Peeling off sheets of skin from a sunburned back. Spending $1,000 at five nurseries in an afternoon. Raising 200 monarch butterflies. Hearing the wing
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Peeling off sheets of skin from a sunburned back. Spending $1,000 at five nurseries in an afternoon. Raising 200 monarch butterflies. Hearing the wing beats of geese thirty feet overhead at sunset. How one piece of mulch can make all the difference. These are the stories of Benjamin Vogt’s 1,500 foot native prairie garden over the course of three years. After a small patio garden at his last home teases him into avid tinkering, the blank canvas of his new marriage and quarter acre lot prove to be a rich place full of delight, anguish, and rapture in all four seasons.
Full of lyrical, humorous, and botanical short essays, Sleep, Creep, Leap will leave you inspired to sit a while with your plants, noticing how the smallest events become the largest—and how the garden brings us down to earth so that we can come home to our lives.
"Beautifully and thoughtfully crafted." -- Amy Stewart, Kirkus Reviews (link here for the full Q&A on Garden Rant)
"This is what a garden memoir should be. Vogt's vivid, detailed descriptions of the plants, insects, and birds that call his garden home are second only to his ability to show how transcendent gardening can be. Beautifully written, full of information about native plants and what it takes to create a thriving ecosystem amidst modern tract homes. Highly, highly recommended." -- Colleen Vanderlinden, author of Edible Gardening for the Midwest
"Be careful if you're sipping anything while reading. My keyboard was a little endangered several times because I came close to spewing my tea all over it from laughing... Vogt can make even digging out a rock, a task which took several hours, into a wonderful story... His garden is a magical place full of wonder, and he will transport you to take his journey right by his side." -- Carole Brown, author of Ecosystem Gardening
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