspirational - General    5. Meditations    6. Norris, Gunilla Brodde,    7. Prayer    8. Religion    9. Religious aspects    10. Seasons    11. Non-Classifiable    12. Norris, Gunilla Brodde   

Subjects:  1. Christianity - Christian Life - General    2. Essays    3. Faith    4. Inspirational    5. Inspirational - General    6. Religion   

Editorial Review

This posthumous offering from one of America's great garden writers is a gem of a book--not a polished one, for polish was never Mitchell's goal, but brilliant nonetheless. His writing is earthy, rich, and sometimes dark, like good compost. His topics are occasionally raw (as in onions and manure) and always lively. It's hard to write about anything for some 25 years and remain fresh, but Mitchell managed to do it. One especially wonderful piece addresses the amazing mystery of plant loss in a small garden. Where could they possibly go? Mitchell decides that neither neglect nor forgetfulness is the culprit, instead attributing the loss to Read more

Reviews (10)

Simply, the best gardening writer ever....
I had spent many years reading Henry Mitchell's gardening columns in "The Washington Post," one of the greatest joys of that particular paper, and I was crushed by his death.How exciting to find anthologies of his columns!I've tossed the old, yellowing clippings of several columns that I had kept over the years.A wonderful reading experience, and wonderful stories (i.e. the hound and the clematis). The last great collection...
Well I wish it weren't so, but this book is probably the lastcollection of essays by Henry Mitchell.It was compiled posthumously by his wife and contains the essays he did not include in his two books THE ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN and ONE MAN'S GARDEN. Although one might assume these essays are inferior, they are not, they are simply the ones he wrote after he published his two books which were collections of his essays to that point. An excellent read
This book, the third collection of gardening essays from the late Henry Mitchell, again demonstrates why he was so respected. If there were ever a garden author you would expect to find holding forth over a beer at aneighborhood bar, daring anyone to start an argument with him, it would beHenry Mitchell.A man of strong opinions on almost everything to do withgardening and life in general, his commentary is always trenchant andpithy. Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Washington Region    6. Gardening / Essays    7. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Editorial Review

In his 1990 book Read more

Reviews (1)

Exotic, beautiful, dazzling photographs of gardens
For more than thirty years Sam Abell traveled the world on assignment for National Geographic. In Seeing Gardens he has assembled 125 of his most exotic, beautiful, dazzling photographs of gardens ranging from the symmetrical, formal English garden to the haphazard, naturally harmonious rock pools, to a field of spring blossoms, to the floral design of a head scarf. Highly recommended for students of photography, gardening enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates viewing the world through an artist's lens, Seeing Gardens is a vivid, personally intense, inspiring, visual celebration of the variety, spectrum and beauty of gardens. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Garden Design    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardens    5. Photo Essays    6. Photoessays & Documentaries    7. Photography    8. Pictorial works    9. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    10. Gardening / General    11. Landscape art & architecture    12. Other prose: from c 1900 -    13. Photographic reportage   

Reviews (1)

Entertaining and informative reading.....not a "how to" book
Every year, the National Gardens Scheme Charitable Trust (www.ngs.org.uk) in the UK issues the "yellow book" listing details (dates, locations, composition of garden, entrance fee, etc.) about private gardens of England and Wales open to the public on special occasions when a sign will be posted saying "Garden Open Today." The 500+ page yellow book is a county by county guide to these gardens of "quality, character, and interest." Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Gardening / Reference    6. Gardening: plants    7. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Editorial Review

"The great problem with rules," writes Joe Eck, "is that once they are laid down people tend to obey them." In this slender book of essays about gardening, Eck's goal is less to provide diagrams and formulas about how to build a garden than to share with the more experienced gardener his philosophy of why garden in the first place and what it is that can make a garden so pleasing to the eye and the soul. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Design    2. Essays    3. Garden Design    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Gardens    8. Home Gardening    9. Landscape    10. Landscape Design And Planting   

Editorial Review

In 1976, artist, writer, and gardener Robert Dash bought 1.98 acres in the Hamptons, on the far Eastern end of Long Island. Intending a private hideaway where he could paint in peace, he created Madoo (Scottish for "my dove"), a unique and intriguing garden which after decades of his thoughtful and loving attention has now become a conservancy. Read more

Reviews (1)

A Winter's Tale
It's winter and I can't work in my garden, and I've already ordered seeds and plants for Spring. I miss gardening!Well, I discovered a really great book about gardening.It's Notes from Madoo by Robert Dash.He is a painter,author and gardener who has had a garden in eastern Long Island NY since 1967.His book is all about his experiences, what plants survived, which ones didn't, his tips and techniques. For example, he uses hand tools and no chemicals.It's not a reference book or highly technical. No pictures and no index.Mr. Dash is not preachy (he's no Martha Stewart, if you catch my drift). But it is a beautifully written, almost poetic collection of articles from a man who clearly loves gardening.And I love this book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Dash, Robert    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Homes and haunts    7. Madoo Garden (Sagaponack, N.Y.)    8. New York    9. Regional - General    10. Sagaponack    11. Gardening / Essays    12. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Reviews (5)

The mind of the gardener
What an amazing and enchanting book!So different from the run of the mill "how to".The author shares his plans, dreams, hopes, experiences with the reader. (After completing the chapter on Digging in Clay, I was so exhausted that I needed a lie down to recover.)Please can we have a sequel or at least a blog with photos and maps.I want to see it all.

A vivid memoir of the 'gardening bug' involves all
Seven years ago the author and his wife bought a country home on nine acres in upstate New York, calling it 'Ginger' and evoking in him a desire to learn about plants and gardening. Raimes grew up in England, so his instinct in this area was always there: his desire to shape a landscape proved challenging, however, and GARDENING AT GINGER: MY SEVEN-YEAR OBSESSION WITH DESIGNING AND PLANTING A PERSONAL LANDSCAPE reviews his efforts, achievements and failures alike. A vivid memoir of the 'gardening bug' involves all.
A gem
The essays and stories that make up Gardening at Ginger are about things like greenness (the color, not the movement), the author's city-born-and-bred wife's reaction to insects that get indoors (not hospitable) and where to place a bench. James Raimes' writing is by turns personable, erudite, witty and earnest, and his book goes a long way toward explaining why gardening, an activity that regularly leaves its practitioners filthy, pooped and bleeding, also makes them so happy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens    7. Home Gardening    8. New York (State)    9. Regional - Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)    10. Gardening / General   

Reviews (2)

Technical but wondrously informative
It's always a good sign to see that someone has bothered to translate a science book from another language into English.Publishers can usually get some English-language scientist to write a tome on the latest discoveries in a more commercially agreeable manner than putting together a translation.So when the translation appears you know the book is good and/or original in a distinctive way. In Praise of Hall�
[copy of my review for Amazon.co.uk]Read more

Subjects:  1. Botany    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Nature    6. Plants - General    7. Botany & plant sciences    8. Gardening / Essays    9. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Reviews (2)

a beautiful book
This book is beautiful in its layout, design, photos, but most of all in its message. It offers great tips on growing plants, and also on growing your soul. Judith Couchman is a gifted communicator and a great gardener,and a woman of strong faith. All of these gifts shine through in thiswonderful book. I recommend it.

Gorgeous delightful spiritual book
I could not resist picking this book up at the book store. And now I cannot put it down!Already I have given it to several friends as gifts (it is priced low enough to do that) and they think I'm totally brilliantbecause of my selection.I wish the author would do more on this topic. She obviously has much to offer her readers and does so with an absolutelydelightful passion for her subject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Christianity    2. Devotional    3. Essays    4. Gardeners    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardens    7. Religion    8. Religious aspects    9. Religious life    10. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (3)

Delightful
A truly delightful book about Italians, human behavior, history, travel, and gardening.The author paints a picture with her words, captures your imagination, and makes you chuckle at the unique Italian way of living.From buying land and building a house to sinister business deals, to marriage contracting, gardening fetes and disasters, this book will charm and delight you on many different levels.I enjoyed this bookso much more than "Under the Tuscan Sun."This is truly a gem of a book.

Enchanting!
I love to travel but I have never added to the sales of those memoirs of hapless outsiders who renovate a barn or farmhouse in Provence, Tuscany or Umbria. No matter how well-written, most are self-conscious narratives recycling the same ingredients: coping, making friends--and enemies--and eating well. Joan Marble's book is refreshingly different. She and her husband built rather than renovated, and in Etruria, off the touristic track; they nurtured unforgiving soil producing delights for the table. But it is the delight of armchair gardening that makes this book such a good read. There is humor and pathos in how this couple celebrate life. Highly recommended.

A Work of Great Beauty
Joan Marble has created a work of great beauty in "Notes from an Italian Garden."She has a profound knowledge of gardening and the countryside of central Italy, of Italian history and the Italians of today, and all this is reflected in her book.From my own years in Italy I can testify to the book's accuracy; far beyond that, it reflects a rare sort of felicity and civility.I want to believe that in future centuries people will come back to this book to read how two Americans led such pleasant and productive lives in the Italy of our time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Canale    2. Canale (Italy)    3. Essays    4. Europe - General    5. Europe - Italy    6. Gardening    7. Gardening / Horticulture    8. Gardens    9. Italy    10. Marble, Joan    11. Travel   

Subjects:  1. Cambridgeshire (England)    2. Country life    3. Essay    4. Essays    5. Fiction    6. Gardeners    7. Gardening    8. Gardening / Horticulture    9. Gardening/Plants    10. Home Gardening    11. Gardening / Essays    12. Other prose: from c 1900 -    13. The countryside, country life   

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Garden Design    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens    7. Ireland    8. Landscape    9. Pictorial works    10. Garden design & planning    11. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)    12. Isle of Man   

Reviews (7)

Digging Deep
This was a gift for my daughter-in-law. She told me that she really liked the book and would recommend it to anyone.

A wonderful book!
This delightful book came to me at exactly the right time. The month
A fascinating perspective on garden design
This book is not just another step by step garden design book. It is a fascinating look into the mental and psychological processes of garden design. Fran works to awaken and inspire the gardener to design a personal and unique garden that has meaning to its owner. The book is broken up into seven design stages. Fran says that these techniques can be used to unleash creativity and that gardening empowers us to go on to be successful in other parts of our lives. Each section has exercises to help us design our own gardens that are personally fulfilling to us. Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Essays    3. Garden Design    4. Gardeners    5. Gardening    6. Gardening / Horticulture    7. Gardening/Plants    8. Self-Help / Creativity   

Reviews (2)

fun book
While this isn't an all inclusive guide to japanese gardening, its a fun and inspiring read. After reading this book I set about building my own japanse style garden; and while I didn't find myself referring to it for specifics of actually building the garden - I did find myself referring to it for motivation. Egan's self-effacing sense of humour is particularly enjoyable, as he struggles with such tribulations as moving a large rock, or dealing with a leaking pond (problems that I also found myself dealing with). I would highly recommend this book to any do-it-yourselfer thinking about building a japansese style garden.
Go to Amazon dot com and get it!
Get this book if you have been suspicious about the hype surrounding the Zen of garden building or if you want a hilarious account of a brave amateur confronting the sham purity of Japanese garden design.But this is also a serious and wryly understated account of how to confront the task armed with the basic philosophy of the design of a garden and teahouse, and as well, a humorous introduction to the kind of characters you might meet if you go past the DIY stores to meet the suppliers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Design and construction    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens, Japanese    7. Japanese Garden Design And Planting    8. Japanese Gardens - General    9. Zen gardens    10. Zen influences    11. Garden design & planning    12. Gardening / Essays    13. Specialized gardening methods