Deep-Rooted Wisdom: Skills and Stories from Generations of Gardeners (Paperback)
We have begun to lose some of the most important skills used by everyday gardeners to create beautiful, productive gardens. With a personality-driven, engaging narrative, Deep Rooted Wisdom teaches accessible, commonsense skills to a new generation of gardeners. Soulful gardener, Augustus Jenkins Farmer, profiles experienced and up-and-coming gardeners who use these skills in their own gardens. Enjoy this chance to get planting, propagation, and fertilizing knowledge handed down directly from the experts in the field.
Augustus Jenkins Farmer’s vision for reflective gardening guided gardeners, craftsmen, volunteers, and scientists to create two lauded public botanical gardens as well as art museums, city parks, and private enclaves. His connoisseurs’ nursery promoted the renaissance of the crinum lily, a forgotten plant of early American gardens. He’s listed as one of Garden & Gun’s most interesting people and is regularly featured in Southern Living. While his focus is on subtropical gardening in the South, he’s written and lectured internationally.
“Engaging. . . . Each chapter describes a time-honored skill or idea, introduces people who have mentored Farmer in these older ways, and shows readers how these practices can be adapted for modern times. . . . This treasure trove of homespun botanical advice will remind growers why they fell in love with gardening in the first place.” —Booklist
“Farmer’s enthusiasm for sharing his and his mentors’ knowledge shines through the text, and the color photographs are beautiful and useful.” —Library Journal
“I can’t think of a recent gardening book I have enjoyed more. Nowhere else could I have met so many wise gardening mentors or learned about a ‘sapro-entrepreneur’ and ‘rose rustlers.’” —Garden Rant
“A compelling tour through generations of hard-won gardening wisdom and traditions, through the eyes of Jenks Farmer and his own garden mentors.” —The American Gardener
“Farmer is a natural storyteller.” —Somerset Daily American
“Deep-Rooted Wisdom: Skills and Stories from Generations of Gardeners is not nostalgia or reminiscence; it is a guide to how old skills and ideas can be adapted, using the latest science, for modern gardening. . . . Farmer is an original, in the best sense of the word, and Deep-Rooted Wisdom is a highly original book.” —Cherokee Library
“Peppered with stories and humor, this treasure trove of down to-earth gardening advice passed down through generations is a great read for both the new and the master gardener.” —Charleston Daily Mail
“This is a down-to-earth handbook of traditional gardening methods. . . . A wonderful gift for the gardener in your life.” —Norwich Magazine
“A delightful retro guide to simpler yet successful ways to grow and enjoy plants.” —Carolina Country
“This is a delicious book to pour over because there are so many connections between people and plants.” —The Herald-Journal
“Novice gardeners, veteran planters and everyone in between can find something to enjoy inside the pages. . . . features practical lessons, oral histories and DIY pointers.” —Columbia Daily