Based on his earlier, high-energy books, it is not hard to imagine Des Kennedy as the author of book entitled “The Passionate Gardener”. With wicked humor and incredible insight to both gardens and gardeners, he warns of the seven deadly sins of gardening, and extols its ten commandments. Other chapters are more reflective, but he’s always ready to see the irony and contradictions in how we conduct our favorite pursuit.
Kennedy also displays a knack for travel writing, making trips to Hawaii, Ireland, and New Zealand entertaining while packing in a lot of names and facts that would be handy for planning your own trip. This is the perfect reading companion for a winter’s evening and between the laughs, you just might soak up some good, sound gardening counsel based the author’s years of gardening in the British Columbia Gulf Islands.
Excerpted from the Fall 2008 Arboretum Bulletin.