Home Books Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story

Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story

Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story

by Marc Hamer

Greystone Books Ltd. ·2021 ·404 pages ·Nature
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
51/99
Maybe Someday

34/99

Critics

Near the Top

68/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

15/99

Rating

52/99

Volume

90/99

Rating

47/99

Volume

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About This Book

Any garden belongs to everyone who sees it – it is like a book and everybody who visits it will find different things. Marc Hamer has designed and nurtured 12 acres of garden for over two decades. It is rarely visited so he is the only person who fully knows its secrets; but it is not his own. His relationship with the garden's owner is both distant and curiously intimate, steeped in the mysterious connection which exists between two people who inhabit the same space in very different ways. In this life-enhancing book Marc takes us month-by-month through his experiences both working in the garden and outside it, as the seasons' changes bring new plants and wildlife to the fore and lead him to reflect on his past and future. Through his peaceful and meditative prose we learn about gardening folklore and wisdom, the joys of manual labour, his path from solitary homelessness to family contentment and the cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden's life and our own. Beautifully illustrated, Seed to Dust is a moving and restorative account of a life lived in harmony with nature. You've seen gates like that at the side of the road, you've wondered what's behind them. They really are the entrance to the wonders you imagined.


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Reviews

"As the world emerges from lockdown and more of us resume our distracted lives, his quality of perception is an ideal worth remembering ..."

Danny Heitman· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Hamer here turns thoughtfully to the complex of plant and animal life he encounters over one calendar year in the 12-acre garden in Wales that he has worked for two decades, full time, for its elegant, wealthy, somewhat detached owner, the widow Miss Cashmere ..."

Alan Moores· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Little happens in the narrative, save for the dramatic living and dying of all things, but Hamer's careful eye for detail and deep knowledge of the garden's dozens upon dozens of plants are used to great effect, creating a lush landscape into which a reader can disappear."

Carla Jean Whitley· BookPage Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Still, gardeners and armchair philosophers will find his musings strike a chord."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

"All are well made; some read true, others are squishier."

Tim Dee· The Guardian Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

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