This book is beautiful! I love it just for browsing and admiring, and I can imagine using it in a technical writing course for specific students who are interested in combining descriptive writing and illustrations. The book is a wonderful example of that form of writing.

4.5 stars.

This book was very helpful and informative. It has almost everything there is to know about gardening (if not all, I'm not sure) and some history to each one. Some of the topics have some famous garden names set as examples.

As for the illustrations, they're very cute and beautiful. They're my favorite out of everything in the book.

The only things I didn't like in the book are the
orange texts in the corner of the paragraphs because they don't provide any new information. They're just the same sentence from the ones in the paragraphs. Despite the book being informative, sometimes it can be info dumpy.

Overall, I think this book is a must read for anyone who wants to be serious about gardening and wanting to add some decorations.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

Most gardens have the same basic elements. You expect certain things from a garden. We've all met luxury additions in the landscape, but some things are ... well, what make a space a garden.

And in Staubach's book, you'll find delightful illustrations that feel familiar, no matter where you are gardening. You might find new ideas of how to take your garden to the next level. You may also find out what was missing - that thing that would make your space complete.

This artsy visual encyclopedia of gardening is a delight for the eye as well as the mind. It's equally interesting as a coffee table book, a art illustration idea book, and a gardener's go-to.

Enjoy it!

I love that this book is a glossary of garden terms and elements that incorporates short essays and gorgeous artwork. It can be a bit mundane to read about fixtures and parts of gardens but when you combine it with the quaint and whimsy artwork, you are transported into something that is homey and almost secret garden-like. The art also makes the text itself approachable, so it's not too technical but something that you could just read and enjoy.

I would easily use some of the art in this book for framed pieces or just display this as a coffee table book.

"Garden Miscellany" by Suzanne Staubach, is a collection of common and not so common words you would use to describe an assortment of garden landscapes. It not only gives a brief description of the word, but also the history behind it , which I found fascinating. I have been an avid gardener for 20 years and some of these words, let alone the meanings, were unknown to me. I enjoyed learning extraordinary, unusual history facts about common garden words. There were beautiful illustrations for the reader to gaze at, while enjoying this well written book. For every gardening enthusiast, this simply is a must read. #Gardenmiscellany #Netgalley

This is a lovely encyclopedia of garden terms, from aalee to yard. Each entry tells you the history of that garden feature in a one or two page essay. Color drawings accompany some but not all of the entries. I would have loved even more illustrations. Many of the entries don't really need to be explained (yard, shrub, etc.) but there are neat little trivia tidbits and history for them, and helpful advice. Others were new to me, such as "pleach" (to intertwine one or two rows of shrubs so they grow into each other and form a wall, or to braid tree trunks together). This is an interesting book and would make great winter reading for gardeners.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

This book has some of the most gorgeous illustrations of any garden book I’ve read. Huge props to Illustrator, Julia Yellow for her fine work.

However, I was craving a reference or footnote from the author somewhere...anywhere!

Where were the footnotes for the history lesson on “fern mania,” and why have I never heard of this before? Could she mention what website, periodical, or Octogenarian she heard it from? Not to mention a ‘ha-ha’ or ‘stumpery.’ I was so distracted asking myself if these were even real terms I missed out enjoying the written words in the book. (That’s absolutely my own problem, I take credit for that.)

I understand the author has held respectable positions in the educational and gardening world. However this critical gardener wants some noted references! Please!

Thanks to #NetGalley, I had an advanced PDF to read and review.

*All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review. *

Yet another non-fiction read for the month of June and it's an A-Z guide to all things garden related, from the structures you find in gardens to gardening terms and more. I am personally not the best gardener but I do have numerous houseplants and I'm starting to care for them as well as I can so I thought this book would be ideal for a beginner.

Firstly, the cover is beautiful but somehow the interior illustrations aren't quite so - perhaps that's because it is an ARC copy rather than the finished book. I found the information within the book to be interesting and quite specific but at times it was a little repetitive. I would definitely recommend it for gardening beginners as there is so much useful information and I think it is something I'll need to keep going back to.

This was a complimentary copy from netgalley - thank you

This is a beautiful book.

I am not much of a gardener and will confess, the cover attracted me. Wow, what a stunning book. This is one that I will dip into again and again.

Great ideas for gardeners of all levels

Would make a great book club book

This book is such a treat. I think I should just go ahead and pre-order one for myself.

I don’t think I fully read the overview before requesting permission to review this book. I expected it to be about the various elements of a garden. Indeed, it is about these various elements and their history. I cannot believe the amount of historical information the author is able to include in such a small amount of space. And the information is extremely interesting without being too complex or boring. In fact, sometimes she gives you just enough information to nudge you to investigate further (i.e. I have never considered how a glass tax in England affected the advances in greenhouse construction).

The alphabetical listing of garden terms includes the usual – bed, fence, path, trellis. The interesting elements for me are items such as folly, ha-ha, caravan, railroad garden. I also like how elements such as ornament and scarecrow are given the same attention as greenhouse and courtyard.

Gardeners of all experience levels will delight in the details and historical context of each garden element presented here. Personally, I found myself contemplating additions to my existing home garden – perhaps a summerhouse and a stumpery. It certainly is a sweet collection of garden information that you can turn to time and time again and always find something new.

I received an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own. A blog post reviewing this book can be found at https://patch405.com/2019/06/06/10-things-i-learned-today/

This is beautifully illustrated book! While I didn't get much information-wise, I loved just looking at the illustrations throughout the book.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Staubach takes a series of short essays on gardening terminology and turns them into a wonderland. Each essay is accompanied by some of the most beautiful artwork I’ve seen in any book. Gorgeous watercolors transport readers into the garden of their dreams in this highly recommended book

This book is a glossary of sorts -- it explains the meaning, etc. or various garden implements, features, etc. The content is informative, but the illustrations are what I found particularly enjoyable. The whole presentation is charming, though light-weight. I would certainly enjoy flipping through this book periodically while garden dreaming.