Roach gardens, writes, blogs, and evidently has a lot of fun at her property in upstate NY.  I had loved her previous book The Backyard Parables from 2013 and looked forward to reading this second edition of a book that was named the Garden Book of the Year in 1998 by the Garden Writers of America.  I was not disappointed.  Accompanied by beautiful photographs and captions that clearly identified the flowers, bushes, or trees that were in the photo, Roach takes the reader through the seasons providing specific and detailed suggestions for every month, including both flower and vegetable gardens.  I filled up three pages with notes to remind myself about doing garden chores, siting new plants, bushes, and trees, and thinking about how to refashion areas of our now 32 year old Vermont gardens.  I highly recommend this book for browsing and close reading for anyone who is already looking forward to getting their hands back into the soil after it unfreezes (As I write this, it is a single degree in Brownsville, Vermont.  Sleep tight dear garden!).

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