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barefootsong's review
4.0
"... the best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle’s languid Latin name, who still feel awe at the miracle which follows the setting of a geranium cutting in its appointed loam." (9)
A delightfully funny* "floral autobiography" (75) in which Nichols details his adventures and misadventures in restoring the garden of a newly acquired cottage in the English Midlands. For added delights, I highly recommend Googling the flowers he names -- admittedly this is a lot of work because sometimes there are dozens of flower names on a page, so I didn't actually look up every flower, but flowers are pretty amazing and it was nice to have to have a visual reference when I took the trouble to look them up.
*90% delightfully funny — there is an unfortunate chapter near the end called "Women Gardeners" in which Nichols says that women can't be good gardeners because they are too emotional/competitive/&c. *eyeroll* Also there were a few hints of 1930s racism and classism.
"Moreover, when one came to mushrooms themselves, there was no reference to seeds or cuttings, but only to ‘spawn.’ Spawn? Spawn sounded very obscene. If one started throwing spawn about, anything might happen." (44)
A delightfully funny* "floral autobiography" (75) in which Nichols details his adventures and misadventures in restoring the garden of a newly acquired cottage in the English Midlands. For added delights, I highly recommend Googling the flowers he names -- admittedly this is a lot of work because sometimes there are dozens of flower names on a page, so I didn't actually look up every flower, but flowers are pretty amazing and it was nice to have to have a visual reference when I took the trouble to look them up.
*90% delightfully funny — there is an unfortunate chapter near the end called "Women Gardeners" in which Nichols says that women can't be good gardeners because they are too emotional/competitive/&c. *eyeroll* Also there were a few hints of 1930s racism and classism.
"Moreover, when one came to mushrooms themselves, there was no reference to seeds or cuttings, but only to ‘spawn.’ Spawn? Spawn sounded very obscene. If one started throwing spawn about, anything might happen." (44)
middleditch's review
4.0
Charming. You don't have to be a gardener to enjoy this book. The author has such a wonderful sense of humour and is so very delightfully British.
suspiriafilm's review
5.0
It makes me indescribably happy when people are excited to share what they truly love, so this book by a vivacious gay man about his home and garden in 1930s England unsurprisingly made my heart feel full every time I picked it up.
Beverley Nichols is so funny and effusive, self-deprecating about his abilities and yet bursting with happiness and pride to be able to talk about his unlikely passion. It doesn’t matter at all that I have several counts of criminally negligent plantslaughter against me or that I can’t tell apart an azalea from a grevillea — I was just happy to be invited along on the journey.
Beverley Nichols is so funny and effusive, self-deprecating about his abilities and yet bursting with happiness and pride to be able to talk about his unlikely passion. It doesn’t matter at all that I have several counts of criminally negligent plantslaughter against me or that I can’t tell apart an azalea from a grevillea — I was just happy to be invited along on the journey.
kimberwolf's review
2.0
My favorite part of this book was the garden map that made up the inside covers. As a gardening memoir, it was underwhelming; I think I'd appreciate more a modern garden memoir written by someone closer to my demographic.
goldandsalt's review
3.0
This could be a little cringey at moments - Beverley is of his time, and so a colonial bourgeois misogynist - but when he's writing about plants and not people he's wonderful and hilarious.
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