BACK<<<to the CLASSICS discussion

For many of us, March is the month when we start to see plants starting to grow & flowers in parks & gardens. Our challenge this month is to read at least one book or short story where plants, flowers or trees are important to the story.

Examples

The Black Tulip - Alexandre Dumas
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Elizabeth and Her German Garden - Elizabeth von Arnim

Thank you Trisha! Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Gardeners' World
where YOU are the star



Here is your template... but remember you can choose how many or how few books you want to read.

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1.
2.
3.

1 2 3







Gardeners
Chad
☘️ Jazzy
Kathy
Lynn
Nidhi
Nike
☘️ Rosemarie
Trisha
Vicky

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24
3/3

☘️1. This is the Grass (1972) - Alan Marshall 12/3/24 5🏵️
☘️2. Flowers for Algernon (1966) - Daniel Keyes 2/3/24 5🏵️
☘️3. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1964) - Hannah Green 3/2/24 4🏵️




Cliff Richard, 1963

Manfred Mann, 1965




Ozzy Osbourne, 1978

Thanks Jazzy - the photos look fabulous!

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

🌷1. Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf

Ta, Tr1sha x

Gardener's World 🌳🌴🌿🪴🌱☘️🍀🌵🌲🌹🌷💐🪻🪷🌺🌻
March 2024 Challenge

1. The Flowering of the Strange Orchid by H.G. Wells ☘️
2. L'homme qui plantait des arbres by Jean Giono☘️
3. The Grass Harp by Truman Capote ☘️

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1.The Black TulipbyAlexandre Dumas(Netherlands)🌷✔11/3/24★ ★ ★ ★
2.The Petrified Forest: a Play in Three ActsbyRobert E. Sherwood🌵✔12/3/24★ ★ ★ ★
3.The Flowering of the Strange OrchidbyH.G. Wells🌺✔27/3/24★ ★ ★ ★

✅27/3/24
1 2 3

Vicky wrote: "Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1.The Black TulipbyAlexandre Dumas
…

I’m glad you chose that book, Vicky. I read it a few months ago & liked it more than some of his other books. I hope you enjoy it too.

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

3/3

✅1. The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekhov (1903)
✅2. Gooseberries - Anton Chekhov (1898) 3/4/24
✅3. Wild Strawberries - Angela Thirkell (1934)

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (1959) March 9, 2024 5*
2. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1951) March 27, 2024 5*


1 2

Possible books
> Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (1937) - a Kenyan coffee plantation
> The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1951) - scary flowers haha

It's a beautiful spring day where I live today. I took a walk for an hour and wanted an audiobook. There is a very nice (free) audiobook of The Day of the Triffids on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFVed...

Good choices, Lynn.

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1/1

Possibilities

1. The Baron in the Trees 5 stars



1

Beautiful pictures 🌺❤️🌺

Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1. Ingen rövare finns i skogen av Astrid Lindgren


1

My reading speed is slow due to difficulties in concentration and lack of cognitive stamina for now, so I would be so grateful if someone would be so kind to come up with some short suggestions, preferably short stories. (⁠o⁠´⁠･⁠_⁠･⁠)⁠っ

Nike wrote: "My reading speed is slow due to difficulties in concentration and lack of cognitive stamina for now, so I would be so grateful if someone would be so kind to come up with some short suggestions, pr..."

Nike, my books listed for my own reading are both short stories:
Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf (123 pages)
The Man Whom the Trees Loved, Algernon Blackwood (76 pages)

If you have access to Apple Books, “Kew Gardens” is free to read. There are a lot of books & short stories by Algernon Blackwood available to read online at algernonblackwood.org (but try reading a few pages of anything by him before deciding, as his style is quite old-fashioned & may not suit you.)

Nike if you like Chekhov, you can try his very short story Gooseberries and a play The Cherry Orchard, I liked both of them.

Nidhi wrote: "Nike if you like Chekhov, you can try his very short story Gooseberries and a play The Cherry Orchard, I liked both of them."

Thank you, Nidhi - I may have to add to my list too, these seem interesting.

Nidhi wrote: "Nike if you like Chekhov, you can try his very short story Gooseberries and a play The Cherry Orchard, I liked both of them."

I've read The Cherry Orchard (but decades ago!) but I'll search for Gooseberries. Thank you (⁠✿⁠ ⁠♡⁠‿⁠♡⁠)

Tr1sha wrote: "Nike wrote: "My reading speed is slow due to difficulties in concentration and lack of cognitive stamina for now, so I would be so grateful if someone would be so kind to come up with some short su..."

Thank you, I'll look that up 🙏. For now I do prefer reading in my own language though since my brain is to fatigue to function properly.

But I'll save your idea for later. I haven't read anything by Algernon Blackwood yet but have been interested in doing so for a while.

And for the moment I prefer something even shorter since I'm struggling with my ATY 2024 - challenge and I 'm way behind (as always this time of year).

Gooseberries story by Chekhov is available on Project Gutenberg.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1883/...

Another short work i would like to suggest is The Man Who Planted Trees

It is 74 pages and 5 star read for me.

Nidhi wrote: "Another short work i would like to suggest is The Man Who Planted Trees

It is 74 pages and 5 star read for me."

Thank you so much. 🙏
Right now I prefer reading in Swedish though. Normally I haven't got any problems what so ever in reading in English but right now my brain is foggy and exhausted so I prefer reading in my own language.

Bit March hasn't even begun yet and if I'm turning better in a few weeks I might read it. I can't find Gooseberries in Swedish but I've used Project Gutenberg several times before so I'll definitely do that if I'm a bit better in the end of March. 🙏❤️🌺

I will look for the other story in Swedish.

I found a classic Swedish children's story from 1949 by Astrid Lindgren, a story I don't think I've ever read.

In Sweden we grow up with Astrid Lindgren's wonderful stories and there are so many of them but still - we are fed with her worlds and words from the beginning of our lifes so I'm surprised to find that there are a few ones I haven't read. Anyway it's called Ingen rövare finns i skogen which means "No mugger is in the forest".

Lovely books being chosen all around.
Do you like audiobooks Nike? There should be a lot on youtube.

I love that shot of Ozzy in the garden! I would actually like to read The Black Tulip and I’ll find a copy for March.

Thanks Chad! Lovely to hear from you. I'll link you from your post x

Thanks, Jazzy!

Jazzy wrote: "Lovely books being chosen all around.
Do you like audiobooks Nike? There should be a lot on youtube."

Not in Swedish, no. But I do have an audiobook subscription. And I scrolled through every classic short story only to find that the few with a garden, flower, tree - connection (like The Secret Garden) are books I've already read. Except for the children's story by Astrid Lindgren that I mentioned above. And I love listen to her books because it is She herself - Astrid Lindgren, the mother of all Swedes, that is the narrator and her voice is the most comforting one.

The Grass Harp by Truman Capote.

Vit wrote: "The Grass Harp by Truman Capote."

I'm reading that one as well.

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood is good.

For those looking for short stories, The Last Leaf and The Cactus by O. Henry are both good ones.

Thank you for all of your suggestions for this theme. I’ve seen so many good ideas here that the challenge could take me a long time to read everything I want! I’m already looking at my challenges in other groups to see which of the books I could use there too…

Tr1sha wrote: "Vicky wrote: "Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1.The Black TulipbyAlexandre Dumas
…

I’m glad you chose that book, Vicky. I read it a few months a..."

Tr1sha wrote: "Vicky wrote: "Gardeners' World
(March 2024 Challenge)
1/3/24 - 31/3/24

1.The Black TulipbyAlexandre Dumas
…

I’m glad you chose that book, Vicky. I read it a few months a..."

Thanks,Tr1sha,I'm looking forward to this one!

Rosemarie wrote: "Vit wrote: "The Grass Harp by Truman Capote."

I'm reading that one as well.

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood is good."

Until I joined Goodreads I don’t think I ever read a horror book. The Willows is one of the best - it has to be something special to get 5* rating from me!

A couple of years ago I wanted to read The Willows but somehow it slipped out of my mind. So now being reminded I'll read this story too.

I was re-reading a children's book that I loved My Side of the Mountain/On the Far Side of the Mountain never thinking about it being a gardening book, but it is. A young teen runs away to his family's abandoned farm on a distant mountain side. The entire book is about how he survives fishing, hunting, and eating the wild plants that grow there. There are multiple recipes for using wild ingredients for cooking.

General book review:
I just finished the second book. On the Far Side of the Mountain (1990) and enjoyed it as much as the first. The two books were written 30 years apart. I can see why the author wanted to do that.

The first book written in 1959 really taps into the "back to nature" trend that was flowing through American society at the time. Yet, over time environmental sensibilities changed. The second book resolves the plot lines and really feels like it is just the last chapters of the first book. Also, the first book is more about individual survival and the second is more about sustainable communities that do not harm wildlife. I really liked these selections.

Lynn wrote: "I was re-reading a children's book that I loved My Side of the Mountain/On the Far Side of the Mountain never thinking about it being a gardening book, but it is. A young teen runs a..."
Yes,I totally agree with you,Lynn-it's a superb "outdoors"story.I had just finished the first book days before our March Challenge began and it would have fitted well-I'm saving book 2 for later in the year!BTW I'm a great John Wyndham fan and can heartily recommend "The Day of the Triffids"-like all good Science Fiction it struck me as quite believable!

I’m nearly done with The Black Tulip. What a wonderful little book. At times I find the focus on this little flower and the attempts to destroy/steal it to be quite hilarious. This has actually been a page turner for me over the past two days.

Lynn wrote: "I was re-reading a children's book that I loved My Side of the Mountain/On the Far Side of the Mountain never thinking about it being a gardening book, but it is."

Lynn I had the good fortune to actually hold the Hawk from the film on my gloved hand.

Jazzy wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I was re-reading a children's book that I loved My Side of the Mountain/On the Far Side of the Mountain never thinking about it being a gardening book, but it is."

Lynn..."


That's amazing!!

I absolutely loved The Black Tulip. It gives us gardening, love and adventure (one of those things I don’t normally read about).

It was a bit of an unlikely love story mixed in with a bit of adventure, a lot of envy and, of course, a tulip. A black one. This was actually an introduction into Alexandre Dumas for me. I loved it and kept wanting to get back to it. That bodes well for some of his larger tulips that are on my (and everyone else’s) TBR.

Chad wrote: "I absolutely loved The Black Tulip..."

I read it a while ago & enjoyed it much more than his other books that I have read so far.

I finished reading The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino. I liked it very much, this the second fiction by Calvino which i have read. Invisible Cities contains a lot more imagination, I loved it. They are peculiar books, not for everyone.

Trees… Grass… Flowers…
“As for the roses, you could not help feeling they understood that roses are the only flowers that impress people at garden-parties; the only flowers that everybody is certain of knowing. Hundreds, yes, literally hundreds, had come out in a single night; the green bushes bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels.”
***** The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield
***** The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
***** The Grass Harp by Truman Capote

The Baron in the Trees is my favourite book by Calvino!

I finished my three books for the challenge, and enjoyed every one.

Rosemarie wrote: "I finished my three books for the challenge, and enjoyed every one."

Congratulations Rosemarie.

Thanks, Lynn!