The Curious Gardener

By Jürgen Dahl

Book Overview

Jurgen Dahl explores the connections between the life of the garden and the life of the mind. He ranges from discussing why gardeners should grow bad-smelling plants to how readers should eat their flowers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881926574
• ISBN13: 9780881926576
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

All good things take time

A good book takes time to read and progresses in a slow and orderly fashion, much like the garden itself. Such is the case with The Curious Garden by Jürgen Dahl The Curious Garden is a collection of Dahl's previous 3 books, much of which were originally created as weekly gardening columns. The 3 books include How to Eat a Lily (1995), The Stinking Garden (1997) and The Curious Gardener (1998). Each book is divided into easy-to-read sections, probably due to their origin as columns. According to my library record, I have renewed this book twice, each time for 3 weeks and it is rapidly approaching time to renew it again. This means a total of 6-7 weeks to read one book. How could it possibly take so long to work through 250 pages? The fact is, this book was perfect for dipping into whenever I needed a change of pace. Its short section invited a few moments spent in the joys of gardening before returning to more mundane work. It was a gentle friend in the evenings when no more thoughts of computers or email or web pages could be processed. It seems to happen more frequently than I would like, but I often find myself wanting to meet authors who have already passed from this world. From his writing, Dahl would have been an interesting gardening pen pal. It would have been a joy to read his columns as they were created, rather than in this final collection of his best. Still, I can enjoy the fact that his work was deemed important enough to collect and translate into English. The Curious Gardener would be a great book for the reading chair and night stand as Fall approaches and quickly turns to Winter. You could lose yourself in the pages as snow flies and your own garden sleeps and wake with new ideas, new thoughts and a new garden come the Springtime.

A Great Entertainer

The Curious Gardener is most definitely a read from the beginning to the end. Reading this book is like reading a letter from a gardening friend or sitting down for tea with him. Dahl connects the garden with the mind by telling stories that will make you look deeper into the art of gardening. Dahl ranges in discussions from why you should grow bad smelling plants to, how to eat a lily, making this book a truly enjoyable read. After finishing this book, you will look at your garden in a whole new light. It connects us back to some of the pleasures we sometimes miss in our rush to get things done. From rambles and rants, to carful observations, this book is a delight to read on a rainy or cold wintery day.