Customer Reviews

Catholic Traditions in the Garden

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I ordered this book in the hope that it would have some great ideas for gardening that incorporated aspects of the Catholic faith. Instead I found a history book with fairly ordinary craft projects easily found in many craft books (i.e. gourd birdhouses, stepping stones, and garden plaques). I was particularly interested in Monastery gardens and Mary gardens, and while this book does give a brief history on these two items, it doesn't provide much practical advice on how to actually create either one. The history of a Monastery garden is briefly described and then the reader is referred to the Brother Cadfael mystery stories to see some diagrams of said gardens. The section on Mary gardens again includes a brief history and then spends only one paragraph describing what one might find in a Mary garden. The reader is then left to "use your own creativity to set up your own special tribute to Our Lady." The book does have a fairly thorough explanation of Biblical and historical plants, but really doesn't convey much more of that information than one could find on the internet. I appreciate the author's writing style and her attempt to give some background knowledge on the history of gardening, but I was really expecting a book with more practical advice that wouldn't require me to figure everything out on my own. Suffice it to say, after reading the book, I don't feel that I've learned anything new.