Product Description

This engaging collection of letters follows the course of a year in the gardens of two passionate gardeners, Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy. They share a climate zone (7A), but their gardens differ enormously. Lacy gardens on a 100-by-155-foot plot of former farmland in southern New Jersey, on soil so sandy that he must water frequently if he is to garden at all. Goodwin gardens on rich clay loam at her historic piedmont North Carolina home--which comprises more than sixty acres of woodland, meadow, and established plantings--and she refuses to irrigate, because she believes in growing only those plants that are naturally adapted to the conditions of her land.

Through their letters, Lacy and Goodwin provide a charming and revealing chronicle of their lives and the lives of their gardens. They exchange stories of their horticultural successes and failures; trade information about a great many plants; discuss their hopes, fears, and inspirations; and muse on the connections between gardening and music, family, and friendship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #638623 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-27
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .94 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 232 pages

From Booklist
Any woman who buys a house because of the quality of its dirt is a true gardener. Any man who reads garden catalogs word for word, cover to cover, is equally enthusiastic about plants. Meet Goodwin and Lacy, two kindred spirits whose abiding friendship based on their mutual love of all things horticultural spawned this collection of letters spanning the year between the winters of 1998 and 1999. Gardeners are often more keenly aware of the natural world than most other folk. They can spot the lone hawk perched atop a towering oak tree and discern a tree frog's chirp above all other sounds. Goodwin and Lacy have this gift of observation, and their insights into the world around them make for fascinating reading as they explore subjects as diverse as mulch and Mozart. While they relate the changes in their gardens, they also reveal the changes in their lives, sharing their innermost feelings and experiences, as one does only with a very close friend. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"This book is one of the riches in an unusually rich season for literary gardening."

BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN
"The authors...drew me headlong into some very pleasurable reading....There is no limit to what thoughtful writers find revealed in minute events."