In and Out of the Garden

I’m joining The Novel Bakers

for Garden Week!

You’re invited to pull on your gardening gloves and dig in with some virtual gardening as we share books, tour gardens, set tables, and enjoy some garden-inspired projects & recipes this week!

 Sara Midda’s richly illustrated In and Out of the Garden has delighted readers and critics alike. Diana Vreeland praised it as “delightful and delicious,” and Laura Ashley called it “pure inspiration.”

In and Out of the Garden:

The most elegant and subtle of books to give and to have, it evokes the English gardens of Sara Midda’s childhood, sowing the imagination with glorious images. Dozens and dozens of illustrations and tender reflections recall a hut in the wood, or a topiary maze, a summer day spent podding peas, or an herb patch that yields Biblical fragrances. Ruby-red radishes are the jewels of the underworld. Myriad colors fall upon warm green moss. Painted with Sara Midda’s fine brush, it is a book of lasting enchantment.

While this book is delightful, the illustrations are tiny and the delicate water-colored calligraphied text so faint, it is a bit of a challenge to read.

But I was charmed by the illustrations and

bits of garden wisdom I could make out.

And inspired to fill a wheelbarrow with salad . . .

And the last of the violas before they expire from

the heat, to be replaced with summer annuals.

A Spring Salad of tender mixed baby greens, strawberries, blueberries, gorgonzola, pecans and edible flowers (violas, pesticide free).

Add chicken for a complete meal and serve

with balsamic or raspberry vinaigrette. . .

And garden trowel servers

from Pottery Barn :)

 “This book is a potpourri of garden lore. Here are summer days of raspberry picking, swarms of bees laden with pollen, peas ripe for podding, herbs for flavouring. Every page, including the text, has been hand painted. Dip into it for recipes, poems, proverbs, and garden thoughts.”

*Strong reading glasses required :)

Visit Jain and Michael Lee

for Garden Week:

 a quiet life

Rattlebridge Farm

Thank you for your visit, also sharing at:

Metamorphosis Monday, Marvelous Mondays,

The Scoop, Inspire Me Tuesday,

Wow Us Wednesdays, Home Sweet Home

Tablescape Thursday, Foodie Friday