Now they are available at garden centers and supermarkets. While some are suitable for a windowsill, they're still a little more complicated than caring for a philodendron. Pair the book with the promise of a plant, after the recipient has read it and selected an orchid, and some lucky gardener will have a very nice gift indeed. With his irreverent yet discerning sense of style this Mississippian champion of tire planters and bottle trees takes an affectionate look at scarecrows as folk figures and beyond. And after you, your friends and neighbors have made your own pleasingly whimsical versions, you're told how to stage a scarecrow festival complete with judging contest.
Scarecrows are colorful and likeable, just like the book.
I was somewhat doubtful about how useful it would be. The current vogue for having a garden in the northeast look like one in Bermuda is all well and good. What it does cover are almost 2,000 palms, bananas, bamboos, ferns and a whole host of perennials, shrubs, vines, aquatics and more. These are plants for zone 8 and warmer. I find myself turning its pages again and again, collecting nuggets of information on plants I already own.