Phototropism, a cottage-meets-Zen garden, and the Chihuahuan desert: all in a column by Dean Riddle in this month's Upstate House. (And, yeah, he's sick of winter too: "I've had it with winter and I'm hungry for spring. I'm dying to open the windows and let in some fresh air. Winter is fine for a while. More than fine. I have plenty of time in winter to read and to write and to think about the world. But I'm through with introspection and solitude and the world can take care of itself. I want to be a slave to my garden. I long to have lots of plants to plant and too many seeds to sow. I want to smell the earth and clean out the shed and cook on the grill and sit on the porch till dark. I want to be warm.")
I stumbled across the link to Riddle's column in the "related pages" sidebar of a Gmail-email conversation on gardening. Reading the column, I'm reminded of all the things that make Riddle's Out in the Garden one of my favorite garden books. He writes about the garden—and about life—from the heart, with charm, wit, intelligence and a distinct point of view. In working my way backwards through the Upstate House archives, here's news from Riddle's column from last month that's music to my ears: "This winter I'm writing a second book." Yayyy!
Yay! Out In The Garden is one of my favorite gardening books as well. Great to hear he's not going to be a one-hit wonder.
Posted by: avril | March 23, 2005 at 09:13 AM