Customer Reviews

One Man's Garden

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Okay, it's the middle of winter, Christmas is past, and now is the time to break out the gardening catalogs and begin plotting the new growing year. According to Henry Mitchell, we can enjoy the garden year-round if we plan strategically and the middle of winter is a good time to begin.

Mr. Mitchell wrote two weekly columns for the Washington Post for a number of years--one of them a garden column I never missed reading. His garden columns have been preserved in several books. ONE MAN'S GARDEN follows his first book THE ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN which spread his well-earned reputation as a garden guru far beyond the Post market area. These two books were published while he was alive so one must assume they were collections of his favorite essays. The essays are arranged by season and correspond to the months he wrote them.

Mitchell can be read by gardeners living anywhere. Although his essays contain information helpful to those working in Zone 7, the reader can glean sage advice applicable anywhere. He shares anecdotes about his experiences in his own backyard, and while that might seem far from novel as every other Tom, Dick, and Henrietta is writing a garden book these days, his essays are the best. His writing is funny, philosophical, useful, and a joy to read, especially on a cold winter day when you need to be reminded of irridescent dragonflies hovering over lily ponds (former horse troughs).

In his essay on dragonfiles (July) he informs us they require lily pads for landing, they can't just plop on the water like a pelican. This little item helped me understand I needed to do more to make my back yard friendly to butterflies, dragon flies, and their insect kin. I now have shallow spots in my birdbaths where they can dip their tiny feet.

Mr. Mitchell shares all sorts of interesting insights from his adventures with clinging vines--planting them where they will not grow, growing native variants such as the American Wisteria. The American Wisteria is often overlooked by those who grow the "Oriental" kind from China which Mitchell says if left untended can form a 20-foot clump in the middle of your yard. The Chinese Wisteria is very ornate, and the U.S. Park Service has planted it all over the National Gallery of Art on the Mall, but the American Wisteria is a pretty little thing better suited for the back yard. Mitchell says you can see this Wisteria in bloom at the Henry Botanical Foundation in Philadelphia.

Mitchell's essays range far and near, from Jefferson at Monticello to flower shows in faraway places. He writes in December of bananas, not a local plant in Zone 7 by any means, but one Mitchell considered a "great good plant" nevertheless and he grows one in his back yard in a pot. Although MItchell died several years ago, his essays are every bit as timely useful and funny as ever, and not to be missed.

This book is a delight and a pleasure to read aloud. The author has helped us focus on spring planting even though the wind chill factor has been -35 degrees most of the weekend. One Man's Garden helps "cure" the cabin fever that rages at this time of year in the northeast. Well worth the money it's a refreshing window into the love of gardening.

This collection of Henry Mitchell's essays, mostly from his Washington Post gardening column, should stand as an example of how to write. Mr. Mitchell wrote as he spoke; simply, but eloquently and with a wink. His wry sense of humor and disdain for posturing are evident throughout his work. I believe his essay on sunflowers to be the most enjoyable piece of garden writing in existence.

A great gift for serious gardeners or newbie gardeners like myself looking to learn more and understand the trials, triumphs, and errors that all gardeners make. Mitchell has an appealing down to earth style of writing that made me nod in agreement, smile and even laugh out loud at times. If you know your plant taxonomy, it will make reading this book more enjoyable. Mitchell often refers to various plants by their genus. For example, knowing what plants constitute the genus epimedium, commonly called fairy wings, will make Mitchell's comments both more instructive, and at times, even more humorous. Reading this gave me pleasure and will hopefully help me to relax and enjoy my garden more -- Mitchell makes clear that great gardeners understand that the joy in gardening is about the process, not the finished product, because there will always be a new plant to try or a plant to move to a "better" place.

I ordered "Any Day". You sent me "One Man's Garden" which I already own. So, I sent it back and you charged me for the shipping as you claimed I had ordered it. "One Man's Garden" is a wonderful book and would really have liked to have added "Any Day" by Henry Mitchell to my Collection.