Book Offer: Kids in the Wild Garden

Jess from Blackdog Publishing has been in touch with me again, this time to offer you 40% off their latest publication, Kids in the Wild Garden.

It's a project based book, aimed at encouraging children out into the garden to find out about the world around them. Projects include making a bird box, growing a tadpole tank, creating a butterfly garden and making warm winter habitats for bugs.

I haven't got a copy of the book, but the photos I've seen in the Press Release (PR) are clear and cheerful and if my days as an environmental education officer are to go by, anything involving creepy crawlies or making stuff is an instant hit with most children. I can send you the PR if you wish to know more before making your order.

This 96 page paperback is available for £5.97 instead of the usual £9.95 - and cheaper than at Amazon! To obtain your copy send an email to jess at blackdogonline dot com with Veg Plotting Book Offer in the subject line and your delivery address details. She'll then contact you to sort out the rest :)

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How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook

If the name Susan Tomlinson is familiar to you, it might be because you read her great blog, The Bike Garden. Susan arranged for me to have a review copy of her fab book last year and I'm feeling a little guilty it's taken me so long to write my review.

I wish I'd had a copy of this a few years back when I started my Designing with Plants course with KLC. The course requires quite a bit of drawing, particularly for the 50 plant profiles element, showing how each chosen plant plus 3 selected companions fit together. I bought a couple of botanical illustration books at the time as I haven't done much in the way of artwork since I was 14, but found them to be way above the level I needed and gave up the course soon after.

Whilst Susan's book is aimed at nature journaling, the guidance within is equally suited to someone wanting to keep a visual diary of their garden, garden visits, wildflowers or whatever takes a gardener's fancy. We all take many photos to accompany our blog posts, but there's something about sitting down with a notebook, a pencil and either paint or crayons (or even those wonderful watercolour crayons) which really helps you to see.

Susan has plenty of sound advice on the kind of kit to put together and I've found it useful to have added a hand lens to my bag, so I can really look at plant details. There then follows a chapter on basic drawing skills, which looks at the shapes found in nature, putting these together, then adding shade, tone and colour to the drawing.

I was familiar with these principles from my previous purchases, but what elevates this book above those is that Susan then shows how these basic skills are actually applied in the field notebook context. This is much better for quickly gaining an impression of a place or a plant than a polished botanical drawing achieves. For anyone who still aspires to botanical artistry, this is also a useful step to master and is missing from the books I have in my collection. It's also much more achievable!

I also like the many step-by-step practical exercises Susan has devised for the reader to gain confidence and the many real examples shown from her students' field notebooks. Some of these also show Susan's comments to her students, so it feels like she's there guiding you through the whole process.

All in all this book has a much more practical and achievable feel to it, than the others I've tried. I've even used the skills I've acquired during some of the talks I've attended (such as Nigel Dunnett's Rain Gardens course recently) to quickly sketch a slide or photograph shown. However, I'm keeping my notebook to myself for a little while longer - I still need to practice a bit more ;)

How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook has 'translated' well to this side of the pond and I'm pleased to see it's now available here in the UK ;)

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Great Gardens of Italy: Book Review

This is the book to accompany the soon to be broadcast TV series of the same name. Monty Don takes a personal journey to 30 of Italy's major gardens. Most of these are clustered around major cities such as Rome, Florence and Naples. Top photographer Derry Moore had the enviable task of capturing each garden in photographs.

After a brief introduction where Don explains his journey and how Italian gardens have shaped and informed his own gardening activities, there then follows 6 chapters dividing the gardens by region: Naples, Rome, Viterbo, Tuscany, Veneto and The Lakes. Don's journey was made south to north and the chapters reflect the direction of travel.

Each chapter is prefaced by an introductory essay describing the regional setting in which the gardens reside. There then follows a 'word-scape' for each garden where Don describes his visit to the garden and his own impressions of it, the historical context, who looks after the garden today etc etc. After each essay there follows a number Moore's photographs to give the visual details. Each photo has a detailed caption linking back to the previous text.

I'm sure the intention is to let the words and pictures speak for themselves with an equal voice. Personally I found the result a little disjointed and would have preferred them to lie side by side as they do in the general introduction. The larger text used for the regional introduction added to the disjointed feeling for me. Much as I admire Monty Don's writing, I found it quite tempting to skip straight to the pictures. I resisted the temptation by limiting myself to reading one garden at a time, rather than trying to read straight through. I would have liked a plan to accompany each garden too, as it's hard to gauge from the text and photographs their size, shape, layout etc.

I can't really say whether the chosen gardens are the 30 'best' ones or if they're the most well known. I'm sure every expert will have their own list which may coincide or wildly differ to this selection: I'll leave the arguments on that score to them. A quick look at other books on the market on the same subject reveal quite a few differences in some and similarities in others.

One feature I liked very much is the Chronology tucked at the back of the book showing where each garden fits in terms of style, date and major events of the time. Thus Emperor Hadrian's Villa Adriana in Rome is rooted in the 2nd century AD's Classical times and Torrecchia is the youngest: a Modern garden from 1995-2010.

I was rather surprised the end section didn't contain a bibliography for further reading: Don refers to the odd text used during his research, so I would have liked to see these (and others?) gathered together in one place. Nor were there details of how to go about visiting any of the gardens which take our fancy. However, I believe these are notoriously prone to change, so perhaps it's understandable these details have been left out.

We owe a great debt to many of these gardens as they have formed and shaped many of our own in the UK. For instance, I now can clearly see how the gardens at Blenheim were influenced by places such as Villa Lante, Giardino di Boboli and Villa Torrigiani. However, after a while I found myself wanting to get away from the masses of topiary, enclosed box hedges, statues and walls these gardens contain.

It's the more unusual gardens which have stayed in my mind and now form my fantasy shortlist to visit: Ninfa for its romantic emergence from the ruins, Villa d'Este at Tivoli for its terrace of Hundred Fountains, Sacro Bosco for its giant mossy statues which made me laugh and Isola Bella for its giant fantasy wedding cake effect.

It'll be interesting to compare the TV series with the book to see if my list changes.

Note: I received a review copy from the publisher, but the review and opinions of the content are my own. I don't know yet when the series will be broadcast.

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ABC Wednesday--S is for

For today's letter we will proceed to the finest of literature. As I have drawn this round's alphabet from our visit to the UK, I present to you, words from Shakespeare:

...from a poster at the Globe Theatre. If you didn't think you knew any Shakespeare, just glance at a few of the phrases you may have used yourself. The picture is pieced together from three shots, and I am afraid that I lost the bottom in the piecing.

.

But what is this, shall we travel on the subway or should we go by hansom cab? Because we do have to head on up to 221B Baker Street

so that we can sit in the sitting room of the renowned private detective, Sherlock Holmes.

I was designated as Sherlock, whilst hubby played the part of Dr. Watson.

Literary fun--both--as we continued to wander London.

ABC Wednesday--what next?

Sunday's Psalm--19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Exult, you just, in the LORD;

praise from the upright is fitting.

Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,

the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,

upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.


 
Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Our soul waits for the LORD,

who is our help and our shield.

May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us

who have put our hope in you.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

from Psalm 33

Photos: duck on a Spokane pond, rowboat at Deer Lake, Mendenhall Glacier-Juneau AK

Sunday's Psalm--18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!


If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

from Psalm 90
Photos: Yakima River Canyon, along Eastside Trail-Mt. Rainier Park, Sunrise in the Inside Passage to Alaska

Sunday's Psalm--17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,

for you have heard the words of my mouth;

in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;

I will worship at your holy temple

and give thanks to your name.

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Because of your kindness and your truth;

for you have made great above all things

your name and your promise.

When I called you answered me;

you built up strength within me.





Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,

and the proud he knows from afar.

Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me;

against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand.

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Your right hand saves me.

The LORD will complete what he has done for me;

your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;

forsake not the work of your hands.

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

 

 

from Psalm 138

Photos: Zion NP, Eastside Trail, Mt. Rainier NP, Alaska mushrooms, Olympia marina