Cold Climate Gardening

I have been re-reading People with Dirty Hands: The Passion for Gardening by Robin Chotzinoff for the Garden Bloggers Book Club. Just like last time, I am amazed by her ability to ferret these eccentric gardeners out, and in awe of her willingness to drive hundreds of miles to talk to total strangers, some of whom are very weird.

This time I am a little more familiar with some of the gardeners she visits. I’ve actually grown seeds from Renee Shepherd’s company and read articles by Lucy Hardiman. And I almost met Robin …

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If, as a cold climate gardener, you have a tendency towards envy, you would be better off not reading British gardening books. Take A Country Life: At Home in the English Countryside by Roy Strong, for example. A book of columns that he originally wrote for the British magazine Country Life, it is a pleasant enough read, good for a doctor’s waiting room, since all the pieces are interesting but short. But the author continually alludes to facts that, when mulled over, make one realize that Roy Strong lives in another gardening universe altogether, and doesn’t even realize how good he’s got it.

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