Chanticleer, a pleasure garden near my home, has been called the most romantic, imaginative, and exciting public garden in America. The Art of Gardening provides techniques specific to different conditions and plant palettes, describes how to use hardscape materials in a fresh way, and demonstrates how Chanticleer’s horticulturalists achieve the perfect union between plant and site. The review promises that readers will be able to bring the special magic that pervades this most artful of gardens into our home landscape.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the three books above represent the beginning of my reading list. For example, this Sunday December 4, I’m attending the Hardy Plant Society’s annual meeting where well-known author Marta McDowell will discuss her latest book, All the President's Gardens, Madison's Cabbages to Kennedy's Roses-How the White House Grounds Have Grown With America, with refreshments and a book signing to follow. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to resist the opportunity to purchase a signed copy!
In January, HPS will co-host a lecture by author and photographer Ken Druse, considered the “guru of natural gardening” by the New York Times. Ken’s latest book, published in 2015, is The New Shade Garden: Creating a Lush Oasis in the Age of Climate Change. Probably another book I can’t live without, especially since I am a self-proclaimed shade gardener! In his lecture Ken is expected to share new ways of looking at all aspects of the gardening process, including topics such as designing your garden, choosing and planting trees, and discovering the vast array of flowers and foliage - all within the trials of a warming planet, shrinking resources, and new weather patterns. Ken says, "The garden of the future will be in the shade." I’m with him there.
As you can see, I have some reading to do, so I’d better be on my way so I can finish that fall clean up. My fireside leather chair, reading glasses and stack of books are calling me.
