You walk into the (online) bookstore, head to the gardening section and see 10,000 titles. Where do you begin? Well, if you want to plant tomatos this weekend, better ask the plant seller, but if you want to know more about the experiences of your fellow travelers start with this book. Dr. Lacey has compiled an anthology of all sorts of articles and essays by many gardeners. You can get a little taste of every perspective from Thomas Jefferson to Henry Mitchell (both pretty good garden writers).

We have Anne Raver who writes for the New York Times, Celia Thaxter who became famous because an impressionist painted her garden, Katherine White who wrote for the New Yorker Magazine, Thalassa Cruso who saved my houseplants when I was a young wife with begonia fever, Miss Elizabeth Lawrence who wrote for the Charlotte Observer and many others. Enjoy this wonderful book before bed.

One of the sad realities of growing older is that you realize what is being lost daily, and that unless we educate younger people they will not miss these things because they will not know they ever existed. For instance, says Allen Lacy in his book FURTHER AFIELD, the wild Cyclamens of Greece and Turkey are systematically dug up and shipped to unsuspecting buyers in the U.K. and the U.S. Lacy's friend Nancy Godwin of Montrose nursery in NC has worked hard over the past few decades to ensure that Cyclamens grown from seed will reach American consumers and hopefully undercut the trade in endangered bulbs.

In addition to his Montrose visit, Lacy reports on gardening activities in Costa Rica, Monticello, and many other locations where the dedicated are working hard to preserve our botanical heritage. His travels take him far from New Jersey, but he also includes many essays on shorter excursions, some into his own yard where Hosta and Gloriosa Lilies, Ailanthus, Bouncing Bet, Sedum and Sempervivums bloom. He reports that the Tigridia or Mexican shell flower is photogenic and although the Fritillaries are numerous, he grows the native of Northern Europe known as snake's head lily or guinea-hen flower.

Until his retirement, Lacy was a professor of philosophy who wrote a garden column as a sideline. He retired and kept on writing about the subject (and editing lots of good garden books). This book is a little older, but like the timeless tales of other great gardener writers who were also students of life relevant for our current lives. Reading Lacy is an uplifting experience for anyone with the winter blahs. Although he shares his concerns about things that should concern us, he also shares the victories he observes. His writing is reminiscent of Thoreau who made excursions abroad, usually to Waldon Pond, but sometimes further afield.

Allen Lacy says the "gardener's eye" is comparable to a "gift of what Christians call grace--a gift that comes from outside, that is apart from one's own intentions." The gardener's eye is an artistic vision, an aesthetic experience, a recognition of beauty.

Sometimes art is created by humans, mostly it comes from nature. He begins his book in winter, writing at the desk in his study. Looking out the window he notes "even in winter there is always something to see." Birds are about and the paulawnia bark is grey and stained green from the algae growing on the trunk. He can see the color and texture of the blackish bark on the White pine.

In the next chapter, he remarks on the beauty of thistles, the bane of farmers and the emblem of Scotland. He says the Scottish thistle is impossible to ignore with it's outsized stem and leaves and it's ability to inflict pain. "My love affair with thistles has been going on for years. So have the visits from stangers who stop in the driveway and ask fo a closer look at these giants of the summer garden."

A few miles away from Lacy's home is a garden filled with tall bearded Irises (German Irises). Named for the Greek Goddess of the rainbow, the irises are many hued. The hybridzers have done their job and created a palette of every color. At the appropriate moment every year he drives to the neighbor's garden to see the Irises in bloom.

Page after page Lacy moves futher afield, past a cotton patch near Durham NC, to Middleton Place in South Carolina where the garden established in 1741 has become a point of horticultural pilgrimage for Americans and visitors overseas alike. Vita Sackville-West, she who built Sissinghurst, once traveled to this spot. "Stand I indeed in England? Do I dream?" she is reputed to have said.

Lacy notes the Arends nursery in Germany, now run by his granddaughter Ursula Maubach is the source of the wonderful Astilbes found in many American gardens. There's A. taquettii 'Superba' with it's "tight, dense spikes" as well as pink 'Cattleya' and plumey 'Ostrich Feather.' Some of the Astilbes are fragrant, smelling like Jasmine.

Lacy notes that every wise gardner should attend to Ms. Elizabeth Lawrence's works. Ms Lawrence gardened in Charlotte and Raleigh North Carolina, and was a trained horticulturist. Lacy himself has edited some of her material. He likens her writing to Henry David Toreau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lafcadio Hearn, Sarah Orne Jewett and Eudora Welty--another southerner and a friend.

Lacy visits many places and at the end of his book returns to his study, where the autumn leaves are falling, the new school semester is beginning (he taught philosophy at Richard Stockton College for years), and his travels are over for the summer.

What do gardners do when they can't dig in the dirt? Well, reading about digging in the dirt is a fine alternative and Jan Dean has gathered an astonishing assortment of reading material for anyone who loves gardens. The Gardener's Reading Guide is an annotated bibliography that covers a wide range of books, including novels, that have a gardening theme. I highly recommend it to anyone who is putting together their own library of gardening books. It will simplify the hunt for the best books around. In fact, this book is a lovely resource for gardenlovers (like me) who don't garden, but think of this as a spectator sport.

Allen Lacy has been writing about gardening for a number of years in books, newspaper columns and letters to friends. I've purchased mostly paperback copies, but bought this one in hardcover because I kept the others and wish now I had bought hardcover versions. I reread them from time to time, and lend them to really good friends who will return them. Lacy gardens in New Jersey in Zone 7 so I find his writing helpful since I live in the same climate. He was a philosophy professor for a number of years, and his writing is reflective. This book is filled with practical wisdom. Think of your old uncle Horace who can get anything to grow sharing some of advice. Lacy's books fall some where between an essay on "How gardening changed my life" and "Why your Bee Balm got Mildew."

"In a Green Shade" is a collection of articles covering the seasons of the year. In spring he writes about bulbs and other familiar plants, including Fritillaries which are not so well known or grown because some find them frustrating. Lacy implies there is hope for those who fancy these lovely flowers, though I refuse to waste any more money on 'Imperialis.' He says if one can figure out how to treat them properly, the fritillery are faithful flowers that return year after year. I love Meleagris (Snake's Head lily, and have had some luck here). Lacy digresses on Thomas Jefferson's love of the Imperialis and it's origins in Turkey.

In other sections, he covers lillies, roses, Bee Balm, tobacco plants, gourds, dahlias, begonias, mums, trees (Hazel)and other plants he has grown in his New Jersey garden. He discusses their nature as well as nurture, and their history, geography and interesting anecdotes. I particularly found his bits on creating a garden on a deck interesting. His pots, and trellises and other deck paraphanalia must be beautiful, and I wish a photo or two had been included. I have mirrored his approach to gardening--completely fill the yard with plants, shrubs and trees, and removed the grass--so if you like grass, don't look here.

If you've read many gardening books, some of the anecdotal material may seem recycled. For example, seasoned readers know Nasturtiums are nose-twisters. If you're starting out, the book will seem fresh, and funny in places. If you need lots of basic "how-to" information, the book will prove less useful. There are no photos of how to prepare the soil or long discussions of which tools to buy. From time to time, Mr.Lacy interjects technical details, but this is not the strength of this book, although there is a short list of extant nurseries in the back of the book.

Don't be put off by the fact this book was written a few years ago, it's still quite newsworthy. I've been gardening for many years -- everything from a two-acre spread to a small urban garden but I never had to "think small" until I moved to the big city. This book has proved very helpful for resizing thoughts.

In "The Little Bulbs," Miss Lawrence covers everything from miniature daffodils to sqill, from crocuses to irises. Did you know there were miniature irises? Most if not all of the bulbs she describes are still around, and many more varieties exist besides, but this book will get you started and keep you going awhile. I haven't found anything newer with better practical knowledge.

Even if you own an estate, this book can help you. Miss Lawrence has a nice section on container planting which the British have done for years, and we are just beginning to do really well. Remember, bulbs exist for every climate. You can grow the tropical kind in-doors in colder areas (amaryllids), and grow those that require cold outside if you have freezing weather in winter. I like this book so much, I am ordered the hardcover to replace my old paperback which I'm giving to my daughter who is just beginning to garden.

Stephen Lacey is a British gardener and not to be confused with Allen Lacy the prolific American garden writer who gardens and writes in New Jersey. Allen Lacy wrote the introduction to Stephen Lacey's book THE STARTLING GARDEN.

Stephen Lacey takes the title of his book from Vita Sackville West, who wrote in 'The Garden' "Follow my steps, oh gardener, down these woods. Luxuriate in this my startling jungle."

Lacey's book is a wonderful treatise on the relationship between the senses of sight and smell and the garden. For Lacey, the object of gardening is to engage and hold the senses through the use of startling elements. Perhaps you recall the English poet Alexander Pope suggested the use of elements of "surprise" in the formal garden--a statue placed in an opening you chance upon in a walk down a garden path? Well, Pope was writing about formal gardens, and Lacey is taking this as a starting point, but Lacey is writing about leaving the straight and narrow path of the formal garden and following the teachings of the romantic gardeners like Gertrude Jeckyll and Vita de Sackville West. In their gardens less attention was paid to architecture and shape, and more attention was paid to the effect of the garden on the senses. Sackville-West built the garden at Sissinghurst. I can recall one October strolling through the garden when most of the plants had been killed back by the frost. Every now and then I would stumble on a patch of not yet frostbitten flowers, and be "startled." One section in particular took my breath away. Just off the path in a niche of garden wall stood several large rose buses. All that remained of their summer glory were exceeding large red rose hips. Mixed in with the hips were Asters, just as tall as the rose bushes. The Asters were still covered with hundreds of small lavender-purple flowers that juxtaposed with the hips created a "startling" effect.

Lacey says the use of startling elements is not to be confused with gaudy. If it were physically possible to plant a magenta Bougainvilla and a bright yellow Alamanda so they would intertwine and grow over a Hampshire rectory, you still wouldn't want to do it. On the other hand, a walkway consisting of overhanging bright yellow Laburnum blossoms underplanted with orange wallflowers is a magnificent thing. Why are these two combinations so different in their effect? One shocks and the other startles. Lacey says it has to do with the use of color. Some colors when combined can overwhelm the sense of sight while others stimulate without overpowering.

Lacey also discusses the use of scent as a "startling" element. His garden year culminates in June-July when the roses are at their peak in England. Though the growing seasons are different in the states, the effects he describes can be achieved albeit at different times of the year depending on your growing zone. In my area (Zone 7) the peak for roses is usually May-early June, though I can have other peaks later in the summer with flowers such as Lavender and summer annuals like Petunias.

I have found many useful ideas in the STARLING JUNGLE and highly recommend this book to any gardener who is ready to break out of the mold. Garden lovers who cannot garden but wish to better appreiciate the art when they visit other's gardens will also enjoy his book. The STARTLING GARDEN contains a number of small color plates, but is mostly text.

Deadlands provides the players a change of the usual fantasy world of Role-Playing. They can recreate events in the mid-1800s acting like cowboys and indians. They can recreate their own western movie. The Deadlands world also includes a colorful cast of creatures and its own, personlized form of history. A must for role-players with a need for a change of pace. The game does have problems. Most notibaly in the combat sequences. However, character creation is fun.

This system is a must for roleplayers who have either become jaded with their existing system or just want to try something new. It provides a comprehensive story-line and time-line and gives the characters a whole new lease on development. The lay-out the book is easily read-able and engaging and provides the reader with an understanding of just how much is left to the players and Marshal. When I bought this book, I just had to show it to my roleplayign buddies, and they now are totally hook as I am sure you will be. If you wish to know more contact me or the Deadlands list serve. Marshal Psycho.

After reading Deadlands, I just thought I had to share this with my players. Now, when I happen to say 'I may marshall a Deadlands next week', I just happen to have too many players.

It is the first time a Western Game has been good. And it will be hard to ever do better.

The French tinhorn with a Great name

Eleanor Perenyi's book GREEN THOUGHTS is a memoir of sorts. She apparently never wrote another book on gardening, but as Alan Lacy says, sooner or later every writer who gardens will write a book about gardening. At the time her book was published in 1981, she had worked in her own garden in New England for a number of years. She says she had been gardening for 30 years, but does not indicate if she is including the years she lived in Hungary her birthplace. She was an immigrant who migrated first to Europe and then to America where she worked in New York as editor of Madamoiselle and lived and gardened in New England. Her detailed observations about gardening are of limited use to those who live and garden elsewhere in the States. However, Perenyi has many wise 'thoughts' that can be acted on in almost any garden, including the advice 'don't be overly neat' - something that's taken me a while to appreciate.

Perenyi's book contains many original insights and much information not widely available at the time she wrote her book - such as gardening tips from 'Organic Gardening Magazine'. Perenyi wrote only one book on gardening but she is often quoted-the main reason I wanted to read GREEN THOUGHTS. She organized her comments Alpha to Zeta (actually ends with 'W' for Woman's Place), which are literally a set of small essays ranging from a paragraph in length to several pages on various topics from hedges and lawns to onions and potatoes.

My favorite essay is "Woman's Place" which appropriately enough covers the history of women in the garden from Eve to Eleanor Perenyi. She reveals the sad truth that women invented horticulture while men were off hunting in packs, only to be thrown out of the garden at a later date when men "took charge" of the fields. Over the eons, women were relegated lower and lower positions garden-wise until they became decorative ornaments - well at least in upscale gardens East and West, whether the Seraglio with it's harem or the Virgin's Bower.

In the gardens (er..vegetable patches) of traditional societies she says women became beasts of burden. Perenyi notes that Oriental women do the weeding in the rice paddies and carry the firewood in Africa. At any rate, while European upscale men were busy adapting their posh Renaissance gardens to the latest 'Arabasque" notion or plowing up the 18th Century landscape under the guidance of Sir Humphrey Repton (and still hunting in packs one notes), enterprising nuns and country women with their "messy" cottage gardens preserved the diversity of the native species of plants. In the 20th Century, Gertrude Jeckyll and William Robinson discovered what the old wives had been up to and introduced "native" plants to upscale country gardens. The moral of the book is that men's overly tidy and rational gardening habits are bad and women's messy garden habits are good. Rational agriculture destroys, messy gardening preserves.

Although I have not gardened in years and have no plans to start now, I have been enchanted by "Green Thoughts." Ms. Perenyi's writing is crisp, intelligent, and witty. Anyone who can take such non-riveting subjects as worms, mulch, and compost (to name a few) and turn them into elegant, fascinating essays deserves some sort of prize. If E.B. White had written a gardening book, it would probably resemble this one. A real treat.

I must have blinked when this book went out of print; I've had a stockpile of copies for years to give to deserving friends. Now my children are old enough to have gardens and I NEED Eleanor Perenyi. BRING HER BACK! PLEASE, PLEASE! This is the best book for gardeners ever written.

I can't say I know Steve Bender, but Felder Rushing is a very popular fellow in Jackson, MS. He seems to display his unique personality everywhere he goes. Well, he has come out with a few books now and his personality and unique love for plants is shown in great detail from a personal point of view. If you want to know how to properly propagate a specific plant in multiple ways this is not for you, but if you want a book for general information about some real good down home southern plants this is the book for you.

This is an incredible book, it is very amusing to read and full of useful information. The writers passion for the subject is readily evident and its hard to put this book down. I was surprised at how many plants I recognized from my childhood, but as an adult, had not seen in the large commercial nurseries/super stores. Each listing contains the botanical name if you need to reference additional information, and there are sources to order plants and seeds. If you need a cut and dry reference purchase the American Horticultural Society's A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, use Passalong Plants to narrow your selection. Perfect book if you are looking for plants that are drought resistant and natural to an area.

(J~(BPassalong Plants was one of the first gardening books I read and it is still one of my favorites. But then I live in a neighborhood that is obviously inspired by the same aesthetic and sense of humor--one of small southern cottages, few lawns, pink flamingoes, and bottle trees.

If you want to pretend you creating the next Sissinghurst, read Penelope Hobhouse. And if you need technical "how to" read any of Taylor's guides. But if you live in the hot and humid south and need to know about(J~(B(J~(B tough plants that are easy to propagate and require little maintenance AND you ain't afraid to laugh out loud...this might well become one of your favorite books, too.(J~(B