The Passionate Gardener
Adventures of an Ardent Green Thumb
- Publisher
- Greystone Books Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2006
- Category
- Essays
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781553651987
- Publish Date
- Sep 2006
- List Price
- $21.95
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Description
In this rollicking read, Des Kennedy demonstrates his unerring skill with a satirical pitchfork. The 13 short pieces here roam widely and wildly, examining, among other things, common idiosyncrasies and the collective chaos of garden clubs. The book hilariously ponders the host of psychopathologies that afflict plants people,” from weather phobias and general anxiety disorders to obsessive-compulsive behavior such as the chronic moving of plants. Whether discussing dysfunctional garden sprayers or malodorous urine collection schemes, Kennedy finds both the magic and the madness in one of life's most popular passions.
About the author
Des Kennedy is a novelist, essayist and veteran back-to-the-lander. The author of nine previous books, in both fiction and non-fiction, he has been three times nominated for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. He’s contributed many articles on environmental issues, gardening and rural living to a wide variety of publications in Canada and the United States, and has been featured on numerous regional and national television and radio programs. A celebrated speaker, known for his passion and irreverent wit, he’s performed at conferences, schools, festivals, botanical gardens, art galleries, garden shows and wilderness gatherings. Active for many years in environmental and social justice issues, he was an organizer of the successful civil disobedience campaign in Strathcona Provincial Park in 1988 and was recognized as a key supporter in the struggle to save Clayoquot Sound. In the ’70s and early ’80s, he lived and worked with two First Nations bands attempting to defend their traditional territories in north-central B.C. against industrial clear-cutting. In the ’90s he was a founding director of a successful community land trust on Denman Island. Des and his partner Sandy live a conserver lifestyle in their hand-built house surrounded by gardens and woodlands.
Other titles by
Commune
A Novel
Beautiful Communions
Heart & Soil
The Revolutionary Good of Gardens
Crazy About Gardening
Humorous Reflections on the Sweet Seduction of a Garden
Living Things We Love To Hate
Facts, Fantacies & Fallacies
Passionate Gardener, The
Adventures of an Ardent Green Thumb
The Garden Club
And the Kumquat Campaign
Climbing Patrick's Mountain
A Novel
The Way of a Gardener
A Life's Journey
An Ecology of Enchantment
A Year in the Life of a Garden