Stalking the Wild Amaranth: Gardening in the Age of Extinction [Hardcover]

Janet Marinelli (Author), Stephen K-M. Tim (Drawings)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

An important horticultural memoir articulating a new landscape art that's both environmentally sensitive and rich in creativity.

Janet Marinelli left her comfortable city garden to join a botanist colleague in search of the rare Seabeach Amaranth--one of our many native species that is in danger of extinction. The result of the ensuing seven-year odyssey, Stalking the Wild Amaranth is a work of science and a work of art. Marinelli tells the story of her discovery that contemporary gardening is out of sync with theories evolving on the frontiers of science and philosophy. She also tells of her quest for a new garden art that nurtures a greater richness and variety of earthly life. Inspired by the legacy of Henry David Thoreau, Marinelli bls history, horticulture, erudition, and personal insight into a narrative that ponders the relationship between humankind and nature. She fleshes out a vision for a new, ecologically wise landscape art, disagreeing ultimately with those who insist that growing native plants is the only way to recover our environmental equilibrium. Gardeners, she writes, should be free to experiment, to let our imaginations run wild, to learn how to be the creators of biodiversity as well as the preservers and restorers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It comes as no surprise to anyone that human society has had a pernicious effect on native plant life. What is surprising is that plants fall prey not only to the mechanical effects of suburban expansion, but also to such seemingly harmless processes as the introduction of nonnative rivals to their eco-regions. Oddly, in the case of the seabeach amaranth, it was the well-meaning efforts of various New Jersey and Long Island waterfront communities to curtail beach erosion that fragmented this normally hardy plant's habitat, leaving it unable to propagate. It is now, for all practical purposes, extinct. Throughout North America, approximately one-third of native plant species are considered endangered.

Janet Marinelli's compelling history of the American landscape examines everything from the popular obsession with lawns to the sex life of plants. For example, much of the decline in plant diversity can be traced to the rise of asexual clones--one ubiquitous example is the Delicious apple--exacerbated by the American fondness for the neatly clipped garden, which discourages open pollination of the few remaining native plants. But Marinelli goes much deeper than mere statements of fact, using garden design as a metaphor that reveals changing social philosophies, from rationalist to romantic and back again, and sweeping Darwin, Einstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Gaia hypothesis into the mix. The latter half of the book concentrates on the past few decades of gardening and what changes in techniques and style have brought to the larger ecological communities. Never have the possible implications of the simple act of planting been made quite so entertaining.

From Library Journal

Marinelli (Your Natural Home, LJ 9/1/95) explores the connection between modern gardening practices and environmental degradation threatening many native plant species, such as the sea beach amaranth. Her argument that gardeners should do more to protect or reestablish native plant communities on their properties is well taken, but this topic has been described in greater detail in such recent books as Sara Stein's Noah's Garden (LJ 4/1/93). Nor is the author a purist, declaring at one point, "I'm convinced of the need for ecological restoration in the home garden...but I don't think people will...be content simply to re-create the plant communities of the past." She suggests instead that gardeners "learn how to be the creators of biodiversity as well as its preservers and restorers." Her approaches include converting front yards from lawn to something resembling native woodlots, growing one's own vegetables, and making compost. Short on specifics, this book works best as a thoughtful though often rambling meditation on ecology and gardening. Recommended for comprehensive gardening collections.?Beth Clewis Crim, Prince William P.L., Va.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, Inc.; 1st edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805044159
• ISBN-13: 978-0805044157
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,964,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get into organic gardening..., May 7, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: Stalking the Wild Amaranth: Gardening in the Age of Extinction (Hardcover)

I love this book. The author works for the wonderful Brooklyn Botanic Garden in NYC and if you haven't been--go. Ms Marinelli writes well, and I find her style pleasing. She is not preachy, but she does raise some hard questions. Unlike most writers warning us of our bad behaviour and it's affect on the future, she does not attempt to scare the reader, but rather she puts forth a reasonable discussion of the alternatives.

Each of us must make some sacrifice for the greater good. And although that word has a negative connotation, until one gets the hang of delayed gratification one cannot realize the payoff is usually 5 times better than the result of immediate gratification.

Think of the grassy lawn. Grassy lawns are not native to the U.S. They are bad, bad things. And although giving them up is hard to do, the alternative can be very pleasing. I have entirely replaced my grass lawn with ground covers and they look better most of the year than the grass ever did. Did you know there is a Creeping Thyme that looks like grass, grows in the hot hot sun, and needs no additional watering during the long hot summer. It looks fabulous next to a walk (especially white marble chips).

The message of Ms. Marinelli's book is that there are alternaives ways of attaining gratification, and we will all be better off if we seek them.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very good, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stalking the Wild Amaranth: Gardening in the Age of Extinction (Hardcover)

I found the book by chance, & the title tells one very little of what to expect. The author covers all the different vougues of gardening up to the present, and their impact on the environment.

I especially enjoyed the critique of the insane amount of effort Americans, put into their lawn care, along with a few other toxic chemicals..and their negative effects on our water,air, local ecology & health. The author makes a good argument against herbicides, since they destroy the biodiversity possible in your garden, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers. When will the media take this up as a viable topic for disscussion? She advocates returning to planting mostly native plants. She defines what this has meant historically & ecologically. Also, she mentions the historical racist overtones of this philosophy, and how it was used in Nazi Germany.

Over all a very easy & fun read. Some excellent references and good summaries. This book could be the Silent Spring for the 90's, she knows what she is talking about!