Stuck for gifts for gardening friends or ways to educate and entertain yourself through winter’s downtime? Think books.
One of my favorite 2013 releases is Amanda Thomsen’s Kiss My Aster (Storey Publishing, $13), a wacky journey of personal gardening discovery made in the choose-your-own-adventure style, mainly for beginners. Thomsen is a whirlwind of humorous energy, and her illustrated paperback doles out such advice as to never trust a landscape architect wearing white, high heels, or a fake moustache, and to plant no more than two topiaries per yard (“more than that is just crazy to look at”).
Beyond the silliness, she gives the reader a lot to chew on regarding what we want to get out of, and put into, our gardens. Thomsen has a fun blog, too (kissmyaster.co), and a pair of flaming Felco pruners tattooed on one shoulder.
I’ve already given Amy Stewart’s The Drunken Botanist (Algonquin Books, $12) some praise in this space, but I mention it again to be sure it’s not missed. Stewart has figured out a way to make such topics as poisonous plants, deadly insects and the international cut flower trade palatable to non-gardeners, and hits it out of the park with this gem that mixes bartending with the history and science of horticulture.
Stewart herself would like you to read her friend Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, The Signature of All Things (Viking Adult, $28.95), about a woman who is a moss expert in the world of 19th century botanical exploration. (You can read her review on gardenrant.com.) I have shied away from Gilbert’s earlier blockbuster Eat, Pray, Love, but I’ll buy this, if Amy Stewart says to — I trust her even more than Oprah.
If you’re planning to attend the Rochester Civic Garden Center’s spring symposium on March 1, bone up in advance with headline speaker Julie Moir Messervy’s brand-new Landscaping Ideas that Work (Taunton Press, $21.95),which promises strategies to combat confusion and inertia in the garden. (I could use some of those for outside the garden, too.) Better yet, buy a ticket to the symposium for yourself and your best gardening friend at rcgc.org, and if you like what Messervy has to say, buy the book there and get it signed.
Like many women who garden, I’m besotted by anything having to do with Beatrix Potter, Tasha Tudor or Miss Rumphius. So my last recommendation, another from my wish list is Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children’s Tales by Marta McDowell (Timber Press, $24.95). Rich with photographs and Potter’s watercolors, this is destined to be a coffee table classic.
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