Time and the Gardener

Download or read book Time and the Gardener written by Elisabeth Sheldon and published by Beacon Press (MA). This book was released on 2003 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From her vantage point as an octogenarian gardener, Elisabeth Sheldon knows that one of the most important elements in the making of a garden is the passage of time. This is true in the making of a gardener as well; no great gardener is young. Now, in Time and the Gardener, Elisabeth Sheldon shares with readers the lessons, triumphs, tips, favorite plants, and more that have guided her over the last three decades. The result is a book that is both practical and enjoyable, a perfect companion for new and veteran gardeners alike. Sheldon's long life in gardening has yielded a plethora of lessons -- for instance, that novice gardeners should not take gardening books too seriously, and that gardeners should never berate themselves over plants that die. She also advises her readers on such timeless topics as seed gathering, gardening in the deep woods, mail-order plants, and putting the garden to bed. Sheldon is a plantswoman par excellence, and in Time and the Gardener she writes delightfully about many of her favorite plants -- columbines, lysimachias, clematis, astilbes, and more. Even gardeners in other eras have inspired Sheldon, and in this book she gives readers colorful portraits of some of her favorites -- Jane Loudon, Gertrude Jekyll, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and others. Marvelously written yet intensely opinionated, witty, and wise, Time and the Gardener is vintage Sheldon and will inspire and inform gardening enchusiasts everywhere. Book jacket.