Hardy plants for hardy souls
Laurie of Prairie Tide and I have a similar opinion of gardening books:
To learn more about gardening, I’m hungry for good gardening books. I bring home stacks of books from the library, and whenever I visit a bookstore, I browse past the garden section to see what’s new. I crave garden books with good writing, detailed directions, and passion. Garden writing, though, can pretty bland. I’m amazed how many books out there offer the same tired advice.
The Literary Garden
Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.
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Thoreau’s ‘Faith in a Seed’ and ‘Wild Fruits’ are wonderful. They are not so much advice (though Pollan isn’t either, he’s projection) as lyrical and thought provoking. The sort of books you hate to return to the library.
Michael Pollan is a fine writer who has taken up his pen to write about his garden from time to time. I especially like his “Botany of Desire” and “Second Nature”.
I particularly enjoy the writing of Scott Ogden. “Garden Bulbs for the South” and “The Moonlit Garden” are special favorites of mine. He gardens in Central Texas so I don’t know how much he would be appreciated by a gardener from a colder clime.