Of Leaf and Flower: Stories and Poems for Gardeners

By Charles Dean

Winner of the 2002 Garden Writers Association of America's Garden Globe Award for Illustration. A literary anthology that summons up the profound passions and wild obsessions of gardening. The answers to many gardening questions can be found in how-to manuals and essays, but who can fathom the passions behind the obsession? Why do we get down on our hands and knees in the mud in March or return to the garden for one last look before dark? Only the storytellers and poets can tell us. The twelve short stories and twelve poems collected here celebrate the irresistible emotions that plants inspire. A beautiful flower arouses the desire to possess in The Lily by H. E. Bates and The Fable of the Rhododendron Stealers by Sylvia Plath. In William Saroyan's The Pomegranate Trees a man plants fruit trees from his native Armenia and then goes to extremes to keep them alive in the California desert. Robert Graves's humorous story, Earth to Earth, is set during the Second World War and reveals the secret ingredient in uniquely potent compost; and in Billy Collins's Bonsai a miniature tree changes our perspective on the whole world. Also included are Mary Austin, Kate Chopin, Amy Clampitt, Eugenia Collier, Mark Doty, Robert Frost, O. Henry, Josephine Jacobsen, Sarah Orne Jewett, Howard Nemerov, Kathleen Raine, Christopher Reid, Saki, James Schuyler, John Updike, Arturo Vivante, Alice Walker, William Carlos Williams, and Cynthia Zarin. Twelve elegant black-and-white sumi paintings of plants by Clyde Wachsberger enhance the collection. There is no better way to cultivate a gardener's passions during the long winter months than through this beautiful and moving book. 12 black and white illustrations, preface, biographical notes.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892552697
• ISBN13: 9780892552696
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Persea Books, Incorporated
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Classy collection of essays and poems....

I'd hardly call this book of essays and poems soothing. Some of these folks are mighty disturbed. I don't think John Updike ever wrote anything I could call delightful--provocative, beautiful--but not delightful. And true to form, his essay is about the aftermath of a decision to divorce and his "farewell" to some leaves he's become intimately involved with via his study window is both beautiful and sad. Sylvia Plath scares the heck out of me and her essay "Fable of the Rhododendron Stealers" is a signature piece. Then we have Alice Walker's poem "Revolutionary Petunias" about a backwoods woman who raised a George, a Martha, a Jackie and a Kennedy, and Josephine Jacobson's "Jack Frost" is a bit nippy. Robert Graves (I, Claudius and The White Goddess) addresses the behaviour of avid composters in "Earth to Earth". No, this book is definitely not restful, but, it's really, really good. If you're a fan of the short story, particularly those with a twist you will like this book (including the O'Henry tale, "The Last Leaf"). If you're a fan of good poetry (Billy Collins anyone) you'll like this book. LEAF AND FLOWER is not about gardening per se, though gardeners like the old woman who attempts to bring beauty into sordid surroundings in Eugenia Collier's "Marigolds" are sometimes featured. If I had to assign an organizing principle to this work, I would say this...every human life intersects with a plant at some critical juncture. OF LEAF AND FLOWER contains one of the most artistically assembled sets of essays and poems on the importance of flora for human beings.

AN UPLIFT TO THE SPIRIT

WHAT A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF STORIES TO UPLIFT YOUR SPIRITS IN THESE DISTURBING AND TERRIBLE TIMES. WHETHER YOU ARE A GARDENER OR NOT THESE STORIES ARE A DELIGHTFUL WAY TO LOOSE YOURSELF FOR A FEW HOURS. WOULD MAKE A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR THE GARDENERS IN YOUR LIFE - THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND VERY SUBTLE. ALL IN ALL A 1ST RATE COLLECTION AND A JOY TO READ AND A NICE BOOK TO HAVE AROUND TO PICK UP FROM TIME TO TIME AND REREAD.