Serendipity

[callmemadam]

The other day I was a few minutes early for a hairdresser’s appointment, so nipped into the charity shop opposite. There amongst the usual rubbish was the familiar grey spine of a Persephone book. Whipped it out and found it was one I’d been wanting to read. As-new condition, complete with bookmark. Gardener’s Nightcap by Muriel Stuart is the chatty, random thoughts type of gardening book it’s so nice to dip into. Here’s a taster from the beginning:
‘And then to bed, to lie with one’s face to the uncurtained window, thinking of seed-sowing, and pruning and mulching, and slug hunting, and this year’s done, and next year’s doings, and all the other garden preoccupations that obtrude themselves so pleasantly before a gardener sleeps.’

I feel I was meant to find this book.

Comments

[dozydormouse.livejournal.com]

Perfect Serendipity.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I hate having my hair cut but the find kept me high!

Gardening Book

[joan kyler (from livejournal.com)]

That's just the sort of gardening book I love. Lucky you!

Re: Gardening Book

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Just my type of book, too. It was indeed a lucky find.

[gwendraith.livejournal.com]

What a lucky find for you :)

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed what I've read of it so far!

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

I love this book - perfect bedside reading. What a great find.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. Reminds me why I garden.

[(Anonymous)]

It sounds just perfect. I shall look into it myself.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

So far, I can say it's a lovely book.

[gghost.livejournal.com]

Definitely serendipitous. It looks like a beautiful book.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

It is! Lucky me.

[lyn baines (from livejournal.com)]

I enjoyed this too. Lovely illustrations. What a lucky find, especially with the bookmark.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

It is a lovely book. I was pleased because it's rare to find anything decent in charity shops these days. I like to publicise these finds to give people hope!

[(Anonymous)]

What a lovely find...I'm not at all a gardener, but I always enjoy your posts. I did come across what sounds like a charming 'gardening novel' recently, via Goodreads friend. Just thought you might be interested - it is available for free download at the Internet Archive.
Cheers, Brigitte
[And, Happy New Year :)]

Old Herbaceous: A Novel of the Garden by Reginald Arkell
https://archive.org/details/oldherbaceou00arke

Old Herbaceous is a classic British novel of the garden, with a title character as outsized and unforgettable as P. G. Wodehouse?s immortal butler, Jeeves. Born at the dusk of the Victorian era, Bert Pinnegar, an awkward orphan child with one leg a tad longer than the other, rises from inauspicious schoolboy days spent picking wildflowers and dodging angry farmers to become the legendary head gardener "Old Herbaceous," the most esteemed flower-show judge in the county and a famed horticultural wizard capable of producing dazzling April strawberries from the greenhouse and the exact morning glories his Lady spies on the French Riviera, "so blue, so blue it positively hurts." Sprinkled with nuggets of gardening wisdom, Old Herbaceous is a witty comic portrait of the most archetypal and crotchety head gardener ever to plant a row of bulbs at a British country house.

FLORA KLICKMANN

[(Anonymous)]

I found 3 gardening/memoirs books from 1930s era by Flora Klickmann.
Have you read her?

Re: FLORA KLICKMANN

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. I've read and have all her Flower Patch books and a couple of others as well. Also several volumes of the Girl's Own Annual edited by her.

A couple of brief past mentions here.