Connecting with Nature Through Plants
First thought, best thought, right? The minute I started reading The Gardener’s Mindset I felt a connection with Stephen Orr. It was like having a garden bestie talking in my head.
Orr’s gentle way of telling his gardening story is peaceful as well as informative, not uppity or in-your-face or stringent. He shares what he knows from a storied career in the design and gardening world, and takes you along for the ride. It’s a great ride through the bulbs, wearing rose-colored glasses, crazy bits about Devonian soils, salad boxes, ghosts and herbs. Also, owls, rabbits, coyotes, turkeys and bees. I can so relate. Except I knew nothing about Devonian, soils but I do now. Then we get to the whacky but oh-so-cool parts about the color spectrum and certain times of the day. “Colors fade in the order they appear in the spectrum . . . what???” And “magenta does not exist in the linear color spectrum because it would fall between red, the longest wavelength, and purple, the shortest.” I love nerdy stuff like this.
Speaking of photographs, the ones in this book are totally inspirational and were taken by the author. Illustrations (other than cover art) were contributed by Orr’s partner, Chad Jacobs. I flipped over the exquisite presentation of dark tulips, and nodded in agreement over larkspur, poppies, Sissinghurst and Great Dixter. I am going to try again with the hyancinth varieties they shared in the photo in the book – ice blue, white, and lavender. That particular arrangement was compelling.
Maybe I connect with Orr’s writing because he, too, parks his butt in the garden and becomes one with the soil, content, awestruck, at ease. I park mine on an old towel, face to face with the iris, and go to town. It’s kind of like a private consult. Dear Iris: “I’ve become my grandmother, and I hope you know how happy that makes me. Up close and personal like this, I can see all of your glitter and iridescence . . . not to mention your grape bubblegum fragrance is making me swoon.” She collected the tall German bearded types, and had more iris than I will probably ever have. “Ah yes, dear reader, I may have ordered up some more ‘Beverly Sills’ and ‘Coffee Trader’ varieties after reading about Stephen’s.
Having read Orr’s other books, The New American Herbal and Tomorrow’s Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening, I was also enamored with back-stories that gave rise to Stephen and Chad’s herb garden. I concur with the reasoning: If you can have but one small garden it would be an herb garden. If all you have is a half whiskey barrel, you can grow enough herbs to cook with for a year.
Orr’s love of gardening shines through the pages of The Gardener’s Mindset in a compelling way . . . I am keeping it close at hand for encouragement and smiles. I recommend you get a copy and do the same.
THE GARDENER’S MINDSET by Stephen Orr | Clarkson Potter
ISBN: 9798217033690 | $29.99 | Hard Cover
