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| Plenty of inspiration and joyous material in my Christmas book selection |
With Christmas almost upon us, and books
very much a suitable gift to give to a gardening friend (or to add to your own
wish list), I have assembled a selection of titles to inspire you. All are new
releases, or recently published. I have concentrated not just on ‘a good read’
but on the fact that so many visitors to this blog also have an artistic bent, or would like
to develop skills in recording in various ways their garden and their
visits to gardens.
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| A book to dip into every month - or every day |
Last week, in the Dobies November
e-newsletter, I introduced you to ‘The Joy of Allotments – an illustrated diary of Plot 19’ by Caroline Deput (published by Souvenir Press). I showed you the
cover, which is a joy in itself, but did not have space for including something
from the actual book. Every page brings joyful discoveries of Caroline’s allotment in
Richmond (London), all handwritten alongside her exquisite drawings. With every
month covered, it should certainly inspire you to start your own
sketchbook/diary. Buy yourself a spiral artist’s sketchbook, a waterproof pen
and a tiny paintbox or some coloured pencils. Open the page, and start – and if
the thought alarms you but you are determined to try, cut and paste magazine
images or old Dobies catalogues (collage) and add your own notes. A useful online source of supplies is 'Great Art'.
Did you as a child read and fall in love
with the books of Beatrix Potter? Held them in your hands (even learned to read
by pouring over the pages) and maybe entered another world where you might,
like Peter Rabbit, crawl under the garden gate and encounter a garden full of
vegetables? Or Jemima Puddleduck sitting her eggs. I certainly did and, years
later realised the significance of Beatrix Potter, her life in the Lake District and her indomitable
spirit. Her story is woven so skilfully into a new book, ‘Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life’ by author Marta McDowell, that you will be beguiled into far
more than those Tales. For the book is the first to explore Beatrix Potter’s
love of gardening and covers the plants and places that inspired her classic
tales through a highly scholarly account that you will find hard to put down
until you have read it cover to cover. Published in November 2013 by Timber
Press.
‘Just Vegetating, A Memoir’ by Joy
Larkcom was published last year by Frances Lincoln and is one of those
‘must-haves’ that hardly ever stays on my shelf, for I dip into it constantly.
Read it of course for its content, but if you are a would-be diarist and
author, analyse the skill with which it is put together and the chatty way that
JL pulls you into her gardening world. I remember the day I first came across
Joy’s design for a tiny potager (in the Sunday Telegraph magazine, I think) and
the way she combined salads and edible flowers for their look as much as their
taste. I was hooked and have read and now own all of her books. They are
Gardening Bibles par excellence.
In ‘Just Vegetating’, we are led from 1976, back in the days before
supermarkets sold bags of mixed salad leaves, to the time when Joy Larkcom and
her husband set off around Europe
with her husband, two children and a caravan in a search for seeds of rare
vegetable varieties. The rest is history and much of it is detailed within these pages.
From books that talk about actual
gardening and growing to three that will encourage and inspire your attempts to
put thoughts, plans and results onto paper. More than analytical lists of what
you sow, grow and harvest, your ongoing records can become hand-made artefacts
of beauty.
‘Paper to Petal’ by Rebecca Thuss and
Patrick Farrell, published earlier this year by Potter Craft (Random House)
took me back to time spent with my grandmother during World War Two and just
after, when she decorated her house in winter with enormous Oriental Poppies made
from luscious crepe paper (not the thin sort all too frequently on offer now).
There’s no need to spend hard-earned money on ‘artificial flowers’ for online
good quality supplies are available and listed. Detailed instructions,
templates and techniques along with magnificent photographs will enable you to
make a vast range of individual paper flowers and theatrical displays – perfect
for festivals if nothing else.
Photographers may be overwhelmed by ‘A Beautiful Mess’ – if all that you have snapped to date have been gardens or
flower and vegetable portraits. Created by sisters Elsie Larson and Emma
Chapman and just published by Amphoto Books (distributed in the UK by The Guild
of Master Craftsmen), this title is an eye-opener. It’s a photo ideas book for photographing
“your friends, your world and yourself” and whilst, from a gardener’s
viewpoint, it may appear at first to be far too way-out for the seriously
sedate, you’d be surprised at the ideas that will spring into your brain and
through the lens. So go ahead, open your eyes and your mind to new creative
possibilities, grab your camera, challenge yourself, fall in love with
photography and capture your everyday gardening life in beautiful and amazing
images.
I have left until last a book that
should appeal to anyone who wants to create their own journal rather than work
in one bought off the shelf. Indeed ‘Journal Your Way’ is a journal-maker’s
bible, or will become so, for it is an amalgamation of two excellent previously
published books (‘The Decorated Page’, 2004 and ‘The Decorated Journal’, 2005),
but with much additional content. Written and contrived by the marvellous Gwen
Diehn, and published in September by Lark Books, you will be led on your own
self-directed book-making adventure. Whether you want to record your travels
and garden visits or just jot down your daily thoughts, this book will show you
how to select, design and create custom-made journals that will enhance the
experiences you wish to document – a new and exciting adventure.
Click on any of the links given above to
take you to that specific title on the Amazon website – you can actually ‘look
inside’ many of the books online. And don’t forget that Dobies have an
excellent selection of books to offer in their own booklist. Click HERE to go to the Dobies gardening bookstore website.
Labels: bookshelf, creative ideas, Dobies online bookshop, gardening books, journals and diaries
