Synopses & Reviews
Set down that trowel, pull off those well-worn garden gloves, kick up your feet, and grab a copy of The Gardener’s Bedside Reader, a lavish and entertaining look at gardening through the ages.
This collection of stories and essays, illustrated with vintage advertisements, gardening memorabilia, botanical drawings, and stunning color photography, is sure to inspire everyone from the beginning gardener to the most seasoned gardening veteran.
Step into gardens of celebrated authors and renowned gardeners such as Michael Pollan, Jamaica Kincaid, Diane Ackerman, Susan Orlean, Beverley Nichols, Ann Lovejoy, Tovah Martin, Wayne Winterrowd, Joe Eck, Dan Hinkley, Anna Pavord, and Suzy Bales as they share their experiences “in the dirt” with humor and passion. Whether exploring personal and spiritual connections or reflecting on the art of the flower, reviewing the trials and joys of designing one’s own garden space or reminiscing on past gardens visited and loved, the story they tell is universal and poignant.
Sumptuous illustrations, from the brilliant colors of modern photography by Jerry Harpur, Richard Brown, and Jane Booth, to the subtleties of botanical illustrations and the vintage artwork featured in garden catalogs and on seed packets, accompany the text.
The Gardener’s Bedside Reader promises a little something for every gardener.
Review
"By day, we are tucking our gardens in for the snow-blowy days we know aren't too, too far away. So, at night, it's not too soon to curl up with great good bedtime reads, about--what else--the garden. The collection of writers tucked inside the covers of “The Gardener's Bedside Reader”, edited by Kari Cornell, well, it's enough to make for the sweetest dream. There’s ever-brilliant Michael Pollan, who takes us into his rose garden, and Susan Orlean, she of “Orchid Thief” fame. And, for those of us still mourning Tasha Tudor’s passing last summer, there is Tovah Martin who tiptoes into the great illustrator’s Vermont garden. Not only is the book spilling with succulent words and passages but there are charming vintage illustrations from seed packets and flower catalogs, and decadent photos of gardens to whip your dreams into a frenzy." — Chicago Tribune, Sunday, October 12, 2008
“The collection of articles in the Bedside Reader is quite impressive…The Bedside Reader is aptly named. Each article is the perfect length for weary gardeners to get through before falling asleep at night. Each article is unique and sets the stage for beautiful dreaming about gardening. I very much recommend this book...it is a pleasure to read.” —Washington Gardener, November/December 2008
“By day, we are tucking our gardens in for the snow-blowy days we know aren't too, too far away. So, at night, it's not too soon to curl up with great good bedtime reads, about--what else--the garden. The collection of writers tucked inside the covers of The Gardener's Bedside Reader, well, it's enough to make for the sweetest dreams…Not only is the book spilling with succulent words and passages but there are charming vintage illustrations from seed packets and flower catalogs, and decadent photos of gardens to whip your dreams into a frenzy.” – Chicago Tribune, October 12, 2008
“Editor Kari Cornell brings together familiar contemporary voices on plants, gardening, and natural history such as Anna Pavord, Diane Ackerman, Dan Hinkley, Tovah Martin, and Ann Lovejoy. This prose celebrates the backyard garden and might even inspire a little digging, especially after excerpts such as Lee May’s that starts, ‘In this year’s first blushes, promise springs eternal. This is the year I keep a vow to my father and myself; I’ll be growing vegetables again.’ This collection is inspiring, funny, and at times lofty: a good primer to the entertaining range of voices that are contributing to modern garden writing.” – American Gardener July/August 2008
"In this beautifully illustrated anthology, editor Cornell gathers a delightful mix of 24 essays and book excerpts that are the perfect antidote for those times when we can’t actually be in our gardens." — Library Journal Xpress Reviews
Synopsis
Like a story, a garden unfolds, beckoning us onward into another world. Just so, this book beckons, its words and pictures leading us along like the thread of a well-told tale, showing us the paths worn by hard work and tender care, and surprising us with the pleasure of an unexpected insight, a glimpse into the bouquet of someone else’s thoughts. Michael Pollan, Vita Sackville-West, Beverley Nichols, Ann Lovejoy, Tovah Martin, Wayne Winterrowd, Joe Eck, Anna Pavord, Dan Hinkley, and Suzy Bales eloquently share their experiences “in the dirt” with humor and passion. Whether exploring personal and spiritual connections or reflecting on the art of the flower, reviewing the trials and joys of designing one’s own garden space or reminiscing on past gardens visited and loved, the story they tell is as old as the garden of Eden and as fresh as the dew on this morning’s rosebud.
The stories are accompanied by sumptuous illustrations, from the brilliant colors of modern photography by Jerry Harpur, Richard Felber, Richard Brown, and Jane Booth, to the subtleties of vintage artwork featured in garden catalogs and on seed packets.
Synopsis
In the writings collected in this book, the stories of gardening unfold in the full palette of color and character, of wild imagination and bone-wearying hard work, of fabulous growth and humbling failure. Filled with wit and warmth and a companionable engagement with the land in all its moods and seasons, this wonderful book will see any start-up gardener or seasoned veteran through the most riotous summer of growth or the coldest winter months of waiting and dreaming about what to plant next. Contributors include contemporary essayists Michael Pollan, author of Second Nature and Botany of Desire, Anna Pavord, author of The Tulip, Jamaica Kincaid, author of My Garden (Book), and Diane Ackerman, author of Cultivating Delight. In addition, renowned gardeners and designers from Vita Sackville-West and Beverley Nichols to Ann Lovejoy and Tovah Martin eloquently share their experiences in the dirt with humor and passion.
Botanical drawings, beautifully illustrated vintage seed catalogs, postcards, and photography by world-renowned gardening photographers Jerry Harpur, Jane Booth, and Richard Brown accompany the text.
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Synopsis
In the writings collected in this book, the stories of gardening unfold in the full palette of color and character, of wild imagination and bone-wearying hard work, of fabulous growth and humbling failure. Filled with wit and warmth and a companionable engagement with the land in all its moods and seasons, this wonderful book will see any start-up gardener or seasoned veteran through the most riotous summer of growth or the coldest winter months of waiting and dreaming about what to plant next. Contributors include contemporary essayists Michael Pollan, author of Second Nature and Botany of Desire, Anna Pavord, author of The Tulip, Jamaica Kincaid, author of My Garden (Book), and Diane Ackerman, author of Cultivating Delight. In addition, renowned gardeners and designers—from Vita Sackville-West and Beverley Nichols to Ann Lovejoy and Tovah Martin—eloquently share their experiences “in the dirt” with humor and passion.
Botanical drawings, beautifully illustrated vintage seed catalogs, postcards, and photography by world-renowned gardening photographers Jerry Harpur, Jane Booth, and Richard Brown accompany the text.
Synopsis
Set down that trowel, pull off those garden gloves, kick up your feet, and grab a copy of The Gardener’s Bedside Reader. Don’t be afraid to get a little dirt on the pages as you read stories from your favorite writers at your garden bench. Or turn to this book for inspiration before going to sleep at night during the darkest, coldest days of winter.
Step into the gardens of celebrated authors and renowned gardeners such as Michael Pollan, who reveals his torrid love affair with old roses, join Beverley Nichols as he restores his faded cottage garden at Glatton to its original splendor, and laugh as Ann Lovejoy sings the praises of her new, red “Slug Boots.” Jamaica Kincaid, Diane Ackerman, Susan Orlean, Tovah Martin, Wayne Winterrowd, Joe Eck, Dan Hinkley, Anna Pavord, and Suzy Bales also share their experiences “in the dirt” with humor and passion.
Illustrated with vintage advertisements, gardening memorabilia, lovely botanical drawings, and stunning color photography, The Gardener’s Bedside Reader is sure to inspire everyone from the beginning gardener to the most seasoned gardening veteran.
Synopsis
Writers from Michael Pollan and Jamaica Kincaid to Vita Sackville-West and Tovah Martin share gardening lore and irresistible tales in this lavishly illustrated collection.
About the Author
Editor Kari Cornell has been knitting and collecting vintage patterns for years. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, two sons, and a beagle.
Jennifer Simonson is a photographer in Minneapolis, MN. Her photographs have appeared in Sew Retro, published by Voyageur Press, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Table of Contents
Contents
Chapter 1: The Perfect Garden
Arcadia by Dan Hinkley
The Garden I Have in My Mind by Jamaica Kincaid
How Does Your Garden Grow? Any Way You Choose by Henry Mitchell
In Your Garden, Excerpt from February 1948 by Vita Sackville-West
Chapter 2: The Nitty-gritty
Slug Boots by Ann Lovejoy
The Delights of Weeding by Suzy Bales
Growing Regret by Dan Hinkley
The Vine by Sigrid Arnott
Among Heirlooms, Tread Lightly by Laura Billings
Chapter 3: Gardens of Lore
Tasha Tudor: Springs Eternal by Tovah Martin
The Visitors by Joe Eck
Down the Garden Path by Beverley Nichols
Chapter 4: Vegetable Heaven
The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
Vegetables Again by Lee May
Gardening in the Supermarket by Wayne Winterrowd
Chapter 5: Ode to a Flower
Into the Rose Garden by Michael Pollan
The Tulip by Anna Pavord
Daylilies by Sydney Eddison
Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman
Chapter 6: On the Mend in the Garden
A Garden Cultivates Pure Joy by Dayle Allen Shockley
In Grammy’s Garden by Lela Nargi
Ashes to Ashes by Domenica Di Piazza
Listening to My Garden by Kathie Bailey