The Philosophy of Gardening: Essays

For philosophizing gardeners and anyone who likes to pick up a spade and get their hands dirty

Gardeners discover a new world every year—whether they’re cultivating heirloom vegetables, foraging for wild herbs, creating a small permaculture garden on a city balcony, or maintaining a plot for self—sufficiency.

But why garden at all? These personal essays by writers, designers, and master gardeners dig into gardening’s philosophical dimensions and tend to the aesthetic, cultural, political, and sociological implications of gardens and the people who keep them.

Originally published in German, this delightful volume addresses gardening’s most deep—rooted questions and highlights the magic that, year after year, makes us pick up a shovel and get back into the garden.

Awarded the German Garden Book Prize in the Best Garden Prose Category

“What is remarkable is that the publication project is something very individual… the spectrum ranges from the ‘plea for weeds’ to the ‘metaphysics’ of the garden to urban gardening and garden shows, and the realization that gardens are ‘hopelessly ambivalent’—all in all a very interesting volume.” – Jury Citation