{"id":2227,"date":"2014-10-01T00:02:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T07:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/book\/book-review-248\/"},"modified":"2023-08-18T12:05:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T19:05:04","slug":"back-in-the-garden-with-dulcy","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/book\/back-in-the-garden-with-dulcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in the garden with Dulcy : the best of The Oregonian garden writer Dulcy Mahar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Back<\/p>\n

A book that took me totally by surprise is “Back in the Garden with Dulcy”, a selection of articles by Dulcy Mahar, who for 22 years wrote a gardening column for The Oregonian in Portland. Clearly, I haven’t been paying enough attention to gardening south of the Columbia!<\/p>\n

Sadly, Dulcy died in 2011 after a long battle with cancer, but she continued writing up to a few weeks before her death. Fortunately her husband, Ted Mahar, has edited and published a selection of her writings. I am completely charmed by the results.<\/p>\n

While Ted is understandably also a fan, I heartedly agree with him when he describes her columns as “\u2026filled with solid advice, warnings, lists, ideas and experiments worth trying, the latest trends, yearnings for a change of season, and more. Whatever the subject, Dulcy’s wit glowed through. Pick a week, and you’d likely find a quotable quote.”<\/p>\n

I would add that she had a knack of reaching out to young or inexperienced gardeners, putting them at ease, urging them not to be afraid to just go for it. She also had a love of animals, especially her cats (although one lucky dog, Hector, gets a lot of press, too). One of her Wagnerian felines is posed with her on the front cover, “helping” in the garden.<\/p>\n

An example of her advice: “Make a list so that you can get exactly what you need when you hit the nurseries and plant sales. Oh, I could hardly say that with a straight face. I am practically rolling on the floor, and the cats and Hector the dog are looking askance. Of course, it is excellent advice. But can I follow that advice? Hardly.”<\/p>\n

Excerpted from the Fall 2014 Arboretum Bulletin.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A book that took me totally by surprise is “Back in the Garden with Dulcy”, a selection of articles by Dulcy Mahar, who for 22 years wrote a gardening column for The Oregonian in Portland. Clearly, I haven’t been paying enough attention to gardening south of the Columbia! Sadly, Dulcy died in 2011 after a long battle with cancer, but she continued writing up to a few weeks before her death. Fortunately her husband, Ted Mahar, has edited and published…<\/p>\n

Continue reading Back in the garden with Dulcy : the best of The Oregonian garden writer Dulcy Mahar<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[22,36],"class_list":["post-2227","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","keyword-reviews","keyword-rhododendron"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/2227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/book"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}