Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden (Modern Library Gardening)

I love reading chatty old-fashioned gardening books. While I usually read my fiction on my Kindle, I thought I would enjoy pulling these classics from the shelf and browsing through them. I somehow overlooked that these were Modern Library editions. The Modern Library has been published in tiny fonts since I was young. I didn't like it then, and I find it unpleasant now, forty years later, with aging eyes. Even with the best prescription eyeglasses, reading this is simply not enjoyable. I love the idea of reissuing these old garden-talk treasures, but I wish a different publisher had taken on the job. Or that "Modern Library" would modernize itself. The book itself and the idea for reissuing these lovely conversational gardening books gets 5 stars, but I'm knocking a star off for execution.

THE BOOK IS ABOUT MORE THAN GARDENS: Readers of "Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden" get a three-fer reward: a romp through fields of reading, eating, and planting. There are 72 essays in this 1981 book, some as short as one line (Mazes) and most considerably longer including almost a novella on herbs and 12 pages on Women's Place. Each essay has thoughts related to plants & gardens but can veer into quotes from the world's literature which author Eleanor Perenyi assumes her readers know, care about, and which she at times puts straight.See for example her five page essay on Pruning (p.190) which begins:"Never before or afterward did a gardening style evoke so much attention, generate so much literary heat, as one that overthrew the formal garden with its geometrically determined space and sculptured evergreens and replaced it with an imitation of wild nature....The leaders were Pope, Addison, Horace Walpole, and their friends among the Whig aristocracy..."And she must have enjoyed cooking & eating, since perhaps a third of these green thoughts include recipes. Archival pictures (not included in this unillustrated edition) show a movie-star slender & elegant blonde. Her later years find her elegant in a more Julia Child way. P 181, e.g., has a fine recipe for potato salad and one for herbed fingerlings she grew herself that seem worth an addition to the waistline. The fingerlings were smuggled in but have since, Perenyi notes in a relieved way, been found in legal nurseries.AMONG ITS FINE QUALITIES: This book is likely to be read years from now:--Perenyi had directed the proceedings at gardens larger (her husband's vast estates in Hungary) and smaller (her acres in Connecticut). She writes as knowledgable amateur as do, among others, Vita Sackville-West & Henry Mitchell. Essays begin with artichokes, asparagus and ashes, go on to a long list of culinary herbs such as borage, lavender, and tarragon, continue through toads, tomatoes and tree-houses and conclude with women & agriculture through the ages. The essays are arranged alphabetically, a refreshing change from the gardener's year organization.--What she has to say may be superseded over the years with new cultivars and new techniques but is likely to stand oak firm on topics such as mulch, mauve, and pesticides. However, this is not a comprehensive, how-to book or an in-depth source on matters such as roses or ranunculus. There are other books for that.--Perenyi was the editor of magazines such as Mademoiselle and Harper's Bazaar, a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, the author of a prize-winning biography of Frans Liszt, and of a memoir of her life with her husband in Europe. She was a writer first and foremost, and her skills shine in "Green Thoughts," in which there seems to be nary a clunky sentence.--Nor a dull sentence. Perenyi held strong opinions on every topic about which she wrote here. She disdained, for example, seed tapes and people who used them; her admiration for dahlias was almost unbounded; and she gave a go-out-and-win-the-game talk on failures. Her observations were ahead of her time in matters such as organic gardening, her advice makes sense, and her authoritative voice seems like instructions to Adam & Eve.Here she is on Makielski Berry Farm, then located in Ypsilanti:"This lttle company has a list, not a catalog, and wouldn't be worth mentioning except that they carry the only decent gooseberry I have been able to discover in America. The name is Poorman and while not comparable to the English fruit, it is far better than the dreary and ubiquitous Pixwell." (p 275)--The book includes a ten page small print index that looks professionally done, a section on where to order plants and seeds that while it may be out of date, still makes for more good reading, and introductory material by series editor Michael Pollan and garden writer Allen Lacy. Perenyi is among the few writers who can make these popular authors seem serviceable rather than scintillating.ANY READER ALERTS? This book helped inspire a new generation of gardeners. However, its pleasures may be best enjoyed in small portions. Strong views can seem fresh. A lot of them at once can feel ill-tempered.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: At used book prices, as low as a penny, "A Green Thought" can be bought in quantities for the reader's own pleasure and for sowing with a generous hand among friends. A new copy is still a fine value & a sumptuous treat, perhaps given with a quality dibble & a package of Johnny's seeds.

This is a classic from a delightfully provocative author and gardener, seventy-two “chapters” or musings on the topic of gardens. These are arranged alphabetically, but you need not read in order. Earthworms to lilies, peonies to annuals, to hedges, pruning, and weeds. She gives her opinionated views on compost, mulches, and earthworms – all of which she highly recommends for the garden. Pesticides appall her. Perenyi is sardonically truthful about her view of the natural world, never mincing words or shying away from touchy topics. Pereni is well-versed in gardens-of-the world and their captivating aspects. Scent, height, color – mostly blue – contrast, shape, all come under her eye. Chapter 1 is about annuals and you can quickly deduce that they are at the bottom of her list. She cuts some slack for the ‘old annuals’ –love-in-a-mist, pincushion flower, bachelor’s buttons. But she decries the gaudy, scentless, mass-marketed plants we see today in Lowe’s and Home Depot. She clearly states that they aren’t cheap and save no labor for the gardener. Use perennials! “A garden of store-bought annuals is as temporary as plastic pools.” Pereni admits that she has a hemlock hedge for decades and it gave her no satisfaction. She challenges that hedges are no more than banal additions to a landscape. Fruit trees also come under her scrutiny. Unless a person has an orchard, she avers that fruit trees, while ornamental for a brief period, are better left to nature than a garden. Day lilies come under her scrutiny as well. She faults them for their blousey display and hybridized sins. “A garden stocked with the newest, showiest hybrids is as depressing as a woman with a facelift.” Her essay on ‘failures’ is classic. She recounts many of her own garden failings with a wry eye. What she has learned from these is priceless. She notes “Gardening is a vocation, but not a gift from heaven.” So live and learn. Join her in the garden. This is a brilliant conversation you won’t want to miss.

The approach the author uses to by topic or plant is wonderful. This book is a compendium of everything you should know about plants and gardening in the U.S. written by an expert gardener.

Received the book very promptly in condition as listed. However, the price went up by one third overnight on all the copies of this book so I felt a bit screwed over. Not happy about the price increase.

I love this book, it is easy to pick up and put down with useful advice in bite size bits. It is well written and easy to read. If you love gardens you can't fail to love this.

POETIC WRITING FOR THE REFINED GARDENER.

NICE BOOK

The book is in great shape and it arrived quickly. The author has an aesthetic that is tune with my own...a rather enjoyable read.

This price is vaulable. These are the best charging cables I've ever purchased. Cord works great and seams very durable. So fast, Receive it next day .