Features

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Reviews (1)

Wide Ranging and Authoritative
I have an extensive library of gardening and landscaping books and this wonderful book is one of the best for how to incorporate flowering plants effectively into your garden whether it be natural or formal.The carefully chosen photographs illustrate points in the text and show garden situations achievable by the average gardener.The A to Z guide of selected plants for the flower garden review more than seven hundred plants, many not often contained in such complilations or in such usable detail, but all are obtainable with an little search.It is a shame Flower Gardens is no longer in print, but Amazon was able to locate a pristine copy for me within two weeks. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Flowers - General    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants   

Editorial Review

This anthology edited by novelist Jamaica Kincaid is a fascinatingly quirky compilation of writings about plants by the people who love them. Some are exceedingly practical--Ken Druse's essay "Desire Under the Jacks" gives you all the information you need to grow Read more

Reviews (3)

Ringworm?And gardening?Not quite getting this!
I was very pleased with this book, which is why I went out and bought the other Jamaica Kincaid gardening related book. A glowing "diary" by famous authors and prominent gardeners.
Every gardener has a favorite plant and is anxious to share plants and stories with others. Some of these essays are filled with technical information, others are lyrical musings on the esthetic of plants. Eitherway, this is a book to cuddle up with and to cherish.It's also a perfectspecial occasion gift for other gardeners.

uneven in level of interest to the average gardener
Overall, the gardeners who wrote about their favorite plants were more interesting to read than most of the other authors. The selection that dealt with ringworm was especially out of place (what on earth did THAThave to do with plants?). The essay on plant collecting was great, though,and Tony Avent's short essay on hostas almost makes me like them. Almost.And you have to like a book that has an essay on Meconopsis. I likedexactly 50% of this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Authors    3. Essays    4. Flowers    5. Gardeners    6. Gardening    7. Gardening / Horticulture    8. Gardening/Plants    9. General    10. Horticulture (General)   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American fiction    3. Anthologies (multiple authors)    4. English fiction    5. Fiction    6. Fiction - General    7. Gardens    8. Prose    9. Short Stories (Anthologies)    10. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (1)

Dated, but of interest to garden historians...
E. A. Bowles book, MY GARDEN IN SUMMER, is part of a several part series of books he wrote describing his garden at Myddelton England during his tenure in the early part of the 20th Century. Read more

Subjects:  1. (Edward Augustus)    2. Bowles, E. A    3. England    4. English Garden Design And Planting    5. Essays    6. Flowers - General    7. Gardening    8. Gardening / Horticulture    9. Gardening/Plants    10. General    11. Homes and haunts    12. London    13. Myddelton House Garden (Enfiel    14. Myddelton House Garden (Enfield, London, England)    15. Plants, Ornamental    16. Summer    17. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Reviews (1)

Gravetye Manor revisited....
The late Henry Mitchell, noted garden columnist for the Washington Post, said every gardener should own a few classic garden books and he included William Robinson's books on his short list. He frequently cited Robinson, and but for Mitchell, or Elizabeth Lawrence who referred to him from time to time, I am not sure I would have ever discovered Robinson. After all, what can an old guy writing in the last century possibly have to say that I would find useful, relevant or even interesting?Well, as it turns out quite a lot. Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. General    6. Great Britain    7. Wild flower gardening    8. Wild flowers    9. Garden design & planning    10. Gardening: plants   

Reviews (1)

A garden of earthly delights.
A wonderfully perverse book on gardening, focusing on the more fecund aspects of horticulture.Not quite sure if Lucan and Gray are fictitious or real, but it doesn't really matter, as this book abounds in allegorical delights, as the two attempt to design a garden in the decadent spirits of the past on a large English estate.Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening / Horticulture    3. Literary Criticism    4. Gardening   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (5)

Great Reading After a Long Day in Garden
I love to garden.I can't get enough.But when there's too much sun or too much rain, I usually pass my time reading a good book.Recently, I came upon "Gardening in Eden" by this young author from my own home state.What a pleasure.Get a copy and read it after a long day in your garden.You'll find yourself appreciating your garden 10 times more!

A Gem of a Book for the Gardener in Everyone!
As an amateur gardener myself, Mr. Vanderbilt's book hit home with me.From going to the local nursery to the smell of freshly mowed grass to the lonliness of winter this book expresses the multitude of emotions gardeners experience throughout the year.A very delightful book!This is one book that will be reread by.

Winter Tonic for the Gardener
I read Arthur T. Vanderbilt's book, "Gardening in Eden" as a nor'easter raged outside, blasting our house with a vile wintry mix, and his book brought inside the wonderfully soothing world of the garden in all seasons.With a roaring fire and a hot cup of tea, it was the perfect way to forget the storm and to remember how much fun it is to work outside.Now, I can't wait to get out there again! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Flowers - General    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Landscape gardening    7. Large type books    8. Fiction   

Subjects:  1. Calendars    2. Diaries (Blank-books)    3. Essays    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Home Gardening   

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Gardening / Essays   

Reviews (3)

Innovative methods for conservation and beautification using native plants.
I have lived in Phoenix for 25 years. I have a large lot and little success in landscaping. If it looked good it took too much time to maintain and my water bills were sky high. What to do? After 6 weeks in a wheelchair and an irrigation failure I happened on Scott Calhoun's book. He has so many new and practical ideas that will produce a good looking landscape and not be a slave to it. Living in Tucson, he is very savvy about conserving water more than we are in Phoenix. He talks about harvesting water and grading a property to better direct rainfall to planting beds. New ideas for me. I am really quite excited about the opportunities that I recognize now from reading this book.
Excellent Desert Landscaping Adventure
Scott takes us on a very personal journey from the building of his home through the design and planting of his garden in the Sonoran desert of Tucson, Arizona.The book is packed with marvelous photos of the house and garden plants, flowers and trees that comprise his little domestic world.The photo quality and color rendition are quite excellent and provide ample evidence of the remarkable variety of plant hues that are made possible by the magical combination of water and brilliant southern Arizona sunshine. Those unfamiliar with this kind of environment will be surprised by the extraordinary palette of color that Scott has lovingly created.He also takes great pride in showing that his award-winning garden, featured in SUNSET and HORTICULTURE magazines,is not an east-coast transplant, but an authentic representation of his region.
Yard Full of Sun is personal and interstingand fun to read.
I thoroughly enjoyed Yard Full of Sun, renegade horticulturist Scott Calhoun's humorous and detailed account of the creation of his family's Arizona home and garden. Mr. Calhoun's funny anecdotes about the challenges of adobe home construction and his startlingly honest observations of married life enhance, but do not obscure the wealth of fascinating information he has compiled about drought-resistant plants, garden design, and water conservation. The author's authentic voice and the rich details he includes make me want to drink Tecate under the Mesquite tree in the Calhouns' backyard and eat tacos at their favorite tire repair shop. The glorious photographs provide endless ideas for the design and decoration of outdoor living spaces, and the useful appendices should prove invaluable to novice and experienced desert gardeners alike. Perhaps what I enjoyed the most, however, was the candid and sincere manner in which Scott Calhoun shares the excitement and beauty, as well as the disagreements and discoouragement one encounters when a dream is pursued with passion. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Arizona    3. Calhoun, Scott    4. Essays    5. Garden Design    6. Gardeners    7. Gardening    8. Gardening / Horticulture    9. General    10. Homes and haunts    11. Tucson   

Reviews (1)

Beautiful - & lots of good information too
A really lovely book - but not just photos. There's lots of good solid gardening info here too. I particularly appreciate the bloom-time schedules for the spring - I never can keep those different tulip types straight! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Garden Design    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Gardens    7. General    8. Landscape gardening    9. Seasons    10. United States    11. Gardening / General   

Reviews (2)

a wonderful wonderful book
I've worked for years in the extensive gardens of children's book author/illustrator Tomie dePaola (26 FAIRMOUNT AVENUE and other books).This book has helped me appreciate what I do and has helped me"see" the value and the beauty in plants and shrubs and colors,etc., that I never before saw or understood.It's a wonderful book.

A 12 Month Delight
Never did I expect to be so conflicted about why I love a book.This one has it all.Such a beautifully written love story about a garden and the shared lives oftwo people who have a vision and the courage to create atruly great landscape.The sheer volume of information about specificplants and how they are used are invaluable to me.To have all thisknowledge presented in such a beautifully written book is such a gift. I've already read it twice.I've had my copy of this book for two yearsnow and it wouldn't surprise me if I picked it up for a fresh readingsometime this winter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Eck, Joe    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Homes and haunts    7. Vermont    8. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)    9. USA    10. Winterrowd, Wayne   

Reviews (2)

Entertaining and Enlightening Read
Professor DeLorme writes like she lectures; with incredible amounts of fascinating information and anecdotes that reveal a wealth of information on pavillions, and how they played a role in the French Court.Her lively tone makes for a very enjoyable read on a fascinating subject, and the book is as visually beautiful as one could expect.If you can't see her lecture in person, this book is the next best thing.

the definite work in the field
Professer Delorme is a recognized authority in french decorative arts.This sumptuous work trulytransposes the reader to another world . The text and illustrations are truly enlightening. I highly recommend this workfor all library reference collections as well as art history students andcollectors. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 18th century    2. Architecture    3. Architecture Of Specific Structures    4. Essays    5. France    6. Garden Design    7. Garden structures    8. Gardening / Horticulture    9. Gardens    10. History    11. Landscape    12. Pavilions    13. Garden design & planning    14. Palaces, chateaux, country houses   

Reviews (3)

Garden Inspiration
Gardeners who have seen all the usual garden designs--the shade garden, the cottage garden, the water garden, etc.--will find lots of new inspiration in this book. Experienced gardeners will take the ideas and fly with them; there's practical advice here, too, and novice gardeners who need more information on specific plants or creating a garden can find it readily in any of the standard gardening books. Lovers of great literature will gain another dimension to some of their favorite excerpts, and might find a new book to read among the excerpts. And if you are an artist who loves to paint gardens, there is enough descriptive material here to keep you inspired for a long, long time!

Gardening Fluff
While the literary passages are well chosen and of considerable interest, the experienced gardener will find most of the so called "practical gardening ideas" mostly fluff, and sometimes inaccurate. In short: a very good idea, poorly executed.

an inspiration!
It may just be the sorry patches of snow lingering in my yard and garden, but this delightful book makes me itch to get outside and garden.It also makes me itch to catch up on some long overdue reading of people like Willa Cather and Thomas Wolfe and others.The book doesn't try to be an AHS or Taylor's volume; it just lets the literary image of a garden speak eloquently for itself, and then offers a few ideas to take up in your own backyard.With sweet illustrations, an all around lovely idea for a book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Essays    3. Garden Design    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Landscape    8. Gardening / General   

Subjects:  1. Design    2. Essays    3. Garden Design    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Gardens    8. History    9. Landscape    10. Landscape Design And Planting    11. Landscape architecture    12. Moody Gardens (Galveston, Tex    13. Styles   

Reviews (2)

turning lawn into life
Rebeccasreads recommends APPRENTICE TO A GARDEN as a meticulously detailed record of the author's four years of transforming the lawns around her first home in Minnesota.
Simply delightful and thoughtful narrative
I just loved this book!Hadden expresses her joys and challenges as she converts a barren, St. Paul city lot into a lush, semi-private garden.Along the way she learns which plants thrive in her environment and which ones don't. She also discovers an abundance of wildlife which slowly migrate to her yard.As the garden progresses, Hadden develops her own theories about gardening, ecology, nature's balance and even her neighbors as she tils her little plot of land in the city.Truely a delightful read which will inspire any gardener, novice to experienced - it all begins with a dream.... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Gardens    6. General    7. Life Sciences - Ecology    8. Minnesota    9. Plymouth    10. Gardening / General    11. Essays   

Reviews (3)

Oh, those wacky gardeners!I think I'm going to be sick....
Not the book to get if you're seeking to learn much about composting.Sure, there are some tidbits but overall the info presented is the basic stuff available free in pamphlets at garden stores, via internet, libraries, municipal fliers, etc., such as ratio of greens to browns. More than just compost
You could read this book just for the fun of it. Or you could read it to get a thorough grounding in all the current basic reduce, re-use, recycle wisdom. A lot more than compost
You could read this book just for the fun of it. Or you could read it to get a thorough grounding in all the current basic reduce, re-use, recycle wisdom.Read more

Subjects:  1. Agriculture - Agronomy    2. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    3. Essays    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. General    8. Gardening / General   

Reviews (2)

Magic is in your garden, if you know where and how to look
I ordered this little book on a whim (the beautiful artwork on the cover first attracted me)and it turned out to be a treasure. Usually a fast reader, I made myself read only one story a day to make it last longer.Gardening is hard work and when you are feeling up to your ears in bugs andweeds, it helps to share the delights of a fellow gardener who also knowshow hard it all is but who can remind you why you do it - for the specialjoy of watching the flowers bloom at last and the animals play in yourlittle piece of paradise. I had a wonderful time imagining myself in hisgarden and I think I will be a bit more sensitive to the happenings in myown garden in the future. This would make a great gift for birthday, getwell, etc.

If you like Brambly Hedge, you will like this one.
It is possible to live the kind of life you want, but first, you must knowwhat you want, decide how you are going to get there, and then do it.Thisman did just that, and this book describes what he found. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Country life    2. Essays    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. General    7. Netherlands    8. Agriculture & Farming    9. American history    10. Blajan, Daniel    11. USA   

Reviews (9)

Never too late
The librarian at Skene Library in Fleishmanns, NY foisted this book upon me as I had missed Dean Riddle's personal appearance and reading.I politely took it home.I started to skim read and three hours later had finished the book and made a list of pages to return to for information.This book is a jewel of a read and a must for any Catskill gardener.I have had a "failed garden" for ten years in the Felishmanns area.I used to be a good gardener. Not in the Catskills! Mr Riddle provides a virtual how to manual for my next year's garden. But beyond the practical, it is a delightful, fast paced, funny read.

Best Book to Read in the Garden with a Cup of Coffee Award
Out of all the gardening books I've purchased for our public library in the last four years, I would recommend Dean Riddle's book first and foremost to our readers as a balm to the soul, an inspiration to gardeners everywhere, and a plain old good read. The focus of the book is informative yet personal: it is the story of one man's coming of age in the garden, his connection with the strange and often-ignored vibrancy of the horticultural world, and hisjoyous appreciation of people, plants, dirt, sticks, old glassware, fried eggs, and just about everything else. Passionate About Gardening
I am really enjoying this book.I am not done yet, but I have already started looking at my garden differenly.I am thinking about getting some more garden books to help me improve my garden.This book is whimsical and delightful.The author writes with a wonderful style.I hope that he is allowed to stay at his rented bungalow forever.My only complaint is the books that Amazon suggests you should get if you enjoyed this book.They all seem to be about being Gay.This book is so much more than a book about a man coming out of the closet.I think anyone would like this book straight or gay. Have to go and stroll in my garden. Enjoy the book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Gardening    3. Gardening / Horticulture    4. Gardening/Plants    5. Gay Studies    6. General    7. Mauldin    8. Mauldin (S.C.)    9. Naturalists & Gardeners    10. Naturalists, Gardeners, Environmentalists    11. Riddle, Dean    12. South Carolina   

Subjects:  1. England    2. English Garden Design And Planting    3. Essays    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Gardens    8. History    9. Landscape    10. Reference    11. Styles    12. Literary Collections / General