The Writer in the Garden

by Jane Garmey

Not the least of the charms of this collection is that it is printed on quality paper, with delightful line drawings, and is just the right size to encourage the reader to take it in hand and turn the pages--which they will surely want to do once they have dipped into any chapter, where they will find some of the finest garden writing of the last hundred years. The famous writers of the past, like Vita Sackville-West, Gertrude Jekyll, Elizabeth von Arnim (author of Enchanted April), and Beverley Nichols rub shoulders with the garden columnists and book authors of today, such as longtime Washington Post columnist Henry Mitchell, Christopher Lloyd, and Ken Druse.

As all gardeners know, thinking about plants and gardens leads one to speculate about life, love, triumph and despair, obsession, and death. These authors cover it all, not just in metaphor, although they are expert at the well-turned phrase and the classic image, but in garden practicalities, too. Perhaps only in the best garden essay can the design of shovels, the number of worms in the soil, and raves about the newest kind of perennial co-exist comfortably with ruminations on mortality, the soul, and the nature of beauty. Lest this sound too serious, all is laced with humor; Henry Mitchell's hounds lie about the garden beds, crushing his latest peony, and Charles Kuralt complains about how he missed his favorite daffodil when CBS News had the nerve to send him to Moscow in April for an unfortunately scheduled summit conference.

"Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination," said Alice Morse Earle in 1897. We are fortunate that these writers had enough imagination to both garden and to write about it and that Jane Garmey had the imagination to gather such a variety of well-chosen garden voices. --Valerie Easton

Genres: Gardening, Essays, Nonfiction, Writing, Nature, Anthologies

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this book out of the library and liked it so much I went out and bought a copy. A very enjoyable read!

[Teri-K · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Everything grows for everybody. Everything dies for everybody, too.” Henry Mitchell, from The Essential Earthman

I really love reading about gardens and gardeners. Humorous, serious, opinionated and sometimes critical, there's something for everyone here, including some poetry and a section from The Secret Garden; this collection had some wonderful writing in it. I just usually wanted to read more, and unfortunately I don't have access to many of the originals. Still, I quite enjoyed reading this and will regret having to return the ILL eventually. :)

NB - Be warned that the audio version is abridged and has a really terrible musical/insect sounding interval at the beginning and end of each of four sections. It really is horrendous and makes me cringe when I hear it. Most of the narrators are excellent, though one of them massacres some poetry and one gentleman sounds really bored. Still, if you can't get the book it's worth listening to this - just be prepared for that awful "music". :)

[Scribd · Rating 3 out of 5]

In one of my earliest writing workshops many years ago, the leader—a very successful novelist—encouraged us to go on a guided hike and document all the plants and creatures we came across. This, she said, was the stuff of textured settings. How rich your writing could be, fiction or otherwise, when you familiarized yourself with the smell, color, sound, and feel of nature.

The Writer in the Garden, a carefully curated anthology of narrative nonfiction essays featuring writers ruminating on all things garden, proves just this. Learn about rebirth with Jamaica Kincaid’s beautiful short essay on winter’s symbolism or sink into Gertrude Jekyll’s Victorian wit as she quips “Plants do not a garden make…[this] only makes a collection…To learn how to perceive the difference and how to do it right is to apprehend gardening as a fine art.”

With planting season coming up, arm yourself with these essays by fifty writers, including E.B. White, Alexander Pope, and Katherine Mansfield, for a little extra inspiration to get out of the house, feel the earth beneath your hands, battle bugs and weeds, and coax buds to bloom. Chances are, you’ll end up with something to write about, too.

[Paul Bauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

No daylillies! I was amused by one gardener's prejudice against flowers w/ prominent stamens. Freud would have made a case study of her.

[MaryAnne Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely short essays written by people who garden. Book format is beautiful.

[sevdah]

A delightful collection of essays on gardening - such a good selection that features great nature writing, solid humour and just a touch of the eroticism of plants.

[Lauriann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and most readable collection of essays from men and women who know how to garden, who are generous in passing on their observations, who can admit to flaws in their art of gardening, and all who have the gift of expression.  Some essays are serious, offering learning opportunities, some are funny, some wry or curmudgeonly, but ALL are engaging and can be read in just a few minutes.  I reaped the joy of picking up some valuable tips and enjoyed a few chuckles as I recognized myself in some of the humor.  The writers are from long ago (Thoreau, Emily Dickinson) as well as contemporary.  They are written by established gardeners such as Gertrude Jekyll, Katharine White and Henry Mitchell as well as Charles Kurault whom I only have known as a travel writer.  Because of the diversity of contributors, the garden "voices" cover many styles and I didn't fall prey to the weariness that can come from reading a collection of essays by one gardener. It is the perfect book to keep on the nightstand for a "one-a-day" approach. As books of garden essays go, I have to say......this one is just about perfect.

[AskNezka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compendium of thoughts on gardening from a wide variety of writers.

[Kathleen Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not one of those books you read in a day (I had to renew it from the library several times). It's one that you dip into, think on, savor. Ideally, it's one you read outside, sitting in your own garden, no matter what shape it's in.

I added this to my to read list as one of many books I hoped would inspire me to get out and "do something" with the small mess that is our backyard. Some of the essays are way beyond my skills (and interests), but others had me scribbling notes about plants to check out, or laughing out loud as a writer shared an epic failure in their efforts, or simply taking some comfort in knowing that experienced and highly regarded gardeners face the same challenges I do.

It really is a lovely collection of poetry and essays. If I ever to find the time to get serious about my garden, I'll purchase a copy so I can continue to soak in the wisdom and revel in the companionship of these writers/gardeners.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming collection of essays and garden meditations from literary-minded gardeners, spanning from 1900 until about 1995. I particularly enjoyed the introduction to Gertrude Jekyll and, naturally, the necessary snippets from the beloved, ever-effusive Vita Sackville-West. This would make an especially nice gift for a person who loves to read and loves to while away entire days working outside among carefully tended plants.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Selections of writings from gardeners who felt moved to record their experiences with dirt and plants. Some practical in approach, others more lyrical, they range across the last century and cover all kinds of personal gardens, at least the parts I read were such, no great botanical or institutional gardens were included. Great for dipping into as you please.

[Robert Paul Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the great ones plus are here, Sackville-West, E.B. White, Gertrude Jekyll, Edith Wharton, Jamaica Kincaid, Michael Pollan, Louise Beebe Wilder, even Henry David Thoreau, and many more, speaking of their likes and dislikes. As Vita Sackville-West asserts, "sweet disorder judiciously arranged".

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished this! Some passages were very nice but the majority were just OK. Apparently I like to read technical works about gardening much more than I like to read other people's musings about their gardens. Nothing was bad, just a little dull.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3.5/5.

While I really enjoyed the book (who doesn't love little anecdotes about gardens), the production wasn't what I would have liked. There were no pauses between tracks, which make it really jarring.

[Bhan13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally enjoyable, many of the pieces are thoughtful and original, a few less so.

[Rusty Tobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for winter reading. Mostly consists of essays about one's garden experiences and some are very funny. Not a book about how to create a garden but more about the enjoyment a garden brings.

[R.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first time I've read something abridged--and no, I didn't know it until I was almost finished with the audiobook, otherwise I wouldn't have begun in the first place. No idea why this audiobook was abridged, as I think that anyone who listens to any of it would be more than happy to listen to all of it. As it is, the selections are mostly delightful, though I question the addition of Michael Pollan's fetishistic bit on roses and Eleanor Perényi's essay titled "Help", in which she ridicules one garden employee's bodyweight as well as continually says that all of her garden workers are "mentally unstable." There was also an essay titled "Elephant Ears" which, while perfectly enjoyable, I can't locate in the table of contents in the text edition. Very odd.

On a technical note, the occasional music in this audiobook is awful--save me from twee, electronic flute--and the editing was as well, with the first word of every new piece beginning literally as the last word of the prior one was ending, as if the narrators were shoving each other aside at the microphone.

I look forward to one day reading the physical book sans music and in full. And that will be odd--I will have read a book twice, but not really? Silly stuff.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A treasure found at used book sale. A collection of stories of gardening written by authors such as E.B. White, Ken Druse, Edith Wharton and many others. Some were humorous and some full of insight. Published in 1999, it captures stories from the 1800’s to present time at publication.

Quote: “The temperament that makes up all serious gardeners must have a large component of melancholy. For however glorious the garden’s display might be, the true gardener seems always to look behind with regret at what has passed and ahead with longing at what is to come. To be squarely anchored in the moment, to savor just what lies before one and want nothing more-this must be a great bliss for those who possess the ability. Certainly it is true, even for the most brooding of gardeners, that the conjunction of a perfect day, a good stint at weeding, and perhaps some unlooked-for success with a difficult plant can make one feel, for a little time, that the garden is, just as it is, enough.” July by Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd

Read hardbound book, purchased.

[Bruce Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those rare books that I read fully expecting great disappointment, if not undisguisable dislike. Instead, I was greatly amused by this delightful and compelling collection of essays, poems, and short stories on or about gardening. It covers subjects of, venues for, victims of, inspirations deriving from, and perpetrators of home cultivation. I must, though, caution readers averse to directly interacting with dirt that after reading this book they may be tempted to till some backyard soil. So beware!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book for those who love to be in a garden working with plants and soil! The only negative is one chapter barely ends before the next one begins; a pause between sections would make this book more enjoyable.

[Marie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting and enjoyable collection of garden themed passages and essays by multiple writers.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note to self: listened to this book on audio before donating it to Savers.

[Colleen Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a re-read for me after more than 20 years. I still loved it. I don't think the non-gardeners out there would feel the same way.

[Mary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely quotes

[Shawna Hynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection of garden writing. A bit skewed towards American gardens, so many of them I hadn’t read before.

These made me laugh out loud:

Henry Mitchell p70

VSW p126

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I found myself wanting more.

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to give this book to every gardening friend this year.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely collection of essays and excerpts by gardeners and other authors about, well, gardens. Delightful!