Recently, I met up with a colleague from my early days of attending garden lectures: John Forti. After spending years developing and tending gardens at Plimouth Patuxet Museums and Strawbery Banke, John has turned to writing. He was asked by Timber Press to create The Heirloom Gardener: Traditional Garden Skills for the Modern Age. The book is part essay, part memoir, and part guide to important seasonal markers. It’s illustrated with charming color woodcuts by the artist Mary Azarian of Vermont.
I read about the uses of the herb Angelica, something I had nearly forgotten about, as it’s not that easy to find this plant in a nursery. And John has many ideas for involving the children and young people who may be on the periphery of our lives in the wonderful world of nature.
