Reflections

Thinking about what I’ve learned and discussing great garden books, both practical guides and timeless classics. Also some how-to’s.

Simple past, present progressive: What I did and am doingApril 10, 2024
Building a planter box out of an old crate and volunteering at the Deep Roots Habitat Gardens Tour.
Remembering Eleanor Perényi, who was more than a garden writerFebruary 6, 2024
Almost every list of classic gardening books includes Eleanor Perényi’s Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden. The third of the reissued Modern Library Gardening series I read last fall, it was my favorite.
Reviewing The Gardener’s Year, by Karel ČapekJanuary 23, 2024
The Gardener’s Year, by Karel Čapek., follows the gardener’s progress, month by month—although often this amounts to little progress, or no progress. Čapek pokes fun at the gardener’s hubris, helping us laugh at our own obsessiveness and making us feel less alone.
Paper gardening: a look at We Made a Garden, a garden writing classicJanuary 9, 2024
Margery Fish’s We Made a Garden describes the process, area by area, of creating a garden with her husband, Walter. The garden is interesting, but Margery’s tussles with Walter are even more so.
Assigning grades: native perennials for a front yardAugust 31, 2023
Taking a moment to review and remember to inform my decisions as fall planting approaches.