Out in the Garden: Growing a Beautiful Life [Hardcover]

Dean Riddle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002

The very mood and atmosphere of the garden -- its scents, colors, and textures -- are often indelibly linked to scenes from the gardener's life. As he dispenses excellent hands-on gardening advice in Out in the Garden, Riddle draws on his past and present, reflecting on family, childhood, and growing up gay in South Carolina.

Back in 1980, when Dean Riddle was a young horticulture student, he "thought annual flowers, not to mention birdbaths, were the heights of frivolity -- things to amuse and occupy little old ladies." Thinking himself a serious plants-man with "no interest whatsoever in design," he dreamed of collecting woodland wildflowers, rare trees, and flowering shrubs native to the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he was born and where he developed and nourished a deep love of plants and the natural world.

A decade later, after living in various parts of the country and making gardens for other people, Dean Riddle settled in the Catskill Mountains. There, he finally got the chance to make his own first garden-"a small garden of sticks and stones with a swept dirt floor." But instead of planting rare stewartias and speckled trout lilies, he grew old-fashioned flowers and everyday vegetables like the ones he remembered from his aunt and uncle's farm in South Carolina. In the process he learned the value of good design and the importance of relating house to garden. And he discovered that the good life "has far less to do with money than it does with style, awareness, and gratefulness."

Riddle's thoughts on gardening are astute and straightforward. His storytelling, while at times poignant, is punchy and hilarious. Honest, helpful, and always entertaining, Out in the Garden is both a "how-to" manual and a memoir -- and succeeds masterfully at both.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An accomplished horticulturist who has written prolifically for Elle D‚cor and gardening publications, the author communicates his passion for his profession in this appealing memoir. It is not necessary to have an extensive knowledge of gardening to appreciate the practical advice Riddle offers. He draws on his own practice to demonstrate all aspects of garden making, from initial design to choice of plants, deployment of water and fertilizer and the use of containers. Raised in South Carolina, Riddle studied horticulture in England before eventually settling in upstate New York. For the last 10 years, he has been renting a simple bungalow with spectacular mountain views. Here he's designed a fenced kitchen garden, enclosed by sticks and filled with vegetables and flowers, a creation that has given him "more pleasure and taught me more than I ever would have imagined." Riddle effectively conveys the joys of a relatively modest lifestyle lived in the midst of great natural beauty. Interspersed are reminiscences of his beloved parents and descriptions of the gardens that impressed him as a child. He also reflects on his life as a gay man and recalls the death of a friend from complications of AIDS. Although he never came out to his parents, now deceased, Riddle is certain his mother understood and accepted his identity. Stylishly written with gentle humor, Riddle's reminiscence is, in its quiet way, inspiring. B&w illus.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Riddle, who writes the monthly column "Dean's Dirt" for Elle D‚cor magazine, offers an engaging and humorous memoir about his lifelong love of gardening, his appreciation for the simple things in life, and growing up gay in the rural South. Born in Mauldin, SC, Riddle was enamored of plants and nature at an early age. After a brief job at a local nursery, he studied horticulture at a small community college in North Carolina and eventually won an internship at the prestigious Hillier Nursery in England. When Riddle got the chance to create his own garden in Woodstock, NY, he filled it with the vegetables and old-fashioned annuals that had so influenced him during childhood. Though filled with useful tips on plants and design, Riddle's book is about much more than gardening. It's about discovering pleasure and beauty in life's simple things and the value of family and friends. Whether describing the hijinks of a video shoot in his garden by the B52s or extolling the virtues of a cherished vase that belonged to his mother, Riddle's prose is compulsively readable, funny, and entertaining. Recommended for public libraries. Phillip Oliver, Univ. of North Alabama Lib., Florence
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060188057
• ISBN-13: 978-0060188054
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #981,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never too late, August 17, 2003

By 

Elizabeth Cavanaugh (NYC, NY & Halcott Center NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out in the Garden: Growing a Beautiful Life (Hardcover)

The librarian at Skene Library in Fleishmanns, NY foisted this book upon me as I had missed Dean Riddle's personal appearance and reading. I politely took it home. I started to skim read and three hours later had finished the book and made a list of pages to return to for information. This book is a jewel of a read and a must for any Catskill gardener. I have had a "failed garden" for ten years in the Felishmanns area. I used to be a good gardener. Not in the Catskills! Mr Riddle provides a virtual how to manual for my next year's garden. But beyond the practical, it is a delightful, fast paced, funny read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book to Read in the Garden with a Cup of Coffee Award, March 19, 2003

By 

Julie Maruskin "Julie" (Winchester KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out in the Garden: Growing a Beautiful Life (Hardcover)

Out of all the gardening books I've purchased for our public library in the last four years, I would recommend Dean Riddle's book first and foremost to our readers as a balm to the soul, an inspiration to gardeners everywhere, and a plain old good read. The focus of the book is informative yet personal: it is the story of one man's coming of age in the garden, his connection with the strange and often-ignored vibrancy of the horticultural world, and his joyous appreciation of people, plants, dirt, sticks, old glassware, fried eggs, and just about everything else.

For four months a year I read virtually nothing but gardening books of all types as our orders come in to the library. Very few of the writers are able to touch and inform readers at the same time, and it is this gift that Dean Riddle brings to his writing. The book is organized in such a way that Riddle is able to incorporate stories into his highly readable and clear descriptions of his own garden plans. Within the space of a few paragraphs, the reader finds himself in Dean's world. The fully-colored images and sensations of Dean's garden stay brilliantly painted in one's mind long after the book is closed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Passionate About Gardening, August 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Out in the Garden: Growing a Beautiful Life (Hardcover)

I am really enjoying this book. I am not done yet, but I have already started looking at my garden differenly. I am thinking about getting some more garden books to help me improve my garden. This book is whimsical and delightful. The author writes with a wonderful style. I hope that he is allowed to stay at his rented bungalow forever. My only complaint is the books that Amazon suggests you should get if you enjoyed this book. They all seem to be about being Gay. This book is so much more than a book about a man coming out of the closet. I think anyone would like this book straight or gay. Have to go and stroll in my garden. Enjoy the book!