• Skip to main content

Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Book Clubs
  • About Nadine
  • Sample Chapters
You are here: Home / Archives for gardens

gardens

It’s a Jungle Out There

May 6, 2013 by admin

A sleek little ground cover made a soft carpet between other plants. Another plant looked like carrot tops, with delicate filigree leaves. “Those are weeds,” my landscaper told me one day as we walked through the garden. I hadn’t done the planting, and I’m still learning my Pacific Northwest plants, so I had no idea.

Because I know a little something (emphasis on “little”) about herbs, my first question was, “Can we eat it?” After all, Emerson once said, “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Growing up, dandelions were considered undesirable, but many herbalists list dandelions as their favorite for their medicinal properties. So, any green growing thing fascinates me, and I don’t want to pull it out until I’m sure it serves no purpose.

It didn’t help that our neighbor had sued the City over work we had done in the yard (long story). It didn’t exactly make me want to run out back to weed the garden. By the time I knew I had to get my work done regardless of the parade of people scrutinizing and photographing my yard, Spring had arrived, and the weeds had grown like…well, weeds.

“But they’re so pretty!” I said, to which my landscaper responded with a laugh. Well, yes, of course they are. They are survivors. They can grow in lovely round mounds, just like my lavender. They can hide under plants that are wanted and loved. If the plant is prickly, they snuggle in really close.

Turns out, though, that they don’t know when to quit. That cute little ground cover? Before I knew it, the plants had grown a foot high and were threatening to take over the garden, choking everything else out. That pretty plant with the leaves that looked like carrot tops, that I wondered if it was edible? Well, it fit the description of poison hemlock. In fact, if that’s the case, it’s a darn good thing I was wearing gloves when I pulled it up.

You would think that I would have learned my lesson when I first started gardening three years ago, and cabbage worms destroyed my broccoli. I couldn’t kill them because I thought they were cute. When I realized that they weren’t willing to share the broccoli, I toughened up and went on a rampage. With the weeds, too, pretty or not, they had to go. Well, most of them, anyway. There’s one that I’ve grown fond of, because it creates an uninviting property barrier that pleases me. Emerson was right. Sometimes we just have to discover the virtue to a weed.

It’s a jungle out there in the garden, where only the strong survive. Being nice doesn’t cut it. I guess it’s the same whether dealing with a worm, a weed, or an intrusive neighbor.

 

 

 

Filed Under: gardening Tagged With: Emerson, gardening, gardens, planting, problem neighbors, spring, weeds

Book Recommendation: Eden’s Garden by Juliet Greenwood

June 19, 2012 by admin

Before I go into this week’s book recommendation, I just have to brag a little. I mean, I recommended Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail several weeks ago, well before Oprah picked it up for her book club! So you heard it here first, folks. I’m just sayin’.

Now, to this week’s recommendation:

***

From a recent “Secret Garden” tour. The Latin inscription above the archway translates to “Break on through to the other side.” (Remember The Doors?)

Take a woman from present time with the typical dilemma of modern-day womanhood — balancing career and love. Combine her story with that of a mysterious woman from days gone by who carries a dark secret. Throw in that genetic “something” that draws us back to our roots and deepest desires with a bit of Welsh magic, and you end up with the Bronte-esque Eden’s Garden by Juliet Greenwood.

Let me say first that I don’t use the Bronte name lightly. I first read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in the fourth grade and periodically pull it down from the shelf even today. I dragged hubby to the last incarnation of the movie version, which he loved, and I extracted a promise from him that we will visit Bronte country in England. While I didn’t enjoy sister Emily’s Wuthering Heights nearly as well, it also influenced my early reading life. It took me a long time to become willing to leave 19th century literature because of these wonderful writers. So when I say something is Bronte-esque, that translates to “major cool” in my brain.

In Eden’s Garden, Carys is the modern-day heroine, who returns to the town of her childhood to help her mother through hip-replacement surgery and recovery. She left as a young woman, jilting her childhood sweetheart to pursue her career dreams. At the time of her return, she is moving toward a career change, returning to her love of gardens, something she learned from her grandfather. The gardens of Plas Eden, a place where history and sad memories collide, draw her back. While her own life plans begin to unravel, she is drawn into an untold story of love and pain from ghosts of the past.

As a lover of gardens myself, I find that working in the garden connects me to my ancestors, and the same is true for Carys. The unique statues and mystery of the gardens at Plas Eden, a property struggling with disrepair and economic woes, add a further element of mysticism to these generational connections.

More from the Secret Garden tour.

The other woman from the past? We don’t know for a long time, but as her story unfolds, it intertwines with Carys’ narrative, and we discover her, bit by bit. As she is revealed, Carys makes her own discoveries about life, love, and what really matters.

As rich and varied as the garden of Plas Eden itself, this story covers multiple generations of a woman’s struggle and heartache with a deft touch. Sensual and romantic, the story swept me away with its strong female characters. We are reminded how much better we women have it these days — and yet, even now, we must often make difficult choices. How do we manage both work and love in our modern, driven society?

One warning: once I got about halfway through, I could NOT put this book down. It is filled with Welsh charm and romance, and delights with a sweet, lovingly tended story that leaves the reader deeply satisfied, much as we would by strolling through a magnificent garden. Of course, now I have to get to Wales to explore some more on my own!

Filed Under: books, fiction, Life Changes, women Tagged With: best books, books, Cheryl Strayed, Eden's Garden, fiction, gardens, Juliet Greenwood, Oprah Book Club, women, women's fiction

Copyright © 2023 · Author Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in