Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Margot Rochester.
Down to Earth: Practical Thoughts for Passionate Gardeners.
Lanham, Md.: Taylor Trade, 2009.
cloth, 241 pp., ISBN 978–1–5897–9382–8, $22.95.

Margot Rochester, a garden columnist in North Carolina, popular for her conversational literary style, proudly alerts everyone that she is a nonconformist when it comes to gardening. Expressing her free spirit by declaring that she doesn’t believe in planning her landscape, she admits that as a result, her plantings are diverse and chaotic. She acknowledges that she is just filling open space, often selecting whatever inspires her at the local garden center. Her comments and judgments in her series of essays are based on her gardening experience in a warmer climate. Readers living elsewhere must be warned to check with local sources on whether the author’s advice is appropriate for their environmental conditions.

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.