Food Flowers Medicine
Writers share gifts of the garden in a collection of personal essays. In "Origins and Ra(t)velations" a new home owner receives wisdom from the unlikeliest of guests to her garden. A woman makes discoveries tending the garden of an elder in "A Year in Sissy's Garden." A self-described "reluctant gardener" learns about nature from her rescue dogs. A woman visits botanical gardens close to home and around the world, finding them places of joy throughout her life. A praying mantis named Babycakes becomes a magnificent companion and teacher. In "Mein Apfelbaum" a beloved apple tree provides a sense of belonging from childhood and into adolescence and adulthood. Discover the magic of these and other personal reflections on the garden in this spirited essay collection from contemporary writers.
Plants with Purpose
Many gardeners in the southwest are perfectly satisfied with beautiful, ornamental plants and cultivate lush lawns despite the environmental consequences of doing so. Other gardeners, however, have moved to embrace pollinator plants that provide resources to bees and butterflies. And some have embraced the xeriscape approach, which uses indigenous plant life to minimize the need for water. But this is just the beginning. Plants with Purpose speaks to gardeners who are mindful of the environmental impact of traditional ornamental plants and offers twenty-five alternative plantings that are beautiful, viable, and functional. Whether edible, therapeutic, medicinal, or attractive to pollinators, the plants in this collection provide a pathway to a more environmentally sustainable and functional garden and landscape. From agarita (for jelly and tarts) to wild garlic (edible greens), this selection of plants is curated specifically for warm climates and are beneficial to the larger ecosystem. In addition to history and description, each plant entry provides basic information and care tips such as plant type, light/water/soil needs, size, bloom and time, fruit, and availability. Many entries contain recipes, tea ideas, and herbal remedies. This "secret life of plants" provides a counternarrative to the standard texts on gardening and landscaping. Illustrated throughout with 200 beautiful color photographs of plants in their various stages of development and showcasing their multiple applications, Plants with Purpose will encourage readers to experiment with their gardening for a deeper engagement with plant life and the environment.
The Garden Against Time
In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an eighteenth-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there's still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton's Paradise Lost to John Clare's enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.But the story of the garden doesn't always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It's also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change. The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of gardens: not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud and pollen-laden.
What to Grow for a Climate Resilient Garden
What to Grow for a Climate Resilient Garden urges green-thumbed readers that are conscious of the environment to think deeper about the impact of maintaining a thriving garden on the future of the planet, and vice versa. With easy, practical ideas, it is the ideal book for experienced gardeners and a growing environmentally-inclined public looking for ways to make a difference. Eminent plant expert Dr Amanda Rasmussen explains what makes particular plants suited to certain conditions, along with easy-to-implement ideas for forward-thinking gardeners. Whether you are gardening in the rain, the baking hot sun, in the city or the countryside, you'll discover information and inspiration for creating your very own resilient, future-proofed garden. The author's expertise ensures a book that is botanically sound, but also aesthetically designed and eye-catching. The fascinating information about easy-to-find plants for a wide range of abilities and geographically diverse locations makes this book highly desirable for all gardeners wishing to diversify their green spaces as the climate continues to change radically.
