Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden

"By retreating farther and farther from nature, we lose our sense of belonging. " ~ pg. 7Diane Ackerman has created her own oasis of pleasure. She writes about dips in the pool and the pleasure of cutting roses to take them indoors. She loves her apple tree, which also provides fruit for hungry deer. I loved the stories of how she feeds the deer peach slices and corn. There are also humorous tales about rabbits and squirrels.This book truly celebrates the seasons. Diane Ackerman writes with an intoxicating sensuality that is also intellectual. While you are learning about her garden she weaves in stories from mythology. Her inquisitive mind often leads her down various paths of knowledge to teach you something a little different or to make you laugh. I was interested in learning about passionflower leaves and how they contain cyanide. Definitely not something you want to put in a salad. She talks about topiaries in the shape of mermaids and at times gets lost in a discussion of a favorite book. I also liked her tips on garden etiquette.Each season is described with a poet's heart and Diane Ackerman's passion for roses does border on obsession. We soon learn she has 120 rose bushes and there is no need for pictures because she paints descriptions that vividly bring the imagination to life. When she is not consumed by all her garden requires, she is found at farmer's markets or riding her bike. During one trip out in her car she suddenly contemplates life and death and seems deep in thought. She also only briefly discusses the darker sides of nature, like the day she found a bird's nest (in a bird house) had fallen in her yard."Cultivating Delight" reminded me of my grandmother's garden with an apple tree and a beautiful row of rose bushes. While sweeping leaves off my deck I could not help but think about what I should plant this spring. As a bonus, Diane gives a full inventory of her garden so you can literally recreate her experience.~The Rebecca Review

In an earlier book, Ms. Ackerman congratulates herself on being open to experience more than most people. In light of this, I found that in this book she is too self-absorbed in herself (ironic for someone who does at times describe the natural world so beautifully) and too enamored of her ability to write prose.She's good at throwing in fascinating factoids on everything from space to psychology to animal behavior, but alas, seems to flit from topic to topic like a bee gathering pollen. That is to say the flow of her writing is haphazard (though a bee may indeed be more purposeful than I give it credit for here).If most people don't seem to have as much time to smell the roses as Ackerman, perhaps that is because they work away from home full time and have children and a spouse whose needs must occasionally come before theirs. It can be hard to be open to the natural world when you're worrying about being fired or demoted or if your child has come down with the flu. I never get the sense from her books that Ackerman lives in "the real world" what with her tales of meditating, biking, rose gathering, etc.That's lovely for her, but don't pass judgments on people with different lifestyles.I wanted to learn more about plants and the best conditions for growing various ones. Instead, I got a book of poetic, and sometimes purple, meditations, which was all right, but not what I had expected.

This is not a well-written book. It is a hodge-podge of under-developed, unsophisticated observations, loosely strung together by a theme of what the author witnesses throughout the year in her garden. The observations jump around so much that few if any are brought to satisfying conclusions; often, topics shift in the middle of paragraphs in random ways. The reason I am giving it two stars is because it is a good bedtime read because it requires zero concentration to peruse, has short chapters and zero plot so you don't need to remember anything from the night before when picking it up the next night. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have continued reading past page 10.If you're interested in books about gardening that are more sophisticated with compelling narratives and insights that are also well written try Sarah Stein's Noah's Garden or maybe Second Nature by Michale Pollen. A more academic but very enlightening book about gardens is Doug Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home.

I have had this book for a few years. I keep it on my night stand and read and reread it. Her words are wonderful, so informing and truly cultivate delight . I am also a serious gardener, so Diane offers many interesting observations that I greatly appreciate. I bought these new books of hers to give to my daughter and granddaughter, who also find them delightful.

I ordered three copies of this book, this was one. It is one of my favorites and I read it every year.

I have enjoyed Diane's books. The Natural History of the Senses is the first one I read. Gets you to stop and pay attention. Fun read.

I keep this book where I can pick it up when I just need to relax and remember what a joy our gardens can be .

A delight for anyone who treasures their garden or who loves gardening.

So very well written. As a gardener, I so appreciated this book

I just loved, loved, LOVED this book! It's not a how-to, but rather a philosophy of the writer's approach to gardening, and her views of Nature. One can identify with her thoughts, or be inspired to think in a more philosophical way about what making and keeping a garden means. A great companion work to her Natural History of the Senses.