Another Garden Book by Local Authors

Although last Saturday was warm and lovely enough to tempt me into the garden, we probably have many days ahead of us before we can do much work out there. I resisted pruning because it's not necessarily a good time to prune shrubs and trees when bitter cold weather is still likely, but March is coming. The RI Tree Council recommends pruning trees in late winter or early spring. [Oh, yes, my web search turned up a summary of local pruning info and advice I wrote in a PG post last year about pruning.] I'll sure have a lot to do outside in a couple of months!

Meanwhile, what better way to spend a snowy day  than to read a new gardening book or two. I wrote recently about Barbara Gee's wonderful new book, The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion, which I highly recommend. Barbara will be signing her book at Providence's Whole Foods in the University Heights shopping center on North Main Street, Saturday, January 19th, from noon to 3pm, and you can buy your copy there and then.

The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Ocean State is full of useful and specific information about Rhode Island soil, climate, plants that like growing in Rhode Island, and general gardening resources in our state. She includes comments from many Rhode Islanders, including John Phillip of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society, Rosanne Sherry of the URI Master Gardeners, Mike and Angie Chute of the Rhode Island Rose Society, and John Campanini of the Rhode Island Tree Council. The chapter, "Special Challenges: Seaside and City Gardens," has lists of plants suited to the shore, which can save coastal gardeners a lot of grief. Why try to grow plants where they wouldn't naturally grow? Maybe there are good reasons sometimes, but it's a lot more work and expense, and it's often doomed no matter what you do.

Barbara is not the only local author with a recent book, though (hers was in the store in December). Judy and Michel Marcellot of Seven Arrows published their first book, Sacred Gardens, last July. I am on their email list, and they just sent out their Early Winter Newsletter that describes their book:

Gardens and wild places have long been recognized for their ability to influence the human psyche.  Gardeners and non-gardeners alike will enjoy the authors' own story as they set out to create a public place where people come to visit, sit, relax and experience the peace and joy found in nature.  The authors chronicle their own path, seeking to live lives of peace and balance and to make a living at doing something they love.  Judy and Michel spoke with a Nobel Prize nominee, an internationally renowned expert in sacred landscape and scores of ordinary gardeners in an effort to define the nature of peace and sanctuary. Along the way, they met ordinary people who share their own stories, and how the simple act of gardening  changes lives and individuals.  You do not have to be a gardener to enjoy this book!

Well, this is another book for The Providential Gardener, who views Rhode Island as a garden we all share and tend. Support your local authors and buy their books. They love what they do and their joy is contagious.