BOOKMONGER
If your thoughts
are turning to
the garden …
If you find yourself dreaming of
your garden at this point in early
February, you might find a good
measure of joy in “Be Happy For-
ever? Make a Garden!”
Author Will Caplinger is a land
use consultant, certified arbor-
ist, horticulturalist and blithe spirit
who splits his time between Asto-
ria and Taiwan. Caplinger admits in
his preface that he began writing this
book back in the last millennium,
but this first draft was “nakedly
informational” – a data-driven hand-
book that would have put his readers
to sleep before they could ever get
out into their gardens to apply his
wisdom. So it was back to the draw-
ing board.
The self-published book you can
find now on Amazon still has some
of those technical chapters – weight
equivalents, mapping and measur-
ing. And yes, for those of us who
still prefer not to think of the world
as a series of mathematical equa-
tions, those chapters are pretty dry
– although they’re doubtlessly help-
ful to others . But Caplinger situates
the most technical chapters more
than 100 pages in, and before then,
the pages are devoted to free-wheel-
ing, poetry-spouting exuberance that
covers a lot of territory.
Even before he shares pointers
about how to nurture the plants in
your garden, the author talks about
the importance of caring for the gar-
dener’s own corporeal being with
extended discussions on how to
breathe, how to hydrate, and how to
stay cool.
“Mother Nature,” he warns, “can
be one hot mama.”
And with that he launches into
a fascinating (who knew?) discus-
sion of the heat index. The author
talks about protective equipment for
gardeners, tools and lifting tech-
niques. He mentions plants that can
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harm and plants that can heal. And
he shares his own quasi-mystical,
formative experiences with plants
– incidents over time with a row of
strawberries, a camellia bush and a
cucumber seedling – that fired his
passion for botanical pursuits.
The author also careens off into a
myriad of opinionated detours into
subjects including, but not limited
to, the metric system, seduction en
plein air, and the limitations of our
senses. If this sounds a little chaotic,
maybe it is. But our garrulous guide
says it’s intentional: “…the key is
taking the time to be open to the pos-
sibilities that abound in any moment
of life but that go unnoticed because
we are too busy, too hurried, or too
distracted. Stop for just a little while
to consider the world around you,”
he implores. “If you pay attention to
ordinary things, you open yourself
up to extraordinary experiences.”
Caplinger does get down-to-
earth, literally, with discussions of
soil composition. There’s also a
glossary of horticultural abbrevia-
tions and a chapter on common and
scientific plant names. Ultimately,
you could use “Be Happy Forever?
Make a Garden!” as you would most
reference books – dip in to pick and
choose the bare-bones information
you need.
But there is a lot of mischief and
magic in Caplinger’s narrative, for
those who wish to spend the time.
The Bookmonger is Barbara
Lloyd McMichael, who writes this
weekly column focusing on the
books, authors and publishers of the
Pacific Northwest. Contact her at
BarbaraLMcM@gmail.com
The Bookmonger is Barbara
Lloyd McMichael, who writes this
weekly column focusing on the
books, authors and publishers of the
Pacific Northwest. Contact her at
barbaralmcm@gmail.com.
This week’s book
‘Be Happy Forever? Make A Garden!’ by Will Caplinger
Self-published - 273pp - $14.99