num_pages: 329
description: A delightful compendium of writing on plants.The passion for gardening and the passion for words come together in this inspired anthology, a collection of essays on topics as diverse as beans and roses, by writers who garden and by gardeners who write. Among the contributors are Christopher Lloyd, on poppies; Marina Warner, who remembers the Guinée rose; and Henri Cole, who offers poems on the bearded iris and on peonies. There is also an explanation of the sexiness of castor beans from Michael Pollan and an essay from Maxine Kumin on how, as Henry David Thoreau put it, one "[makes] the earth say beans instead of grass." Most of the essays are new in print, but Colette, Katharine S. White, D. H. Lawrence, and several other old favorites make appearances. Jamaica Kincaid, the much-admired writer and a passionate gardener herself, rounds up this diverse crew. A wonderful gift for green thumbs, My Favorite Plant is a happy collection of fresh takes on old friends.	Wayne Winterrowd / Meconopsis	Marina Warner / The Rayburn and the Rose	Michael Pollan / Consider the Castor Bean	Ken Druse / Desire under the Jacks	Duane Michals / The Vanishing Act	Colette / Lily	Christopher Lloyd / Poppies	Karel Capek / Buds	Colette / Hellebore	Daniel Hinkley / Hellebores	Katharine S. White / Irises	Henri Cole / Bearded Irises, Peonies	Michael Fox / My Grandmother and Her Peonies	Thomas C. Cooper / Hardy Geraniums	D. H. Lawrence / Sicilian Cyclamens	Nancy Goodwin / Cyclamen	Mary Keen / Auriculas	Maxine Kumin / Beans	F. Kingdon Ward / A Day on the Edge of the World	Tony Avent / Hostas	Hilton Als / Marigolds Dan Chiasson / Ovid at Tomi	David Raffeld / Thirteen Roses	Graham Stuart Thomas / Old Clove Carnations	Steven A. Frowine / Tropical Lady's Slipper Orchids	Ernest Wilson / Honeypots and Silver Tree	Philip Levine / Wisteria	Thomas Fischer / Delphiniums	Geoffrey B. Charlesworth / A Favorite Plant Frederick Seidel / Prayer	Katharine S. White / Gourds	Ian Frazier / Memories of a Press-Gang Gardener	William Carlos Williams / Queen-Ann's-Lace	D. H. Lawrence / Purple Anemones	Elaine Scarry / Columbine
language: English
title: My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love
titlecomplete: My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love
genres: Nonfiction, Gardening
ratings_count: 57
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux