Green thoughts : a writer in the garden

by Eleanor Spencer Stone Peryi

Paper Book, 1981

Call number

SB 453 .P36 2002

Publication

New York : Random House, c1981.

Description

A classic in the literature of the garden, "Green Thoughts" is a beautifully written and highly original collection of seventy-two essays, alphabetically arranged, on topics ranging from "Annuals" and "Artichokes" to "Weeds" and "Wildflowers." An amateur gardener for over thirty years, Eleanor Perenyi draws upon her wide-ranging knowledge of gardening lore to create a delightful, witty blend of how-to advice, informed opinion, historical insight, and philosophical musing. There are entries in praise of earthworms and in protest of rock gardens, a treatise on the sexual politics of tending plants, and a paean to the salubrious effect of gardening (see "Longevity"). Twenty years after its initial publication, "Green Thoughts" remains as much a joy to read as ever. This Modern Library edition is published with a new Introduction by Allen Lacy, former gardening columnist for "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" and the author of numerous gardening books.… (more)

Pages

289

ISBN

0394503759 / 9780394503752

Media reviews

New York Times

It is a delight to find someone who gracefully combines the qualities of gardener and writer and can say about herself, ''I am no horticultural expert and wouldn't want to pass myself off as one. All I can claim is some thirty years of amateur experience, which is to say I know something about a

lot of things and not enough to call myself a specialist in any. I grow herbs, but I am not an herbalist, roses but am not a rosarian.'' All this may, perhaps, be true, but Eleanor Perenyi is much more than a gardener. Her last book,''Liszt: The Artist as Romantic Hero,'' was nominated for a National Book Award. Her career as a journalist was varied, and before retiring to her garden in Stonington, Conn., the garden she writes about in her new book, ''Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden,'' she was managing editor of Mademoiselle magazine.

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