In controlled disorder lie planted the essence and beauty of the English garden, the ideal for gardens the world over. In her ability to inspire and evoke the passions and obsessions of gardeners, Mirabel Osler offers a stirring appeal for gardens that have lives of their own, that reflect not so much a compulsion for dominance and regimentation as an intimate understanding of nature's own designs.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
Osler's plea is not so gentle; rather, its opinionated (though never dismissive), bell-clear, wickedly humorous, brilliant--a call for cultivated anarchy in the garden that turns an oxymoron into a sensuous, sensible act. ``Why garden? God knows . . . Damn those fine mornings. It's then that guilt seeps in like bad gas,'' groans Osler, one of England's best-known gardeners. Don't buy it for a minute. Her love of gardening is obvious, even if ``a great number of gardening jobs are pure slog.'' And her garden, eclectically wanton as it is, enemy of everything regimented and overly neat, shot through with the native vitality of plants for atmosphere and mystery, brings her to her knees much of the time; untidiness requires work. She wouldn't have it any other way. She likes a rude edge, to blur and enchant, the unruly ``quality that adds an extra sensory dimension.'' She loves hedges, walls, and paths--``the bones of a garden''--as long as they don't rob the garden of its sensuality. Here she offers not so much advice as the experience of her Shropshire garden: trees for their summer crowns and bare winter branches, stone for its texture and floral affinities, water for its attractiveness to humans and kingfishers and newts, bulbs for their individuality and scope. She's not tethered to flowers, but she loves them too (``who can go outside and kick a lily?''). Like her garden, Osler will not be confined, and she delights in moving off in many directions, to weather wars and the transporting quality of scent, botanical illustrations and the patron saints of gardening (Osler suggests a small figure of one in the garden ``might be just as efficacious as a blast of Phostrogen''). Osler's thinking is original, intuitive, and sharp as a tack; as a gardening writer she rightly sits up there with Henry Mitchell and Eleanor Perenyi. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
...a smart, spirited, gorgeously written and above all funny book ... open-minded (her outlook is refreshingly international), personal and passionate... -- The New York Times Book Review, Michael Pollan
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The perfect gift for the avid gardener,
By
This review is from: A Gentle Plea for Chaos (Hardcover)
On the enchantment of gardening, Mirabel Osler writes, "Somewhere, invisibly and very powerfully, I am being got at by something very pushy...I know that when I walk into my garden and start working, I am drawn across an invisible threshold I never knew existed until I began to grovel." Warm and insightful, this book belongs with the classics of garden literature.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I can relate to chaos in the garden,
This review is from: Gentle Plea for Chaos (Paperback)
Chaos in the garden? That's something I can relate to, so this title grabbed my attention. The photo of the author on the back cover depicts a middle-aged woman, barefooted and wearing a straw hat and a frumpy outfit backed by ferns. What the photo could not convey was that what the author might lack in fashion sense, she more than made up for in literary style. As a garden writer, I've quoted frequently from these eloquent pages.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Pleased,
By Joy Robbins "Pleased shopper" (Bay Area) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Gentle Plea for Chaos (Hardcover)
Supplier sent the book right around; if only the carrier would have followed score. book was accurately described in perfect condition. I'm happy book owner
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