Much fun is found in The Curious Gardener, published by Anna Pavord in 2010. This collection of writings from the British newspaper The Independent includes a serviceable gardening calendar for our region, but I’d especially check it out for the pure pleasure of essays written by a kindred, but at times contrary, gardening soul.
She begins with a tongue-in-cheek, astrological calendar of gardening signs (as a Pisces, it is good to know my intuition will help me “…recognize that a plant is in difficulty long before it is past saving”). Later she judges potential lovers by the choice of flowers they give on Valentine’s Day.
This same article brings out her political and environmental side, as she laments the ecological disaster caused by the huge business of producing cut flower roses in South America during the northern hemisphere winter.
An added bonus are the wood engravings by Howard Phipps, carved on the end grain of a block of very hard boxwood, using a technique that reached its pinnacle in the mid-19th century. It’s appropriate that the artist used a hand press from 1862 for the final images.
Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Summer 2017