The Garden in Every Sense and Season, Tovah Martin 2018
I love reading garden books in the spring when the dirt is warming up and I’m up to my elbows in it in Vermont, and this book was just right for May! Martin, an experienced gardener and writer, gardens on a 7 acre property in Connecticut so her zone 5 recommendations and experience are mostly relevant to our zone 4 gardens in Brownsville. Wonderful photographs by Kindra Clineff accompany a text that frustratingly alternates between purple prose (“If frost is bling, then snow is dazzling multiplied by infinity. If someone tossed all the jewels on Earth at your feet….”, well you get the idea) and fine descriptive garden writing. Since her advice and observations are so valuable, I overlooked the former and enjoyed the latter. The book is structured along traditional lines with the four seasons providing the backbone. Her new slant is to focus on the senses beyond sight and visual beauty incorporating smell, touch, and sound into her garden year. This is a fine book to curl up with on the cold spring nights while you anticipate the next day’s activities in the warming, springtime garden.
