Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145998 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-20
• Released on: 1998-10-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Amazon.com
Earth on Her Hands celebrates the kind of people who have quietly and to minimal acclaim, over two centuries, developed and polished American garden style. These are the avid gardeners--mostly women--who establish and support community horticultural organizations and whose own gardens are examples of personal expression with unique local characteristics.

Starr Ockenga has interviewed 18 women who have worked and shaped their land, often over the course of several decades, into their dream gardens. From Ellie Spingarn's Connecticut stone wall to Georgie Erskine's Southern California citrus allée, each has features that are unique but fit seamlessly into their environment. There are meadows, orchards, a bonsai garden, vegetable gardens carved out of woodland, one walled English-style garden, and one that's intensely French, with topiaries, espaliered bushes, and a copper-roofed teahouse. Each woman is a plant collector of sorts, and each garden description is accompanied by a list of recommended plants. This is a joyous, soulful book that explores the complexity of garden-building and the effect it has on gardeners' lives.

Ingram
Eighteen masters of American gardening open the gates to their beloved gardens--and to their more than 1,000 collective years of horticultural passion, wisdom, and knowledge--in this exquisitely photographed gift book for every gardener to treasure. 250 color photos.

Customer Reviews

Refreshing Approach to Gardening
I love gardening how-to and reference books. Although this book is neither, I love it nevertheless. The idea behind this book is simple. 18 women and their gardens. Each woman is interviewed, there are many many photographs of both the gardens and the gardener. You get to hear each woman's voice and hear her wisdom. You get to see plant lists, garden plans as well and understand the philosphy and approach that each woman has taken in her gardening endevour. If the context of this book were a village, it would serve as a storyteller of the female elders and their creation of special space. Gardening is most than simply landscaping. Reading this book you understand the difference. I only with there were more women gardeners in this edition!

Beautiful women, beautiful gardens
Another fabulous Clarkson Potter Publishers book, Earth on Her Hands is a series of short biographies of 18 women who are non-professional, private gardeners and who have spent a lifetime growing and creating outstanding gardens. Each biography includes stunning color photos of the gardens and lovely sepia toned photos of the gardeners themselves as well as garden diagram sketches and individual gardener plant or project recommendations from their personal experiences. Ideas, inspiration and knowledge abound from these women (use flower arrangements IN the garden for areas where color is needed; 'Jersey Knight' asparagus is male and will not seed making it more productive) and their lifelong committment to their land, spaces, and plants gives every gardener something to aspire to. Any gardener worth her soil will find this an inspirational gift to give and receive, and a delightful off-season read.

An inspiring book
This is definately one of the most beautifully photographed books I have seen. Eighteen women gardeners from across the U.S. and their stunning gardens are profiled. Most of the women gardeners here are older and have been working on their gardens for decades. Some of them are also active in their local communities in garden clubs, parks and botanical gardens. If you enjoy looking at other people's gardens, you will love this. The photos are mouth watering. Each profile (about 10 pages in length) is wrapped up with a list of the gardener's recommended plants. This would be a good companion to Rosemary Verey's excellent book "The American Man's Garden".