Henry Mitchell on Gardening [Paperback]

Henry Mitchell (Author), Susan Davis (Illustrator), Allen Lacy (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 1998

Gardeners disagree about many things -- cannas, double petunias, the color magenta -- but on one subject they are unanimous. Henry Mitchell was simply the best garden writer this country has ever produced. As Allen Lacy writes in his introduction to this, the final collection of Mitchell's gardening essays, "In a time when most garden writing was lethally dull and as impersonal as a committee report, Henry Mitchell was the great exception. He was often funny. He was always passionate, for his loves were many, although by the evidence he was especially enamored of bearded irises, roses, and dragonflies. He was endlessly quotable, whether he was telling his faithful readers that 'marigolds should be used as sparingly as ultimatums' or reminding them that 'to go from winter to summer you have to pass March.'" But Mitchell was more than a master essayist whose newspaper columns were read and treasured even by those who had no interest in gardens or in his other passion, dogs. He was a great teacher. As one reviewer said of his book One Man's Garden, it "reflects a zest for gardening and provides more useful advice than one could find in a dozen how-to books." For twenty years Mitchell's column "The Essential Earthman" was a weekly feature in the Washington Post. And whether he was extolling the perfection of the capital's summer weather (best enjoyed at six A.M. while viewing his water lilies and eating an ice-cold Vidalia onion sandwich) or deriding the idea that England was a decent place to garden or extolling the virtue of leaving plants alone if they are doing well, his reputation spread through friends who clipped his columns and sent them to those unlucky enough not to have access to the Post. When his first collection, The Essential Earthman, was published, Mitchell became the national treasure he deserved to be. As Lacy writes, "These books will continue to find and delight new readers long into the coming century, for they are classics."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This posthumous offering from one of America's great garden writers is a gem of a book--not a polished one, for polish was never Mitchell's goal, but brilliant nonetheless. His writing is earthy, rich, and sometimes dark, like good compost. His topics are occasionally raw (as in onions and manure) and always lively. It's hard to write about anything for some 25 years and remain fresh, but Mitchell managed to do it. One especially wonderful piece addresses the amazing mystery of plant loss in a small garden. Where could they possibly go? Mitchell decides that neither neglect nor forgetfulness is the culprit, instead attributing the loss to theft: "I have known cases in which somebody stole something like 'Desdemona' and then, in a cowardly way and probably in the dead of night, sneaked back in the garden and put it back in some strange place." This is one of the best collections of short garden pieces around, a fine introduction to Mitchell's work for those who haven't yet discovered his work and a necessary addition to the collections of those who already love it.

From Library Journal

The late Mitchell, one of America's most noted garden writers, brought wit, humor, and intelligence to the genre. This final collection of his "Earthman" columns, following The Essential Earthman (Houghton Mifflin, 1994) and One Man's Garden (LJ 9/1/92), takes us through the gardening year month by month. From the beginning of growing sweet peas in January to the endless tasks of spring to the ever-present challenges of summer gardening and the varied activities of autumn and winter, Mitchell tells his horticultural story in a delightful and informal manner. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries and special collections in horticultural and botanical literature.?Daniel Kalk, Enfield, Ct.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 243 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (April 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395878217
• ISBN-13: 978-0395878217
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,005,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read, November 5, 1999

By 

Nicholas La Rocca (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry Mitchell on Gardening (Paperback)

This book, the third collection of gardening essays from the late Henry Mitchell, again demonstrates why he was so respected. If there were ever a garden author you would expect to find holding forth over a beer at a neighborhood bar, daring anyone to start an argument with him, it would be Henry Mitchell. A man of strong opinions on almost everything to do with gardening and life in general, his commentary is always trenchant and pithy.

Although it is still an excellent read, this collection does not reach the heights of the first two from the same author. Mitchell's first collection (`The Essential Earthman') was long out of print but is now available again. His second collection (`One Man's Garden') is also available. I'd recommend anyone not familiar with Mitchell's writing to read one of those before diving into this book, but only because they are so good, not because this one is bad.

As with his other books, there is a lot of practical advice crammed into these pages, especially for city gardeners. Non-city dwellers may sometimes find the urbanocentric view disconcerting, but never uninteresting.

If you are looking for a "how-to" book or a step-by-step guide, this isn't it. But if you want a book that gives you the "feel' of gardening, this one's for you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply, the best gardening writer ever...., January 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Henry Mitchell on Gardening (Paperback)

I had spent many years reading Henry Mitchell's gardening columns in "The Washington Post," one of the greatest joys of that particular paper, and I was crushed by his death. How exciting to find anthologies of his columns! I've tossed the old, yellowing clippings of several columns that I had kept over the years. A wonderful reading experience, and wonderful stories (i.e. the hound and the clematis).
Pity the folks who offered poor reviews and hope that their eyes will be opened.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The last great collection..., January 21, 2001

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Henry Mitchell on Gardening (Paperback)

Well I wish it weren't so, but this book is probably the last collection of essays by Henry Mitchell. It was compiled posthumously by his wife and contains the essays he did not include in his two books THE ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN and ONE MAN'S GARDEN. Although one might assume these essays are inferior, they are not, they are simply the ones he wrote after he published his two books which were collections of his essays to that point.

As Allen Lacy says in the introduction, "For a couple of decades, the luckiest gardeners in the nation were those who subscribed to the Washington Post and ...on Thursday...could turn to Henry Mitchell's "Earthman" column. I can remember a rival column at the time, written by Jack Eden, and while Eden would be spraying for insects and dumping tons of fertilizer on his lawn, Mitchell dug up his lawn and turned it into garden.

The essays are arranged by season--a collection of random writings that appeared in monthly columns in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His writing is warm, witty, and a joy to read on a cold winter day or in the middle of summer sitting on the patio with a tall glass of lemonade.

He covers a variety of plants, grown in his own yard from those solid citizens--roses, peonies and irises--to the esoteric banana trees in pots and lilies in his horse trough pond. In one essay on plants that make their own elbow room, he writes of Agaves in pots that simply crack the sides when the pots become too small, the lotus that eventually sends tubers far beyond the tub, and the water lily that ran a hole in the side of the tank and escaped.

The book is lovingly illustrated by Susan Davis to whom he dedicated the book, and Allen Lacey has written a very nice introduction. Mr. Mitchell died in the early 1990s but his essays are as fresh and wonderful today as they were the day he wrote them. I love his books and wish I had originally bought them all in hard cover as I have read them over and over.