Simply put, this is the best gardening book I have ever read, so I was not surprised that my drive to Salisbury Connecticut led me to one of the best gardening lectures I've had the privilege of attending. Margaret Roach did not disappoint as she spoke upon the same tripod of excellence with which she wrote "The Backyard Parables," that of passion, knowledge and humor. As I began her book several weeks ago, I had only reached page xvi (before chapter 1) when I read, "Do tackle the philosphical equivalent of double-digging every time you step outside; please do." That was it for me. I tucked my feet under, and read on......and on..........and on.
From beginning to end, her unbridled enthusiasm for gardening resonated with this gardner. I know that if she were to come upon me at 7:00 a.m. in my garden, in my bathrobe, floppy boots and scissors she would not find it at all odd that I couldn't walk away from something that screamed "DEADHEAD!" I am the one, after all, who ruined a pair of white shoes while on the way to the car to go to a wedding (and really didn't care.....I saved the vine). It is because of her passion that she crawled through snow drifts in 7 degree weather to plunge her hand into an icy fish pond to repair a faulty de-icer. It is this passion that brings out the best and worst in us by writing, "Never stop wanting more plants!!!"
Margaret Roach honors every moment of the 365 days a year in her garden as part of a cycle of life - conception, birth, youth, adulthood, death and afterlife. As we navigate our way through the seasons, we are charmed, entertained and informed in equal doses. Numerous side-bars make it easy to reference the how-to's on numerous subjects from seed shopping to discouraging deer to mosaic underplantings to making refrigerator pickles. I was especially interested in her words on "Phenology," the relationship between plants and animals with weather and climate. An example she used was the wisdom of planting peas when the peepers are singing. Makes so much more sense than "by St. Patrick's Day." I never actually knew there was a word for this. It brought to mind my father, who probably didn't know the word either, but told us that the time to look for morel mushrooms is when the apple trees are in blossom.
The writing and the speaking are sprinkled liberally with her humor, often comfortingly self-deprecating. In this, her 25th year with her garden, she wishes her garden a Happy Silver Anniversary with an apology for being a control freak and critic "walking around with a stupid clipboard." Preferring to garden in an old pair of khaki pants, she pokes fun at her own legs, which she describes as the "light deprived white asparagus of lower limbs." She admits, like the rest of us, that she greets visitors to her garden with apologies rather than a welcome, "If only you'd come last week when the big rhodie out back was peaking......" She advises us with the finesse of a sledge-hammer not to mourn the loss of a plant.............. "Bury your dead and fast."
Margaret Roach's offerings are woven together with stories of her past, her childhood, her relationships, her memories, all of which support her abiding faith in the seasons of life. We learn that Jack the Demon Cat was a stray that she found in her driveway at the end of a terrible day, September 11, 2001, when she had driven away from New York City as fast as her car would take her. We feel the pain and sorrow she experienced when, as a young woman, she nursed her mother through early onset Alzheimer's. We can understand the tender vulnerability of a relationship with a sister.
Not to be left out of my barrage of good things to say is her way with words. An invasive plant is a plant with "imperialistic tendencies." The sound of branches snapping from trees during a heavy snowstorm is "arboreal artillery." Is it no wonder that this is an absorbing book?
I could not leave the event without asking her to sign my book with my favorite words of hers, which are of course,
Thank you, Margaret Roach, for the book, the lecture, and the advice (not that I ever needed anyone's permission!)
Sounds wonderful! I think you should write one, too.
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