No comments about Great American Gardens: A Photographic Celebration.

No comments about Back Yard: A Gardening Life.

No comments about Perennial Pleasures: Reflections on Flowers and Gardens.

1 comments about Month-To-Month Gardening Utah: Tips for Designing, Growing and Maintaining Your Utah Garden.

1. Month-To-Month Gardening Utah is the best book I've read yet on successful gardening in Utah. The books offers hundreds of tips on things you can be doing to create a beautiful garden. I especially love the journal provided throughout the book. By journaling facts about my own garden, the book has become my own personal gardening guide. I love this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in successful Utah gardening.

No comments about A Year in an Irish Garden.

No comments about Cuttings from a Rock Garden: Plant Portraits and Other Essays.

5 comments about Tools of the Earth.

1. Would make a great wintertime gift for a gardner. It was fun and informative. It would help to fill-in that awful winter void when we gardners can't play in the dirt.



2. Using a quiet sense of humour the author of this book coaxes a smile from the reader for the people who use the tools of the earth. You don't have to be a gardener to enjoy this book. It is a delight to read.



3. I've been an organic gardener for 35 years and Jeff Taylor's "Tools of the Earth" is hands down the best book on what gardening is really about that I have ever read! His wit, style and humor leave me wanting to find this guy and just follow him around for a couple of months to see how much I can learn. He is amazing and I love his writing!



4. This is a pleasant read. Brought a smile when I didn't expect it. Though it didn't tell me "how to" create a beautiful garden it expressed the way I work in the earth. When I leave my tools laying about tucked in the flowers this book showed me others think the same and do the same. Practical info: the chapters are short and you can skip around chapter wise. The book is nicely presented with good quality paper. This would also make a wonerful gift.



5. A warmly written praise of gardening tools and the gardening process written by a person with a keen appreciation of the simple things in life. A must read for those who like to get their hands dirty in serach of the perfect flower or vegetable. The author has a fine sense of humor and mixes philosophy with wit. I read the book in one sitting.

1 comments about Notes from Madoo: Making a Garden in the Hamptons.

1. 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!

2 comments about Of Leaf and Flower: Stories and Poems for Gardeners.

1. WHAT A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF STORIES TO UPLIFT YOUR SPIRITS IN THESE DISTURBING AND TERRIBLE TIMES. WHETHER YOU ARE A GARDENER OR NOT THESE STORIES ARE A DELIGHTFUL WAY TO LOOSE YOURSELF FOR A FEW HOURS. WOULD MAKE A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR THE GARDENERS IN YOUR LIFE - THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND VERY SUBTLE.
   ALL IN ALL A 1ST RATE COLLECTION AND A JOY TO READ AND A NICE BOOK TO HAVE AROUND TO PICK UP FROM TIME TO TIME AND REREAD.



2. I'd hardly call this book of essays and poems soothing. Some of these folks are mighty disturbed. I don't think John Updike ever wrote anything I could call delightful--provocative, beautiful--but not delightful. And true to form, his essay is about the aftermath of a decision to divorce and his "farewell" to some leaves he's become intimately involved with via his study window is both beautiful and sad. Sylvia Plath scares the heck out of me and her essay "Fable of the Rhododendron Stealers" is a signature piece. Then we have Alice Walker's poem "Revolutionary Petunias" about a backwoods woman who raised a George, a Martha, a Jackie and a Kennedy, and Josephine Jacobson's "Jack Frost" is a bit nippy. Robert Graves (I, Claudius and The White Goddess) addresses the behaviour of avid composters in "Earth to Earth".

   No, this book is definitely not restful, but, it's really, really good. If you're a fan of the short story, particularly those with a twist you will like this book (including the O'Henry tale, "The Last Leaf"). If you're a fan of good poetry (Billy Collins anyone) you'll like this book. LEAF AND FLOWER is not about gardening per se, though gardeners like the old woman who attempts to bring beauty into sordid surroundings in Eugenia Collier's "Marigolds" are sometimes featured.

   If I had to assign an organizing principle to this work, I would say this...every human life intersects with a plant at some critical juncture. OF LEAF AND FLOWER contains one of the most artistically assembled sets of essays and poems on the importance of flora for human beings.

5 comments about Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening.

1. Ever since I moved to New York City I felt like I just didn't have any time to do things I used to enjoy so much. And I read about this book in USAWeekend and bought it and got so inspired that I bought two fica plants before I even finished the book. It reminded me of the time I used to spend with my Irish grandma out in the garden where I grew up near Peoria, IL. It filled me with life again, and not to get too honest, since reading Fran Sorin's book I have gotten the courage to break off a relationship I should have ended a while back. And I honestly feel I am ready to start and enjoy making my new life grow!



2. "I believe the ultimate goal is not to be creative, but to learn how to live creatively."

   Sorin was successful at her last job, but it wasn't satisfying. When the time came to create a garden at her new home, Sorin went to special lengths for her garden and it eventually lead her to a new career in garden design. The lessons learned during her career change are what _Digging Deep_ is all about.

   Sorin's book is set up in six sections.

   "Six stages of "creative unfolding within the context of your garden: Imagining, Envisioning, Planning, Planting, Tending, Enjoying, and Completing."

   In the stages are mini chapters of creative lessons. Sorin gives examples by way of her experiences with her clients. She tells of her clients' excitement in discovering a creative approach to life, in the hopes that it will inspire the reader. At the end of the chapters, she gives readers things to do. They aren't demanding and some may even become nice habits.

   _Digging Deep_ is an inspiring self-help book that uses gardening as a metaphor. The book is well written and Sorin's advice is rational and clear. Highly Recommended.




3. 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.
   If you are looking for a paint by number plan to quickly create a nice looking garden, this book is not for you. If you are looking for a book full of shiny pictures, you will be disappointed. However, if you are interested in jump-starting your creativity to help you plan and make a unique garden that reflects your personal style, you should have a copy of Digging Deep on your bookshelves.



4. This delightful book came to me at exactly the right time. The month
   of March in Wisconsin is one of the toughest months for anyone who
   loves gardening. Reading a pretty gardening book that focuses on
   the gardener was exactly what I needed to make it through until the
   first signs of spring began to arrive.
   
   The author has divided this book up into stages of imagining,
   envisioning, planning, planting, tending, enjoying, and completing
   your garden. Each stage was an affirmation for me of why I connect
   with nature and have dirt under my fingernails all summer long.
   
   Step by step, you are shown how to find the creativity within and trust your instincts as you allow yourself to dream your garden into being. While there is plenty of practical how-to information, most of the insights in this book lead you toward building the self-confidence to allow yourself to listen, experiment and bring your vision into full bloom.
   
   This book will remain along side my other favorite gardening books to
   be read again and again, whenever I need some gardening inspiration.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: Gardening inspiration...what a great concept.



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