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Gardening for a Lifetime Reviewed By Allan Becker of Bookpleasures.com
- By Allan Becker
- Published May 18, 2010
- Homes & Gardens
Allan Becker
Reviewer Allan Becker: Allan has been designing and planting flower gardens, since he was a teenager in the 1960's. Now retired from the soft goods industry, where he held several positions in design, product development, and marketing, he has turned his passion for gardening into a second career, as a garden designer for private clients in Montreal, Canada.
In spring and summer, he provides his assistants, most college students, who transform his designs into flower gardens. In winter, he reviews books on garden-related topics for Bookpleasures.com and writes a Gardening Blog.
Allan earned a B.A. from McGill University, followed by two years of studies in design at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia). He lives in the Montreal suburb of Cote St. Luc, Quebec with his wife and travels regularly to Toronto and Boston to visit his children and grandchildren.
Author: Sydney Eddison
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 978-1-60469-065-1
Click Here To Purchase Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older
It creeps up slowly to surprise when it is least expected. It is a gardener’s worst nightmare. No, it is not an invasive weed. It is old age. I am not certain when it happened to me but one day, while gardening, it became clear that I could no longer sustain this enjoyable activity for 6 hours without stopping! I wasn’t twenty seven anymore. Gardening was slowly turning into an un-enjoyable chore. The energy level had dropped, the joints ached, and being winded was becoming the norm. Now I garden for fewer hours and that restriction is frustrating because there is so much that is left undone. Some of my peers have stopped altogether; they have sold their homes and moved into condominiums. For those of us that would like to maintain our gardens as long as possible, the author of this publication has some wise advice.
Sydney Eddison came to the realization that her garden had become too great a responsibility with the death of her husband. Together with a wise coach, she created a list of steps that might lighten the burden of gardening into old age. Some of the suggestions include replacing needy plants with those that are lower maintenance, making and keeping lists of chores and then prioritizing them, learning to live with imperfect results, adapting a realistic attitude towards lawn care, and learning techniques that save time and energy
The author offers many pearls of wisdom on the subject of lightening the load; I have dog-eared about 16 pages of helpful advice that I plan to incorporate into my gardening routine. These suggestions will allow me to continue to garden while maintaining my pride, my skills and above all my dignity. Some of us no longer have careers that define us. Gardening as recreation replaced that years ago and it became a source of accomplishment. Why should we have to stop now? With the help of the author and with some compromises, this reviewer will be able to continue to derive pleasure from a passionate hobby, even as the ageing process evolves.
Ms.Eddison is a nationally recognized gardener, speaker, and prolific writer whose own garden has been featured in magazine and television shows, including Martha Stewart Living and The Victory Garden. It is impressive that at a crossroad in her personal life that she should encounter head on the challenges of the aging gardener and write about it with grace and dignity. This is a terrifying topic for some of us and the author is to be commended for tackling it with both realism and optimism.
Click Here To Purchase Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older