Thanks for the recommendations in your latest blog post, Amy! I love discovering new books through others. What a treat to see the favorites of one of my favorite authors.
Amy's book, From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden
is a must for the non-fiction gardening book (i.e. gardening essays) list. Is anybody working on that?I want to add the following guilty pleasures-- Nora Roberts' garden trilogy. Ladies, there's a hunky yet sensitive plant propagator and a hunky landscape designer, neither of whom are gay or married... and it all takes place at the family nursery, on the grounds of the family mansion. Haunted, of course.
As Amy also mentioned, a "favorite gardening movies" list is in the works as well:
-- Saving Grace (one of my favorites too)
-- Greenfingers
-- ???
It isn't exactly a gardening movie, but Enchanted April is a great demonstration of the healing powers of wisteria and sunshine. And one of my favorite movies.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds wonderful, Claire, and I've never seen it. Netflix doesn't offer it, but I'm sure I can pick up a used copy somewhere. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHere's the IMDB summary: This slow-paced gem is about the civilizing influence of Italy on beleaguered Londoners both male and female and has it's own civilizing influence on the viewer. It's almost like taking a little mini-trip to Italy, a gorgeously filmed enchantment.
Four women rent a chateau on a remote Italian island to try to come to grips with their lives and relationships. They explore the differences in their personalities, reassess their goals, and reexamine their relationships in a sisterly fashion.
The British film Greenfingers is fun. It's based on a true story of prisoners learning to garden and finally entering the prestigious Hampton Court show.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Greenfingers! I think Amy found it disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI dont think I know any gardening films.The patience and waiting for things to grow maybe dont do a lot for hollywood studio's.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures along the top are so cool.Are they all you from the bucket girl to the pretty woman in the last one.Its amazing i have never noticed the growing stages of the photo's.Hope you are well after your recent holiday...its always a pain to come back...
I'm really looking forward to watching The Real Dirt on Farmer John. It's in my Netflix queue.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, "bucket girl" and all the rest are me. I wanted to make a parallel between the fact that places grow plants... but they also grow people. By the way... Thank you, Mom, for taking so many pictures of me as a child!
As for my recent holiday, now it's back to the daily grind. My son started school today. I've been pretty wrapped up in back-to-school tasks (for him) and have a lot to catch up on in the garden. On the plus side, I'll have more time to myself during the day. Woo hoo! In a way, back-to-school marks the beginning of a parent's holiday. ;-)
Garden essays have been one of my obsessions for the past few years..even bad ones often have something to teach me! But just a few of the good ones are...all of Henry Mitchell's books, Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman, Gardening in Eden by Arthur T. Vanderbilt, Slug Tossing by Meg DesCamp, Growing Seasons by Annie Spiegelman, Paths of Desire by Dominique Browning and The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. It was scary to see how many are on my shelf! Also...used book stores are a good place to check...I always find several and if you don't like it at least it was cheap!
ReplyDelete"By the way... Thank you, Mom, for taking so many pictures of me as a child!"
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, my little "bucket girl." Sometimes I think I'd like to have a web site with nothing but jillions of pictures of my kids and grandkids growing up, but that could start a horrible trend that might irk the cyber gods.
Love,
mom
Just finished reading a great gardening-based novel by George Mournehis - The Mulberry Tree. It's about the restorative/rehabilitative effects of gardening. Great characters and beautfully written. I highly recommend it. (It's also a bit of a romance and full of gardening tips!)
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