Gardening from the couch: Wicked Plants
Those of us who garden on the Internet know Amy Stewart from the blogs Garden Rant and Dirt.
But she is also a gifted writer and her new book is a fun one: Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities.
Stewart has put together a list of menacing botanicals: from a tree that sheds poison daggers to a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes intolerable pain to a leaf that started a war.
"Within the plant kingdom lurk unfathomable evils," writes Stewart, who keeps her own garden of poison plants.
She loves plants, she writes, but she never turns her back on them. Just because they are "natural" doesn't mean they are safe.
This is a fun book, but also one that carries a word - many words - to the wise.
The publisher, Algonquin Books, is kindly offering a free copy of this book to five randomly selected Garden Variety readers. Post a comment and include your e-mail address so I can contact the winners. Don't worry, I won't share your e-mail with anyone else.
Comments
What a great book cover! The violence of nature is compelling, especially in contrast to its beauty. I look forward to reading this book.
Posted by: Janna Rice | June 14, 2009 8:28 AM
Now that sounds like an interesting book. You can learn a lot from that one. Thank you for telling us about this book. Did not know of plants like these.
Dan and Deanna
Posted by: Dan and Deanna | June 15, 2009 4:03 AM
I'm looking forward to the chapter on Audrey 2.
LOL!!!
Posted by: Jason Moore | June 15, 2009 1:08 PM
My great-grandmother used to be called out when people were sick. She treated with poultices and teas brewed up from roots. I suppose she knew about poisonous plants but that didn't come through the family lore.
Posted by: Eve | June 15, 2009 2:05 PM
How interesting!
I am a newbie at gardening and I find such new pleasures cultivating my garden as I do cultivating my mind...and now this book does both.
Thanks for highlighting the book for your readers!
Posted by: Ellen | June 15, 2009 5:08 PM
Oh, randomly pick me! This book looks fascinating. I will have to buy one if not picked. Going to RT this post right away even though it decreases my chances of winning.
Posted by: Polly | June 15, 2009 7:49 PM
It is remarkable that a weed killed Lincolns mother, then again so many in that time period suffered more from the "cure" than the malady sometimes. Nature is a fickle monster.
Posted by: ross | June 16, 2009 2:22 AM
One year I saw a beautiful plant with a white trumpet flower. I ordered it. Planted it and it grew like a weed -- loco weed. It's called Datura and it has properties that have been studied by generations of those who enjoy alternative realities. It reseeds like nuts, I can't get rid of it.
Posted by: Kathryn | June 16, 2009 8:29 AM
It just seems to me that gardening and reading go together, so I have been making a collection of interesting and unusal books about plants and gardens. I think I need to get this one too:)
Posted by: Melody Lee | June 16, 2009 3:09 PM
We have five winners! Jill Rosen, my blogging buddy at Unleashed, chose the names out of a hat. Thanks for commenting!
Posted by: Susan Reimer | June 17, 2009 4:58 PM
Looks like a fun book.Can't wait to get my hands on it.Love your blog.Great photos and bright colorful shots.
Posted by: Aimee Dardis | June 23, 2009 10:32 PM