PEREN N I AL FOCUS
BOBBIE SCHWARTZ, FAPLD Bobbie’s Green Thumb
Photo courtesy of BrightView Landscape Services.
THE HOLIDAY BOOKSHELF 2019 EDITION
Winter and the holidays are coming all too quickly. If you are looking for books to give as holiday gifts, I have some suggestions for you.
THE LIFELONG GARDENER: GARDEN WITH EASE & JOY AT ANY AGE
Once I started reading the book, I was discouraged by what seemed to be simplistic, rah-rah motivational “speaking” but once I read further, I found several ideas that make this book worthwhile.
Gattone, Toni Timber Press, 2019 Portland, OR.
The theme of this book is “Garden smarter, not harder,” a line taken from an article that the author read when she was flat on her back after moving a heavy concrete pot. By now, we are all aware that gardening is good for our health but many of the chores involve either heavy labor or repetitive motions. Therefore, Toni suggests ten adaptive gardening rules. From experience, I would say that one of the most important is taking time to stretch your muscles before going into the garden. Another is switching chores every thirty minutes so that you are using different parts of your body.
As much as I love gardening, my body reminds me that I’m not as young as I used to be. For the last 5 years, I have, therefore, been trying to find ways to cut back on maintenance.
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8 | Official Publication of The Ohio Landscape Association