January is Garden Book Month

The Quietest and Most Constant of Friends

I wrote this originally last January but I decided to publish it again with photos. January is the sweetest time of year for a garden lover or designer. Time for reflection.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.  

~Charles W. Eliot

I know physical books are going the way of the Dodo and that e-books are taking over...but there is nothing more luxurious than sitting with a good garden book and a cup of tea on a cold January morning.

Dreams of flowers, herb gardens, vegetable varieties, garden gates and more weave their way through your thoughts and light up those parts of your brain that have gone dormant.  'Plant Dreaming Deep', indeed! (a nod to a book by May Sarton)

My first garden book..still one of my faves.

There are so many great garden books out there on so many aspects of horticulture, garden design, ecology, memoirs, etc. that I cannot possibly list them.They represent the dream of a beautiful garden, a perfect dahlia or the ramblings of a plant obsessed author. It is an escape into the green world where fungi are the champions and fruit and flowers are the reward. Garden books hold the promise of warmer days and greener pastures. And collecting them becomes an obsession. It seems that you just need that one more book...I have boxes of garden books. And I cannot part with them, no matter how hard I try. 

Photo by Liya Shin on Unsplash

I am surprised that garden books are not at the top of every publishers' list - but it seems that we are a small niche. How can that be? Gardening is still the most popular leisure time activity in the US - year after year. And we buy books! It is a conundrum.

Of course garden books can take over your living space. Book shelves groan beneath the weight of 'Grow the Best Tomatoes' and 'The Outdoor Living Room'. But which ones to cull? I can never decide. I am always going to read that one next...and then that one...

Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

Why are they so popular? and why do they have such a hold on us? Because garden books hold the promise of a more fruitful tomorrow. You know, the idea is always sweeter than the reality...as the great philosopher Pooh says, 

“Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.”

That delicious moment is what it is like right before you open a garden book..

So just keep stacking them up. And enjoy their colorful covers - if nothing else. They represent the lush promise of a garden and this, as we all know, warms the soul on a chill winter's day.

Thank you all joining me on this garden lovers substack! In Gardentopia, I celebrate all facets of gardens and garden design. I try to inspire and sometimes I become philosophical about it all….