Synopsis: |
From the very beginning, mankind has been at home in a garden. In all the intervening years, we have found solace from the wearying effects of the world, fallen as it is, among the flowers and herbs, trees and vines, vegetables and fruits. Garden Graces explores this universal appeal of working the soil, husbanding the plants, and tending the harvest. By taking a long and lingering look at some of the world's most beautiful gardens and listening appreciatively to the legends, testimonies, quips, verses, and stories of the gardeners who created them, the mysterious joys of sowing and reaping become all too evident. From Claude Monet's water lilies to Vita Sackville West's hedgerows, from William Shakespeare's herbiaries to Hilaire Belloc's vineyards, gardens have shaped our world in often surprising ways. Garden Graces is thus a delightful exploration of the effect that the simple tasks of gardening have had on art, music, literature, and the ideas of Western civilization because it is a quiet meditation of the personal enrichment that inevitably comes to the backyard putterer. |