But now it is time to fix a hot cup of tea and grab a few left over Christmas cookies and read through all the posts we have written about the December book selection, My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love edited by Jamaica Kincaid, or about our own favorite plants. To frame your reference for reading these entries, I encourage you to re-read Kincaid’s introduction, from which I quote the following (for those who didn’t have a chance to get a copy of the book or who have already returned their copy to the library):
“… I tried to arrange these essays and poems… in such a way as to give the illusion of a garden, a garden I would like (sometimes, only sometimes, feelings about a garden will change, too), a garden of words and images made of words, and flowers turned into words, and the words in turn making the flower, the plant, the bean (Maxine Kumin) whole.” … “At the end of it (the book), I hope the reader will have some satisfaction—not complete satisfaction, only some satisfaction. A garden, no matter how good it is, must never completely satisfy. The world as we know it, after all, began in a very good garden, a completely satisfying garden—Paradise—but after a while the owner and the occupants wanted more.”
I’ve have not arranged these thoughts, opinions and writings about this book or the bloggers’ favorite plants in any order, other than the order in which I received them or found them. As you read through them, please freely comment at each site.
Jenn at Garden Djinn
Tracy at Outside
Gloria at Pollinators-Welcome
Genie at The Inadvertent Gardener
Gloria at Pollinators-Welcome
Martha – Earth Girl at The Good Earth
Colleen at The Garden Online
Kim at A Study in Contrasts
Beverly at In My Backyard
Sissy at Got Serenity
Carol at May Dreams Gardens
Tracy at Outside
Gloria at Pollinators-Welcome
Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening
Old Roses at A Gardening Year
Thank you all for participating in December, and I hope all can participate in January (even with all those seed catalogs to study!) Our book for January is Teaming with Microbes: A Gardeners Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. We are completely switching gears with this book, away from essays about gardens and gardening to a book that is meant to improve our understanding of the very foundation of the garden, the soil. Watch for future posts about how to participate, even if you can’t get a copy of the book to read, or it just isn’t your type of book.
Carol: Thanks again for creating and taking on the Garden Bloggers Book Club – what a great way to spend the winter!
I didn’t manage to read the book but I finally published my own choice.
Couldn’t resist talking about a favorite plant.
Thank you, Carol, for including me, and for all your links and dedication to the Book Club!
Happy New Year Carol. I want to Thank You for the Book Club and the way you put everything together so that we can go from post to post with ease.The various perspectives have been interesting to read.
Since I didn’t receive the book, although I did order it, all your great posts are welcome. I have other essay collections, and enjoy reading the different styles one after another.
Genie and Colleen – I did try to comment on your entries, but could not make the letter/number verification work, in spite of several attempts.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I’ve just posted episode #5 on my podcast entitled ‘The Basics of Organic Gardening’. I’d appreciate any comments or input, be it about the topics or the podcast itself.
I even threw in a plug for the Book Club in this episode!
http://www.mychicagogarden.com
-Tyler