When I discovered that Marietta and Ernie O'Byrne were writing a book about their famed Pacific Northwest Garden I immediately ordered it, even though it was months away from publication. I envisioned losing myself in its pages and their garden the way I did last spring when I read about Herterten House and the creation of its garden. Alas, despite a volume stuffed with beautiful photos of the O'Byrne's garden and the plant combinations they are famed for, I never felt the kind of visceral connection I was looking for in their book: "A Tapestry Garden: The Art of Weaving Plants and Place."
Though the couple had 70 mostly open acres and an old barely liveable farmhouse, I never could clearly understand how the O'Byrnes created their personal paradise. What was most apparent to me as a gardener and a reader, is that Marietta O'Byrne is an intuitive, instinctual gardener. She seemed to get it from her head into the ground almost effortlessly in terms of design.
The O'Byrnes certainly took their time and made mistakes but, in order to learn from this book, I think you must take your creative lessons from looking at the pictures. The text does contain lots of useful information on trees and a wide variety of plants, including what worked for them and what they gave up on growing. There are special sections devoted to Arisaemas, Trilliums and their specialty, Hellebores which are loaded with tips on these species. There is a big map of the property on the endpapers with a key to all the garden locations and the chapters are based on the different gardens.
I came to 'A Tapestry Garden' looking for poetry and found the nuts and bolts of gardening, which left me with an appreciation for the skeletal structure of their creation but not its heart and soul. That said, this is a very personal criticism and I will admit that the glorious images that fill the book justify the purchase price.
I've known who Tovah Martin is for years. I've had a few of her books home from the library but mostly looked at the images and don't remember much about the text. But when I read a description of her latest book, "The Garden in Every Sense and Season," it inspired me to go right out and buy it. This is a book to savor, to treasure and read again and again.
Though it is chock-full of visuals of flowers and veggies, birds and butterflies and other garden creatures, I found Martin's writing to be so rich and evocative I read whole sentences and paragraphs more than once. And then I made a note about where to find that moving and meaningful text I loved. And where to locate that laugh-out-loud description. And what was it she said about the gene for floral fragrance? I have a sheet of paper in the book where I am constantly noting information or just bits I want to remember and read again later.
In "The Garden in Every SENSE and SEASON," Martin covers those two concepts, first, by dividing the book into four sections based on — you guessed it — the four seasons. Then she subdivides each season into the five senses: Sight, smell, sound, touch and taste. Within each seasonal section, Martin follows the senses in the same order of presentation though the offerings under each obviously change according to the time of year. It is a brilliant way to organize information and to help us know where we're going as we read and to remember where we've been.
Not surprisingly, Martin begins the book with Spring, and so everything she is writing about is happening in our gardens right now; thus making it perfect to read along as each season progresses. I will admit I did start reading a bit of the Summer section with all the hot days we've been having. But I decided that starting at the beginning of each seasonal section as it unfolds in reality lets me relate what Martin is saying to what I am seeing and doing in my garden at the moment. I feel it makes for a much more profound experience reading it that way.
Martin describes so many moments I've experienced a thousand times in the garden and yet I never stopped to truly acknowledge what was happening. "Summer is the dribble of sweat running into your mouth," says Martin, "seasoned with a dash of sunscreen and a pinch of bug repellent." How many times has that happened and I've been annoyed, never thinking to savor the moment as a true sign of summer?
This spring Martin has me noting the thump and rhythm of my tools as I cut back winter debris and looking at my gates which she points out are our "first encounter with the garden." Despite our slow, strange, constantly changing Spring I am enjoying my time in the garden much more now that I have Tovah Martin at my side.
NOTE: Both the O'Bryn's book and Tovah Martin's are published by Timber Press and are available through their website.
Thank you for these reviews. Tovah Martin's book on Tasha Tudor brought her into my awareness along with some magazine articles. I was lucky enough to go to a Master Gardener state conference a few years ago where she was a speaker - in fact she's why I went. I don't really remember her talk but I was glad I went. Her new book sounds like it would make wonderful rainy day or winter reading. It also sounds like it is so rich that it might be better to read small sections at a time to absorb it all slowly.
Posted by: Barbara H. | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 08:56 AM
I was just thinking of Tovah Martin the other day as I lugged a clivia out of the greenhouse. For a time, she appeared on The Victory Garden on PBS and her clivia repotting segment on that show is forever associated with that plant in my mind. The new book sounds divine!
Posted by: Peter/Outlaw | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 08:59 AM
I'm sorry to read the O'Byrnes book was a bit of a disappointment. I had high hopes for it.
Posted by: Loree / danger garden | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 11:06 AM
Book reviews are one of my favorite genres of garden blogging, and I've found yours more acute and informative than most. In the grip of hellebore lust late this winter, I came close to ordering the O'Byrnes' book on the basis of some luscious photos, but stopped myself when a broken furnace put the household finances under strain. Now I think I'll hold off (and hope that the library will acquire it before too long). Conditions in the Pacific Northwest are just too different to make nuts & bolts information very useful.
Posted by: Nell | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 12:00 PM
I almost bought Tovah's book the other day. Now I wish I had. Now I guess I will. :)
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 12:31 PM
i'd wait to get it from the library. Then you can always buy it if you love it.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 12:33 PM
I think you would enjoy Tovah Martin's book. You share some of the same interests and sensibilities based on your blog.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 12:36 PM
Since you live in the PNW it might be more appealing. But you don't strike me as having as colorful a garden as they do. I'd page through it at a bookstore before I plunked down my money.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 12:37 PM
I love her writing! Now will have to look to it. Thank you for the glimpse.
Posted by: Lady Locust | Friday, May 18, 2018 at 01:14 PM
I'd heard about Tovah Martin's book, but not the other one. I must get a copy. Our spring has been weird, but everthing's blooming at once now. Have you been to the Arb? It may be declining now, but when I was at the Longenecker Garden on Friday, the crabapples, lilacs, redbuds, and some late-blooming magnolias were all blooming at the same time. One of those "I wish I could capture this beauty in a bottle and bring it out during the winter" moments. ;-)
Posted by: Beth @ PlantPostings | Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 08:39 PM
I think you would really like the Tovah Martin book. I think the two of you look at the world somewhat in the same way. Alas, I bet this rain put an end to the blossoms at the Arb.å
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 09:38 AM
I have "A Tapestry Garden" on my wishlist. Thank you for the review. I wasn't familiar with Martin's book but I will add it as well.
Posted by: Phillip | Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 10:48 AM