The Writer in the Garden [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Jane Garmey (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

Show me a person without any prejudice of any kind on any subject and I'll show you someone who may be admirably virtuous but is surely no gardener.--Allen Lacy. Idiosyncratic, determined, and occasionally obsessed, gardeners have a lot to say about their outdoor passion. THE WRITER IN THE GARDEN brings together a host of writing gardeners and gardening writers reveling in their quirks, confessing their shortcomings, and sharing their experiences. Combing through a hundred years of garden writing, editor Jane Garmey has discovered some great contemporary works and rediscovered many classics: "I am strongly of the opinion," declares Gertrude Jekyll, "that the possession of a quantity of plants, however good the plants may be themselves and however ample their number, does not make a garden." "It isn't that I don't like sweet disorder, but it has to be judiciously arranged," writes Vita Sackville-West. "Gardeners are--let's face it--control freaks," Abby Adams admits. "Who else would willingly spend his leisure hours wrestling weeds out of the ground, blithely making life or death decisions about living beings, moving earth from here to there, changing the course of waterways?" Drawing on the work of more than fifty writers, THE WRITER IN THE GARDEN covers subjects ranging from the beauty of the garden to ornery weeds, the hazards of rare plant collecting, and the tribulations of inclement weather. The collection includes a range of authors from both sides of the Atlantic: from Edith Wharton, who insists that we could all learn a thing or two about design from the Italians, to Stephen Lacey, who reveals that his most exciting gardening moments are spent in the bath. Some of the other writers in the collection are: E. B. White, Beverly Nichols, Ken Druse, Eleanor Perenyi, W. S. Merwin, Mirabel Osler, Henry Mitchell, Jamaica Kincaid, Robert Dash, Sara B. Stein, Michael Pollan, M.F.K. Fisher, Anne Raver, Patti Hagan, Paula Deitz.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Not the least of the charms of this collection is that it is printed on quality paper, with delightful line drawings, and is just the right size to encourage the reader to take it in hand and turn the pages--which they will surely want to do once they have dipped into any chapter, where they will find some of the finest garden writing of the last hundred years. The famous writers of the past, like Vita Sackville-West, Gertrude Jekyll, Elizabeth von Arnim (author of Enchanted April), and Beverley Nichols rub shoulders with the garden columnists and book authors of today, such as longtime Washington Post columnist Henry Mitchell, Christopher Lloyd, and Ken Druse.

As all gardeners know, thinking about plants and gardens leads one to speculate about life, love, triumph and despair, obsession, and death. These authors cover it all, not just in metaphor, although they are expert at the well-turned phrase and the classic image, but in garden practicalities, too. Perhaps only in the best garden essay can the design of shovels, the number of worms in the soil, and raves about the newest kind of perennial co-exist comfortably with ruminations on mortality, the soul, and the nature of beauty. Lest this sound too serious, all is laced with humor; Henry Mitchell's hounds lie about the garden beds, crushing his latest peony, and Charles Kuralt complains about how he missed his favorite daffodil when CBS News had the nerve to send him to Moscow in April for an unfortunately scheduled summit conference.

"Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination," said Alice Morse Earle in 1897. We are fortunate that these writers had enough imagination to both garden and to write about it and that Jane Garmey had the imagination to gather such a variety of well-chosen garden voices. --Valerie Easton

From Kirkus Reviews

This delightful collection of garden writings edited by Garmey, a travel, food, and gardening writer, is just what's hoped for in a sampler: each bite is a likely pleasure, with a couple of duds thrown in to forestall complacency. Garmey has put together 63 pieces, many of them snippets from larger works (there are a few poemsHomer, Marvell, Pope, Schuylerand newspaper articles), from writers rich in quirk and wit, and with dirt under their fingernails. They discourse here in a nonprescriptive wa y about the pleasures and foibles of gardening. The names are by and large familiar: Eleanor Perenyi writes about her stream of lunatic, incompetent, and tragic garden helpers, and Maribel Osler serves up a not-so-gentle plea for chaos. Henry Mitchell's l ament on the weather is so dry its in danger of spontaneously combusting (``As I write this, on June 29, it's about time for another summer storm to smash the garden to pieces''). There is Michael Pollan on Marx and Freud in the rose garden, and Allen Lac y cutting rough: ``Let me dwell for a moment on one plant I especially detestthe hydrangea.'' Less household names are equally engaging, such as Cynthia Kling on gardening as a contentious blood sport, or Julian Meade's nonconformist salute, ``The more I hear of Horticulture, the more I like plain gardening,'' for the ``slipshod method suits me better.'' Even fusty old Gertrude Jekyll and sniffy Vita Sackville-West are bearable since they are given just a little page space. Only Sara Stein's predictable item on weeds and Lauren Springer's uninspired ode to autumn and its ``frost-tolerant annuals'' and ``lingering pastel perennials'' are true disappointments, but then its easy enough to turn the page and move on to the well-turned earth of E.B. White or J amaica Kincaid. A fun gathering of garden eccentrics and cranks of every radius. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565121813
• ISBN-13: 978-1565121812
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good anthology for the relatively new gardener..., June 4, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: The Writer in the Garden (Hardcover)

I had previously read many of the books, articles, news columns etc. excerpted in Jane Garmey's book "The Writer in the Garden" but I read them again because most are very well written. Now, I'll hand the book over to my daughter who has recently taken an interest in gardening. She's approaching 40 and one of the writers in this book suggests 40 is the fateful age when gardening takes on new meaning.

If you haven't read many "garden" books and are looking for a place to begin, try this book. There are about 10,000 garden books on the market, many of them not worth a dime, but Garmey has included excerpts from some of the masters: Henry Mitchell, Anne Raver, Beverly Nichols, Vita Sackville West, Elizabeth Lawrence, Allen Lacy, Katherine White, Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd. All these excellent gardeners have years of hands-on experience, as well as a talent for distilling years of experience into some fine "yarns."

I discovered a new writer whose book of poetry I intend to read--W. S. Merwin. He describes his gardening efforts in Hawaii. I lived there once, and recall taking a dead stick and using it as a stake to prop a plant. The "dead" stick came to life. An idiot could garden in Hawaii. However, Mr. Merwin is trying to do something different. He's planting native flora in his hillside garden where fools once tried to grow sugar. His writing is so lucid and beautiful I felt transported to a garden I left over 30 years ago. His essay, "The Shape of Water" is worth the price of the book.

Ms Garmey has included other writers I don't think of as garden writers. Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher, whose autobiographical writings focus more on food than where it came from writes about roses in a childhood garden. Since she grew up in Whittier California, you can bet those roses were superb.

Several of the writers were boring or fretful and I am put off by both traits. I don't care for articles that give me so much detail I fall asleep, but not enough detail to help me. I also am tired of writers who complain. Anyone who gardens knows it's hard work. On the other hand, sometimes the complaints were hilarious. Eleanor Perenyi does seem to have had a run of bad luck with her gardeners.

Before you invest in other gardening books, you might review the material in this little book. You will discover first hand why not all "garden" writers are created equal--or even if they are, may not appeal to you. This is a book of essays with little immediate practical information for beginners. Still, one never knows...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Collection of Brilliant Garden Writing., September 12, 2003

By 

Thomas L. Ogren (San Luis Obispo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Writer in the Garden (Hardcover)

The Writer in the Garden, edited cleverly by Jane Garmey, is a terrific little book. It is an attractive book too, the cover is pleasing, the type good, the actual materials of the book itself are well-made, pleasing to hold in your hand.
This book would appeal the most to two sorts of folks I'd think. One, those who are die-hard gardeners, who just love to garden, who actually do garden. And two, the book would appeal to those who appreciate extra fine writing. I noticed long ago that for some reason, some of the very finest writing I see in non-fiction is about fishing, boxing, and gardening. Somehow these topics appeal to many who write especially well. This book is packed with work from the best in the field.
The Writer in the Garden is thought provoking, exploring why we garden, why we care so passionately about it. I am a garden writer myself (Allergy-free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden, etc.) and I think that all garden writers themselves would do well to read this book, to see how the masters write, to elevate our own prose.
This is a top notch book with much to recommend it. I expect too it would make a beautiful present for that person who already has everything he or she needs, and who loves to garden and read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This anthology is the best garden visit I've ever had., January 18, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Writer in the Garden (Hardcover)

Winter is in full swing here in New York and Connecticut and I've barely noticed. The excerpts and essays keep me from my work and even from the catalogues that have begun to pour in and which usually occupy my time. What is especially wonderful is that this is a book to which I keep returning. I am inspired and ready for the season. As far as I'm concerned, Vita Sackville-West finally has a rival!