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Our Life in Gardens
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Product Description
This is the third book we have written together, though separately we have written others . . . But to say ‘written separately’ makes no sense, for when two lives have been bent for so many years on one central enterprise—in this case, gardening—there really is no such thing as separately.”
With these words, the renowned garden designers Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd begin their entertaining, fascinating, and unexpectedly moving book about the life and garden they share. The book contains much sound information about the cultivation of plants and their value in the landscape, and invaluable advice about Eck and Winterrowd’s area of expertise: garden design. There are chapters about the various parts of their garden, and sections about particular plants—roses and lilacs, snowdrops and cyclamen—and vegetables. The authors also discuss the development of their garden over time, and the dark issue that weighs more and more on their minds: its eventual decline and demise. Our Life in Gardens is a deeply satisfying perspective on gardening, and on life.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #27773 in Books
- Published on: 2009-02-03
- Released on: 2009-02-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 336 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780374160319
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Plants, like words in poetry, observe Eck and Winterrowd (founders of the Vermont garden design firm North Hill), are both beautiful in themselves and also for the associations they trail behind, the histories they have in the world and in one's own life. In nearly 50 erudite and entertaining essays stretching alphabetically from Agapanthus to Xanthorrhoea quadrangulate, Eck and Winterrowd share the history of their Vermont garden, writing about the plants they have lived with, nurtured and nourished, in a sort of inverse family memoir, where the parent remembers the children—the trouble-free, the troubling and the troubled. Helleborus orientalis, for example, is an entirely amiable plant, while the wisteria flower most freely under abuse... violent root pruning and frequent hacking back of top growth to encourage abundant flower. Any gardener may find its specific (and sometime technical) advice helpful, but walkers among gardens and those who dream of gardening will find special pleasure in plant lore and history and in the lucid descriptions that render them visible. Eck and Winterrowd describe their book as a mixed bag, a gypsy trunk of this and that, but treasure chest is more accurate; the essays are gems, not baubles. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
The admiration and genial frustration from critics-cum-amateur gardeners is palpable in the positive reviews of Our Life in Gardens. They take heart from the knowledge that these master gardeners face the same hurdles as most casual horticulturists, but a hint of jealousy creeps through in comments like this from the San Francisco Chronicle: "Eck and Winterrowd don't say how much outside help they have -- a frustrating omission for gardeners who exhaust themselves trying to keep up much smaller plots." Nongardeners, furthermore, may need a reference book at hand. Neither a how-to book nor an autobiography, Our Life in Gardens captures the best of both while maintaining focus on the authors' deep connection with their land.Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC
From Booklist
One of those marvelous books that answers the often confounding gardening question, What plant should I buy? this beguiling addition to the genre is as noteworthy for the breadth of material covered as it is for the depth of personal perceptions shared. Although the specific recommendations for exceptional perennials, annuals, vegetables, and shrubs are enticing enough to encourage any inquisitive, and acquisitive, gardener to start preparing a wish list, equally valuable are the authors’ crystalline insights on the vision, time, and commitment gardeners must make to nurture their leafy charges through good times and bad. That new cultivar may be spectacular now, but how will it fare in the long run? With several decades of experience under their belts, the authors now find themselves in the enviable position of being able to reflect on their successes and failures, even as they are poignantly aware of the bittersweet reality that their best gardening days may, in fact, be behind them. --Carol Haggas
Customer Reviews
Our Life In Gardens
The writing is gorgeous, the story compelling and the gardening information topnotch. It is a book I will refer to over and over again, re-reading it for the beauty of its language and to guide my gardening efforts. Anyone who loves gardens and good writing should own a copy.
Wonderful
I did not want this book to end. I feel like I know the authors (and they're worth knowing!). Now I want some land of my own...even those without a garden, with no experience, can fall in love with this book and learn from it.
Our Life in Gardens
Wonderful, engaging read. Entertaining, insightful and instructive, by a real gardner who's also a real writer. I'm so glad I have this book to read again.
