He covers the heavens with clouds
And prepares rain for the earth;
He makes grass to grow upon the mountains
And green plants to serve mankind. —Psalm 147:8-9

This is an ideal time of year to read gardening books for inspiration and garden dreaming, as we enjoy the enthusiasm and expertise of other gardeners in their books. I suggest here three books that will sustain your joy in gardening until the spring comes.

View From a Sketchbook: Nature Through the Eyes of Marjolein Bastin
Art and text by Marjolein Bastin with Tovah Martin
Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2003
Hardcover

This is one of the most charming books that I own. I bought one for a relative, and then went back to the store to buy a copy for me, since I couldn’t bear to part with it.

You may recognize the name Bastin since Hallmark makes a line of note cards with her delicate watercolors with garden themes of birds, flowers, weeds, rusty tools, bumble bees, rabbits, and paintbrushes and tubes of squeezed paint.

Bastin writes, “I always have a sense that I’m doing ballet on a stage. It’s like dancing on paper—swirling and stretching” and “Drawing is translating beauty on paper.”

You can open this book to any page and walk into a drawing of nature and words from her journal.

In My Father’s Vineyard
by Wayne Jacobsen
Word Publishing, 1997
Hardcover

This book is full of beautiful paintings and inspirational words with a vineyard theme. When Jesus wanted to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom to his followers he chose a vineyard as his teaching tool. He told us how to live fruitful lives of rich fulfillment using growing grapes in a vineyard as His example. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1).

 

Brother Cadfael’s Garden: An Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and Their Uses
Text by Robin Whiteman and photographs by Rob Talbot
Bulfinch, 1997
Hardcover

I have not read the 20 Brother Cadfael mystery books, called the Cadfael Chronicles and written by Ellis Peters, the pseudonym of Edith Parteger, nor seen the TV series based on these books, and this book leads me to put them on my “want to do” list.

This richly illustrated book offers intriguing information on the plants grown in the Shrewsbury Abbey, from 1137-1145, the setting of the Cadfael novels. There is a section of medicinal plants A-Z, covering the uses of plants like Adder’s Tongue and Wolfbane. Another section is “The Monastic Garden”, which offers medicinal and culinary uses of plants grown by the monks.

I also have a column you can read here at PositivelyFeminine.org where I recommend 10 garden books with a different focus on “how-to” garden.

Copyright © by Terra Hangen