Product Description

For experienced and would-be gardeners alike, this beautiful book leads readers through a process of creative discovery that encourages them to bloom right along with their gardens.

Now more than ever, people are looking for activities that help them to relax and connect with the world--and nothing accomplishes this goal more completely than gardening. By tuning in to the processes of the natural world, millions have discovered that gardening acts as a conduit for experiencing creativity--not just in the garden, but in life. Now, gardening expert Fran Sorin offers this practical, prescriptive, and motivational book to teach readers to use gardening as both a metaphor and a tool for exploring and enhancing creativity in all areas of life. With evocative illustrations and a series of eye-opening, inspirational exercises, DIGGING DEEP encourages gardeners of all levels to enjoy their gardens more deeply and to set their creative selves free.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1278417 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Garden designer Sorin invites readers to "unearth" their "creative roots" in a book long on platitudes and cheerful encouragement but unfortunately lacking in advice that would-be gardeners can put to real use. In the introduction ("what does it mean to be creative?"), Sorin sets the book’s tone by explaining that her "mission is not to have everyone create world-class gardens, but…to show new and experienced gardeners alike how they can use their gardens…as tools for their creative awakening." Accordingly, she organizes her book into "seven stages of creative unfolding": Imagining, Envisioning, Planning, Planting, Tending, Enjoying and Completing. These are sensible divisions, certainly, but the exercises that Sorin provides offers within are not always inspiring (e.g., "Ask yourself: What would I do in my garden if there were no limits on time or money?"; "Spend some time writing about times in your life when you followed your instincts, both in and outside your garden"). Even in sections like "Tips for Container Gardening," which offer numerous opportunities to introduce hands-on advice, Sorin’s recommendations ("add water-retaining gel crystals") are familiar. Sorin does provide some useful bits, listing, for example, "The Six Must-Have Gardening Tools" and giving suggestions for controlling pests without using toxic chemicals. But the bulk of her book takes gardening as a metaphor for emotional and spiritual growth-which means that readers heading for the self-help aisles might like this volume better than those wandering through the gardening section.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
For an artist, it's an empty canvas; for a writer, a blank page; but for a homeowner, a barren landscape can be an equally daunting proposition. As with any creative endeavor, filling a space with beauty is a task few approach with any degree of self-confidence, but Sorin maintains such intimidation is unnecessary once we learn how to open ourselves up to sensory and imaginative experiences. Espousing principles that can and, she hopes, will be applied to other aspects of life, Sorin views gardening as the perfect place to begin one's creative reawakening and offers a thought-provoking series of exercises and practices that will help readers produce their perfect garden setting while developing philosophies and habits that will allow them to enjoy the fruits of their labors. From wishing and hoping to weeding and hoeing, Sorin enthusiastically guides gardeners every step of the way, helping them learn how to make choices and sharpen skills, celebrate successes, and embrace changes from a more creative perspective. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Fran Sorin designs gardens throughout the United States. She has been a regular contributor on NBC's Weekend Today and appeared on LIVE with Regis and Kelly, HGTV, The Discovery Channel, Lifetime, and NBC 10 in Philadelphia. The host of a weekly gardening radio show for Infinity Broadcasting, she also writes for USA Weekend and is the gardening expert for iVillage.com. She lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Customer Reviews

in my kitchen
I thought it was very strange when someone gave me this book as a gift in that I don't even have a yard. Most of the house plants I've had over the years have died from either too little or too much watering. It felt like a gag gift. I'm surprised I ever even started reading it but once I did I couldn't put it down. I realize now that the reason I had so much trouble with plants before is that I never really accepted them as being alive and as a result treated them as if they were a painting or a sculpture. I've re-stocked my kitchen with plants and we're all getting along very well thanks to Ms. Sorin. It has added more than foliage to my life.

Really Inspiring
Ever since I moved to New York City I felt like I just didn't have any time to do things I used to enjoy so much. And I read about this book in USAWeekend and bought it and got so inspired that I bought two fica plants before I even finished the book. It reminded me of the time I used to spend with my Irish grandma out in the garden where I grew up near Peoria, IL. It filled me with life again, and not to get too honest, since reading Fran Sorin's book I have gotten the courage to break off a relationship I should have ended a while back. And I honestly feel I am ready to start and enjoy making my new life grow!

A wonderful book!
This delightful book came to me at exactly the right time. The month
of March in Wisconsin is one of the toughest months for anyone who
loves gardening. Reading a pretty gardening book that focuses on
the gardener was exactly what I needed to make it through until the
first signs of spring began to arrive.

The author has divided this book up into stages of imagining,
envisioning, planning, planting, tending, enjoying, and completing
your garden. Each stage was an affirmation for me of why I connect
with nature and have dirt under my fingernails all summer long.

Step by step, you are shown how to find the creativity within and trust your instincts as you allow yourself to dream your garden into being. While there is plenty of practical how-to information, most of the insights in this book lead you toward building the self-confidence to allow yourself to listen, experiment and bring your vision into full bloom.

This book will remain along side my other favorite gardening books to
be read again and again, whenever I need some gardening inspiration.

Armchair Interviews says: Gardening inspiration...what a great concept.