As garden beds have been put to rest for the growing season a new garden book, Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites by Ken Druse, has made its debut. Gardeners will have an excellent plant book to keep them company by a warm fire through the winter months ahead.
Plant Histories
Most gardeners are able to recall what small miracle first amazed the plant lover’s mind. This book is filled with big explorations and small discoveries.
By taking individual plants, the author unravels queries of who found it first, why does it look this way and what was the journey that brought it to a garden bed. A genealogy of plant families and their life stories is told in Planthropology.
Plants and People
Druse recounts to readers many examples of ethnobotany, the study of relationships between plants and people. The obvious perennial and herb plants are included but so are the exotic orchids and trees like the dignified Quercus virginiana.
Sections of this book include stories about trees, the big plants, and public gardens, the big plant collections, of the world. References are made throughout of public gardens, environmental interactions and stewardship of the earth’s plants.
Garden in the Woods is one of the living museums mentioned in Planthropology. Home to the New England Wild Flower Society, Garden in the Woods is a haven for threatened and endangered native plants in the northeast.
Plant Photos
Each page layout is filled with photographs, most taken by Ken Druse. Full page and pages filled with many individual color photographs, whatever the combination, all are the visual part to telling the written story.
The Papaver orientalis ‘Patty’s Plum’ is not just a pretty face. Behind the photograph is a story of the Oriental poppy family, historical use of the plant and its worldwide, sometimes not so obvious, impact.
The detailed full-paged photograph of seeds on the head of a common sunflower is not just a story about birdseed. Rather, it is about the intricate layout of the seeds, an inquisitive mathematician and patterns repeated throughout nature.
Book Features in Planthropology
The framed pages sprinkled frequently throughout the book are vignettes of one story, from the practical like rose hips and tea to the horticultural such as about galls. Each of these stories relays a personal experience and lessons learned bringing plants alive for the reader.
The book’s index is a reliable tool for serious gardeners. Plant information is easily researched using botanical or common names or garden topics. Planthropology is filled to capacity with plant and garden musings.
Reading through this book will remind a gardener of the experience when viewing a painting but, upon each return visit, making new discoveries. Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites is a prudent choice from among the many new garden books available this year.
Author Ken Druse
Ken Druse is an organic gardener, garden writer and photographer and author of many books including The Passion of Gardening and The Natural Habitat Garden. Druse is also host of Real Dirt, a garden radio and podcast program.
About Ken Druse’s Plant Book
Title - Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites, by Ken Druse. November 4, 2008 Publisher – Clarkson Potter is an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House; Pages 288. ISBN – 978-1-4000-9783-8. Price - $50 US $57.50 Canada
Clarkson Potter also published Potted Gardens and Paradise Found.
Permission received for all photos used in this article. Reprinted from the book, Planthropology by Ken Druse. Copyright ã 2008 by Ken Druse.
Chris Eirschele - Chris writes on plants grown and gardens explored; she is a member of the Garden Writers Association.
Join the Conversation