“Spring wake-up call—expert tips to help you sow, plant and grow a better garden this year,” the English newspaper the Telegraph proclaims. The “blooming [was] marvelous” in Banbury as “locals took part in a weekend of national tree planting [which] took place to celebrate the launch of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom…campaign” (Banbury). Spring has arrived in Great Britain. If the flowering magnolias and bright yellow daffodils waving in the sunshine are not enough to convince you, just check the newspapers—the people of England will not allow anyone to take the long-awaited season for granted.
Along with springtime comes rain, which seems rather glum—but not to the English gardener. “It’s a beautiful thing,” one English gardener writes poetically, “rain which falls like a heavy mist for hours and thoroughly moistens the soil down deep without pummeling it…” (Hashman). To the English gardener, a drizzly day is not dreary. It may spoil a picnic, but it is fantastic for flowers, beans, courgettes, cucumbers, squash…anything that will grow in English soil. There are quite a few gardeners in the United States, but many remain puzzled by the popularity of this pastime in Great Britain. One Wall Street Journalist compared the difference through two suspiciously similar books on gardening, one written for the US, and one written for English gardens.
"…It did seem a bit odd that The Ultimate Garden Book for North America" (Rizzoli International, 352 pages, $49.50) should have been "first published in Great Britain in 1994" and "in association with The Royal Horticultural Society" and written by two Brits, David Stevens and Ursula Buchan. (Hagan)
One reason why gardening reigns spectacularly in Great Britain...
... middle of paper ...
... feeling that most citizens in England with green thumbs would agree.
Works Cited
"Banbury Is Blooming Marvelous." Banbury Guardian 31 Mar. 2011, News sec.: 18. Print.
"BBC - Weather - United Kingdom." BBC News - Home. BBC, 2007. Web. 02 Apr. 2011. .
Hagan, Patti. "Gardening: An English Garden for Every Yank." The Wall Street Journal [New York] 14 Aug. 1996, Eastern ed., LEISURE & ARTS sec.: A10-14. Print.
Hashman, Joe. "Dirty Nails: With Joe Hashman." Banbury Guardian 31 Mar. 2011, Opinion sec.: 29. Print.
Pritchard, Jason. "Residents' Anger Over Cycle Route." Banbury Guardian 31 Mar. 2011, News sec.: 18. Print.
Raver, Anne. "English Gardeners; A Cotswold Refuge That Keeps the World at Bay." The New York Times 27 July 1995, Late Edition, East Coast ed., sec. C: 8. Print.
American Green has entertaining anecdotes, but should be considered more of a light read than as an authoritative work of non-fiction. This book may be enjoyed by environmentalists who want to know more about the impact that lawns have on the environment or for someone who truly is obsessed with his or her lawn and wants to learn about others who share this obsession. Steinberg’s goals may have been lofty, to prove a nationwide obsession, but his arguments and assumptions created a book that cannot be taken seriously.
In the early years of America, the founding fathers’ passion for gardening and agriculture shaped America’s national identity. At least, that is what Andrea Wulf communicates in her novel, Founding Gardeners. During the revolutionary generation, agricultural success was vital to the nation’s economic well-being. During the struggles of political life, the founding fathers utilized gardening as a therapeutic outlet and their love of nature reflects in some of their political endeavors. Due to this fascination with nature, the founding fathers sought to expand their horizons westward.
...he Oxford Journals, The Journal of American History, Volume 93, Issue 1.2013. Accessed November 20, 2013. http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/93/1/290.extract.
Flanagan starts by describing how important it is for students to learn as much as they can in a classroom because gardening is actually "robbing an increasing number of American schoolchildren of hours they might
own garden.”, the metaphor mentioned by Candide of a garden is the life that we
Loewen, J. W. (1995). Lies my teacher told me, everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York: New Press, The.
...cultivating the garden lets the group of characters keep away from the unfair world in which pessimism is present, while cause and effect are easily measurable in the garden.
The first images of the garden are seen through the exaggerated imagination of a young child. “” are as “ as flowers on Mars,” and cockscombs “ the deep red fringe of theater curtains.” Fr...
Jones, Clarisse. 1994. “Report Shows Violence Rising in Schools.” The New York Times (Aug. 13): 27.
The New Republic, Vol. 210. (1994): May, pp. 39-42. Wattenberg, Daniel.
Hodges, Michael. New Statesman. 12/14/2009, Vol. 138 Issue 4979, P13-13. 2/5p. 1 Illustration. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty. The Reader’s Companion to American History. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991).
I later understood that gardening is generally associated with a life of leisure, with relaxation. For me, it was a competition. I'd ask my seedlings, 'Who's growing the fastest?' 'Who's the tallest?' Fearing bad karma, I tried to stay impartial, lest a subconscious preference for green beans would cause me to water them more often, while dumping bleach on the onions. Every night I'd give my parents an update on rates of growth, any signs of produce, and my never-realized irrigation plans.
Phillips, Charles. "December 29, 1890." American History 40.5 (2005): 16. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Transition: We all know that save money is a major benefit for, but that is not all that gardening can do.