4 comments about A History of the Fragrant Rose.

1. There have been so many rose books on the market that one might wonder at the need for yet another - with no color photos, no less - but A History of the Fragrant Rose isn't about glossy photos. It's a survey of the rose's history and blends color artistic illustrations with a survey of the medicinal, culinary, and celebratory properties of roses from ancient to modern times. Engravings, paintings, and more embellish the story of how the rose flourished over the centuries to become the favored flower it is today.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. This book is extremely boring and really dry. I could not make it through 10 pages without deciding it needs to go back.



3. Except for a couple of brief mentions, everything stopped for this author in the 80s. Also the title is misleading, as there is little about fragrance. IT's a history of rose gardening with some interesting tangents but a great deal about specific gardens, mostly in England and a few on the continent.



4. There is no particular rhyme or reason to this book, it reads like some ancient Renaissance gentleman's idiosyncratic treatise on a pet subject. Lots of interesting tid bits to be found, but more or less of a muddle. Most of the color plates [at least the ones in the hardcover version] seem to have been chosen at random, they are not usually referenced in the text and tend to be only vaguely related to the textual content.
   
   I really wouldn't reccomend this to anyone other than a collector of books on roses or horticultural history.

5 comments about Time-Tested Plants: Thirty Years in a Four-Season Garden.

1. The author has been gardening for over forty years now, with thirty years in the same garden. Time-Tested Plants considers the perennials, annuals, vines and trees in her garden as a unit, rather than as separate entities: chapters provide a well-rounded view of building and maintaining a complete garden environment, along with many tips on plant qualities and use. Color photos pack her presentation.



2. This is easily my favorite gardening book. Already it is dog-eared and well-worn. A lovely combination of useful information, beautiful photos, and very good writing. The author tells you what she has learned over 30 years of gardening in the hot and humid southeast and does so in a way that is a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it.



3. There are very few gardening books for Southern Gardeners that are so readable. This book feels like visiting with your best gardening buddy: walking through her gardens and talking about plants frankly and enthusiastically. Ms. Harper introduced me to many plants of which I had limited or no previous knowledge, and gave lots of great information on the care, propagation, and placement of them. She is not just a cheerleader. She also gives any drawbacks or limitations to each plant, with ideas for how to overcome them. The illustrations are fabulous, detailed, and filled with plant combination ideas. This book will have a valued place on my bookshelf for many years to come.



4. The title of this book led me to think it was just another listing of plants with notes on height, hardiness etc. It is far more than that, as I realized when I read in the acknowledgements "A stroll around my garden is a bit like telling the rosary, with each bead a friend remembered by a plant they gave me." Now that I can relate to.

   The author gives a great deal of information in this 350 page book, but she also shares herself and her love of her garden with the reader. We learn WITH her rather than from her. This is a really good read if you loved gardens and the book is beautifully illustrated with the author's own photographs. The material has been organized by season so you can curl up and enjoy a year's worth of garden beauty and wisdom. There are short but useful resource and reference lists.

   This book contains a wealth of information, but the pleasure of reading it comes from the warmth of the author. Her voice, her ideas, her thoughts on plants and gardening come through clearly and gently to the reader. This is a sharing of wisdom rather than as sharing of knowledge.




5. This is the book I always go back to - the one I learn from each time I go back. The candor, knowledge and warmth of this author is the reason. The photographs are wonderful and a lesson in coordinating plants. The plants I have purchased and grow would otherwise remain unknown to me except for the fact I have seen them in her book. The best garden book I have read and keep reading.

1 comments about Visions of Paradise.

1. This is pure garden porn. I bought it solely because of one picture of a garden seldom shown, Castello Balduino in the hills outside Pavia. The concept of the book is to assemble great photos gathered through the career of the photographer. They are then presented chapter-wise under headlines like Italian Style and Potager. Take an armchair journey to some of the most fantastic gardens of the world presented in glorious photos.

No comments about Garden Graces: How the Simple Tasks of Gardening Have Affected the Art, Music, Literature, and Ideas of Western Civilization.

1 comments about A Philosophy of Gardens.

1. This is a work of philosophy with abundant references to Kant and other philosophers. So the casual reader of garden books should be forwarded!
   Professor Cooper's approach is interesting and welcome to the relatively small number of rigorously philosophical treatments of gardens. I would like to say that Cooper is a philosopher in the Anglo-Analytic tradition, especially for his fine attention to language; some readers may be put off by his near obsession with precision of language. However, I was pleased to find numerous references to some of the analyses of gardens coming from literature, even quotations from Rumi and Japanese Zen.
   Overall, a rigorously philosophical approach to the place of gardens in human life. Worth reading IF you have a strong background (I'd say nothing less than a BA) in Western philosophy.

1 comments about Grace from the Garden: Changing the World One Garden at a Time.

1. This is a wonderful book to keep by your bedside or to share with friends and family. It's more than a book about gardening, although gardeners everywhere will love it. This book celebrates the human spirit. It shows us the power of a dream, the ability of one person partnering with others to transform her corner of the world. These stories remind us that we all have the power to bring peace and harmony into our world.

   Debra Engle writes in the best tradition of personal essayists. We travel with her as she crosses the country. She transports us to these gardens, evoking their sights, scents and sounds. We sit with her as she talks to an elderly gardener in Huntsville, Alabama, or stride with her through an amazing urban farm in downtown Milwaukee. We feel the individual energy and spirit of these remarkable gardeners who are truly changing the world one garden at a time. And we see those changes through the lens of Engle's understanding of the world as a place where miracles happen every day if we let them.

   I loved this book and highly recommend it. If you'd like to be reminded of all the good there is in the world, or if you just love a good essay, this book will satisfy.

2 comments about A Garden's Promise: Spiritual Reflections on Growing from the Heart.

1. 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 brilliant because 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 absolutely delightful passion for her subject.



2. 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 this wonderful book. I recommend it.

4 comments about 12 Lessons on Life I Learned from My Garden: Spiritual Guidance from the Vegtable Patch.

1. 12 Lessons on Life I Learned from My Garden : Spiritual Guidance from the Vegetable Patch by Vivian Elisabeth Glyck is one of those books that might bring a joyful tear in your eye. Brilliantly written. She uses real-life metaphores from her beautiful garden. Most of them are about problems I still face in my life. Most likely this woman is wiser than she might realize herself. This is no vague spiritual stuff - this is a real-life reality check, quite tough and tender.

   If my friends would read this, we could change our daily lives. Not only because we change our perception of events and therefore we may project other things and events in our lives, but mainly because we actually will change our behaviour.

   I started to like the book in 1997, and it is getting stronger and stronger because it is still very practical and applicable. It is as if she's talking to me. It's absolutely lovely.

   Guys give it as a present to your wives or girl-friends.

   Girls go and get it and read it to your man while lying together in bed.

   Go out buy it, read it and it will never ever go away from your life.

   Vivian you did something beautiful to the world. What's your next project?




2. As a Christian, I did not find the 12 spiritual lessons helpful, because they were not Biblically based.



3. This is book is a quick read with many wonderful thoughts
   that make you reflect on your life (and even on your garden).

   The author's sharp truths really struck home for me. So often we
   just rush through our days trying to force our lives down a
   certain path. Ms. Glyck's lessons help us to step back and see
   the bigger picture of what's going on in our lives and what
   action we can take to help our current circumstances.

   You don't have to know anything about gardening to enjoy and
   benefit greatly from this beautiful little book.




4. Truly one of the best spiritual books out there, written in such a down to earth manner.

1 comments about Green Grows the City.

1. This is a good story about Beverley Nichol's first garden in the city--it gives us insight into his life in between his "country" days, which for his fans, is important. It is funny and very relatable.

1 comments about The Abundant Garden: A Celebration of Color, Texture, and Blooms.

1. Rare is the gardening book where I actually read the text instead of just gazing at the photos. This highly readable resource first caught my eye in the bookstore just by its title - I am a student of the "say yes to abundance" way of spirituality and I am grateful I said "yes" to this book! Its tone is not a bit hoity-toity like some of its ilk, and it offers a very approachable, manageable, yet dramatic method of banishing any signs of visible dirt from your flower gardens. Although I have been gardening for 20+ years, when I moved into a newly constructed house with unconstructed garden space two years ago, I made the mistake of buying hundreds of plants in a frenzy just to fill the spaces. Currently I am left with a haphazard melee of my own design (or lack of design) and now I need to put some fundamental order into the chaos. This book is going to be a close companion for me this summer. And the photographs - wow, I made myself take two days just to look at them all when the book arrived because I simply did not want the experience to end. There are chapters on gardens for cut flowers and romantic cottage venues. Other chapters provide ideas on how to use architecture, water features, and garden-related implements in the plantings. Each chapter visits a specific garden and gives insight into each owner's personality as manifested in their creations. And the captions of each photo are actually useful; they identify plants while at the same time explaining methods involved to create the look. I highly recommend this book for any flower gardener. It's already a favorite for me!