in

. © Barbara Black :
~. BOOK REVIEW

Crazy About Gardening,
Reflections on the Sweet
' Seductions of a Garden, by Des _
“ Kernedy, Whitecap Books, 282
'S pp., softcover. -
oS EADING THIS book
was particularly mean- °
ingfultome, ©
“. + One ice-packed Jeg propped
_ up on.a mountain of cushions, |
“am a recovering victim of a:con- :
-frontation with a battleship-sized ’
bumble bee. tt was foraging for
“pollen up my pant leg, which, *
_.fegrettably, was too narrow for a
hasty exit. This unfortunate inci-
dent fiappened while | was
‘engrossed in ‘an act of weed. -\

@
‘dan pulling in the garden — the magi-

cal place of natural events. -

Des Kennedy would have © |,
“appreciated the absurdity. of my °
- frenzied dance as | tried desper- -

ately to get out of my pants while
: being sting by a maniac bee.

- Here is a'fellow who sees humor... -

‘cand Murphy’s Law at workin > -,
~’ feverything. He is able to laugh at
‘his own fanaticism about garden-

ing and, with a Zen-like stance,
allows the chance events to hap-
pen alongside the planned.

Nog

If you read his previous hook,
Living Things We Love to Hate,
then you are familiar with his wit-
riddled, sarcastic style, packed!
full of puns and pithy observa-
tions. Admittedly, this excess
sometimes runs rampant but
Kennedy's anecdotal style of writ-
ing has a certain appeal.

Do not look to this book for
succinct scientific imperatives

* about gardening. It is not one of

those gardening textbooks
designed to make you feel like
an idiot in a universe of garden-

66 Do not look to this

book for succinct sci-
entific imperatives

about gardening. 99

"ing geniuses. No; my fellow dan-

‘delion murderers. Crazy About

'. Gardening fleshes out the quirky

impulses of people who swoon
over fresh manure and froth at the
first appearance of an errant

_ weed. It'is a collection of what I

would loosely call essays (but

what are really musings) in which °

most gardeners will recognize
themselves. There are the garden-
ers who turn perfectionism into a
‘vice with their perfectly edged -
lawns; the libertarian gardeners
who turn laziness into “wild, nat-.

ural gardens”; and bleeding-heart .

‘gardeners who, because they

‘can’t turn down a free plant,

Take a 1994 Chevrolet Impala for a drive this
Friday with Greg Wilson in the auto section,
Greg will give you the goods on the latest
vehicles to hit the showrooms, from high

performance sports cars to family sedans. .
Spand a few minutes kicking the tires on a
"94 Chevrolet Impala with Greg this Friday.

with a heal

th

over-populate their gardens with
flora orphans.

Like an avid composter with
his handy pitchfork, Kennedy
exposes the layers of self-delusion
and deception that turk in every
gardener's heart.

Most gardeners, for instance,
are not up on their Latin names.
No problem, says Kennedy. Do
as his neighbor does: the next
time some crusty gardening over-
achiever asks for a botanical
name, simply make it up. Can’t
grow a certain plant? Blame it
one the plant or the soil condi-
tions. ;

_ Being a crazy gardener him-
self, Kennedy knows the things
that drive a gardener to distrac-
tion — those things that keep you
just this far from achieving botan-
ical perfection each year. He
writes in his typically hyperbolic
manner, “Gardeners view the. -
weather, and the universe gener-
ally, as malevolent forces that
exist for the sole purpose of
wreaking havoc upon the gar-
den.” In a fit of sympathy, he out-
fines all the annoying habits of
mother nature to sabotage your
efforts inthe garden...

In subsequent chapters,

‘Kennedy waxes philosophic on

the mythic meanings of fawns
and their accompanying evils,
bemoans the impossibility of soil
profiles and the Sisyphean task of
garden maintenance, and relates

sense of hur

the grotesqueries of composting
with smelly, decaying substances.
Reading the book is like hav-
ing a long chinwag over the fence
with the author. Bits of advice are

fe bebe pic tc

$e LUNCH
~pe ve up fo

9.95

TPR" Amigos dung the SUMMER ot ‘94: you order two ot more tems fiom our bar, dessert ft
) Of appetizer menu we will invite you and your quest fo enjoy one compimentary lunch

Bic ie she te ee

tossed about and weighed for
their validity. In the end, the per-:
petual self-inflicted strife of the

gardener is viewed as crazy, but
rewarding, nonetheless.

DINNER yc

Save up to".

a

ot dinner entree when second one of equol  gieater value is purchased. °

“Se
Be

sd

Not velid with other offers _

i Valld untill end of Summer 94 ©

STANLEY CUP ACTION.

- onthe LARGE SCREEN
~¢ OUTDOOR DINING PATIO

Rules of use»

Minimum consumption required ©...

. » ONE coupon per group
™ NO separate checks
4 NOt vaiid fathar's da

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JUNE 24, 25, 26 }

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