Customer Reviews

Earth on Her Hands: The American Woman in Her Garden

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Earth on her Hands is a rich and vibrant book depicting the beauty of 18 very special women and the spectacular gardens they have nurtured over their lifetimes. The photography is amazing, capturing the beauty of the gardens as well as the wisdom, love, and beauty of each woman with "earth on her hands." It is more than a picture book and more than a gardening book. It is a revelation of wise, strong, wisdom women and their passion.

This is definately one of the most beautifully photographed books I have seen. Eighteen women gardeners from across the U.S. and their stunning gardens are profiled. Most of the women gardeners here are older and have been working on their gardens for decades. Some of them are also active in their local communities in garden clubs, parks and botanical gardens. If you enjoy looking at other people's gardens, you will love this. The photos are mouth watering. Each profile (about 10 pages in length) is wrapped up with a list of the gardener's recommended plants. This would be a good companion to Rosemary Verey's excellent book "The American Man's Garden".

Starr Ockenga's luminary profiles of some of North America's most dedicated women gardeners are inspirational for anyone who gardens. This book is a wonderfully designed blend of fine photography and eloquent writing. A must for the avid gardener.

I love gardening how-to and reference books. Although this book is neither, I love it nevertheless. The idea behind this book is simple. 18 women and their gardens. Each woman is interviewed, there are many many photographs of both the gardens and the gardener. You get to hear each woman's voice and hear her wisdom. You get to see plant lists, garden plans as well and understand the philosphy and approach that each woman has taken in her gardening endevour. If the context of this book were a village, it would serve as a storyteller of the female elders and their creation of special space. Gardening is most than simply landscaping. Reading this book you understand the difference. I only with there were more women gardeners in this edition!

Another fabulous Clarkson Potter Publishers book, Earth on Her Hands is a series of short biographies of 18 women who are non-professional, private gardeners and who have spent a lifetime growing and creating outstanding gardens. Each biography includes stunning color photos of the gardens and lovely sepia toned photos of the gardeners themselves as well as garden diagram sketches and individual gardener plant or project recommendations from their personal experiences. Ideas, inspiration and knowledge abound from these women (use flower arrangements IN the garden for areas where color is needed; 'Jersey Knight' asparagus is male and will not seed making it more productive) and their lifelong committment to their land, spaces, and plants gives every gardener something to aspire to. Any gardener worth her soil will find this an inspirational gift to give and receive, and a delightful off-season read.

This book is a compilation of women who have been gardening for years and have promoted the art of gardening throughout their lives. Each chapter highlights one of these incredible women which almost covers every zone in the United States. There is a ton of helpful tips and tricks to garden successfully in this book. I believe that, with the beautiful photography of Starr Ockenga, this could easily become a classic.

Beautiful photos, charming biographies and drawings of each property's layout make this book a joy to visit over and over again. Each time, I am inspired by the accomplishments of the profiled gardeners and reminded of the importance of patience and hard work- each of these women has worked for decades building and rebuilding her garden.
I received my copy as a gift years ago, and have given several copies to friends and family since. This purchase will be donated to my garden club for a fundraising sale.

I'm in the middle of my second reading, after buying this used book from Amazon.com. The book is very motivating for me, since all the women are well into their golden years (I'm 63). Reading about their gardening experiences, favorite plants they chose and why, and about how involved they were and are, in all the details of nurturing plants...it's just so inspiring and motivating to me!

The hand-drawn plans the author did of each garden she included in the book are very helpful. It was a surprise to me that these women use the Latin names of the plants more than common names. I've always thought in terms of common names, and this makes me want to gather so much more information about my own garden and plants.

Since reading this book, I've gone online to search out a template for recording individual plant information, as well as how to create a "Garden Planner."

It's a great book with lovely photos! Thank you! Carol~

I have read this book cover to cover twice and it is the most interesting, fascinating, inspiring, and beautiful gardening book I have ever read...why? Because it is about REAL women who have created unique and beautiful gardens without any formal training over great spans of time. I highly recommend this book as a wonderful GIFT for any woman gardener you know!

Men: please do not be put off by the title! This book is an inspiration that proves to be accessible to both sexes. Beauty in the garden cannot be bounded by gender lines. The photographs (many of which are full-page, with lovely sepia and white prints of the women themselves) are stunning, and this is one of the few gardening books where I actually read the accompanying text.

This is not a how-to-do-it, but more of a how-they-did-it; the stories really capture the continuity that results from a years-long commitment to one's land. For instance, one photo shows how a single plant purched in the 50s has grown into a sweeping carpet along a stone wall.

18 women and their US spaces are showcased here. (However, Alaska and Hawaii are not featured and I think this could have made the book even more wonderful.) Each woman gets a separate chapter, complete with pages and pages of well-captioned glossy photos, very readable text, a hand drawing of their garden designs, and several relevant lists. Some of the lists cover woodland carpet plants, white annuals/perennials/bulbs, and personal recommendations.

All sorts of gardens - alpine, rock, seaside, miniature/bonsai, water, citrus, huge-scale, small-scale, woodland - make up this large compendium. The book is 12.5 by 9 inches - a great contribution to a field where books seem to be getting smaller and smaller, and its size is really appropriate for the subject matter.

This is a book that I would have been thrilled with, sight unseen, and it would make a marvelous gift for someone special in your life, if you could bear to part with it. This one's a keeper, and it will not sit still on your coffee table!!