Herbaceous

by Paul Evans, Kurt Jackson (Illustrator)

Herbaceous is gardening with words. It is a book of audacious botany and poetic vision which asks us to look anew at our relationship with plants and celebrates their power to nourish the human spirit.

Genres: Nature, Natural History, Nonfiction, Poetry

112 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Best known as the author of the Guardian’s Country Diary, Paul Evans is a naturalist, university lecturer, broadcaster of natural-history documentaries and award-winning dramas for Radio 4, and performance poet. He writes for publications including BBC Wildlife, Geographical, The National Trust Magazine and Country Living; and his work appears in many anthologies. He has had his poetry set to music by an American folk group and even been the subject of an MA at a Belgian university. He lives with his family in Much Wenlock, Shropshire where he was born.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was Evans’s first book, and the first book issued in the Little Toller monograph series. These are generally exceptionally produced nature books on niche subjects. Herbaceous is hard to categorize. In some ways it’s similar to Evans’s Guardian Country Diary columns: short pieces blending straightforward observations with poetic musings. However, some of them read more like short stories, and the language – appropriately for a book about flora? – can be florid. They probably work better read aloud as poems: I remembering him reading “Skunk cabbage” at the New Networks for Nature conference some years back, for instance. Some lines are a little oversaturated with metaphor. But others are truly lovely.

A few favorite lines:

“The following morning the text of journeys appear[s] on snow: trident marks of pheasant, double slots of fallow deer, dabs of rabbit.”

“Bordello black and scarlet, six-spot burnet moths swing on the nodding idiot scabious flower through a lavender-blue sky and deep, deep under roots, the fossilised fury of the mollusc’s empire heaves.”

“A bed of pansies tilts flat blue faces to the sun like a deaf and dumb funeral.”

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Venturing out for a walk in mid-spring is a delight, gone are the drab stark colours of winter, instead, all our senses are assailed by life springing forth after its dormant period. Perennial plants that come back every year, such as celandine, cowslips and bluebells can lift our spirits and remind us that regardless of what is going on in the world, the seasonal change will still happen regardless.

In this collection of nature writing Evans has spilt them into five sections, Yellow, White, Pink Blue and Brown. The grouping reflects the way that the seasons change, the increasing light of spring moves to the intensity of summer before the light retreats in autumn and winter. He writes about various plants in each section, from the Lesser Celandine in the first part, toothwort in the white section, sanfoin for summer and harebell and black knapweed in the later parts of the book.

All the stories were drawn up by the grass and trees and midsummer spaces rolling over the Edge; drawn up in a dreaminess of bees in the wild thyme of Natures telling.

These short essays vary in length from a few sentences to a couple of pages at most. They can be dipped into at random and feel like experimental writing at times as Evans explores our relationship with plants and the places that they grow. As with all of his other books that I have read, he has a poetic style of writing that I like, but every now and again the essays did feel a little random. It is a nicely produced, as all the Monograph books are and I thought that the illustrations by Kurt Jackson were stunning.

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very lyrical and melodious study of the changing of seasons, the emergence of new plant life, the habits of creatures.

Evans has a lovely way of writing that draws everything in around the subject he is writing about. There is emotion, detail, feeling, reaction, history, all attributable to a dandelion for example.

A beautifully written piece with incredible illustration by Kurt Jackson.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved everything about this little book... except the content. The concept of moving through the natural and garden colour palate through the year was very enticing, the title and cover subtly provocative. The few illustrations were beautiful though unlinked to the text. I liked the combination of prose and poem. But the focus was confusing - garden or nature? UK or abroad? and the work itself generally did not hit my spot apart from a smattering of satisfying lines.