It feels like those of us who knew it was coming have waited forever for Margaret Rose Realy’s Garden Catechism to finally be published and become available. Boasting the loveliest illustrations you can imagine from the immensely gifted Mary Sprague (and with a foreword by Sherry Weddell) and full of Realy’s commingled (and extensive) knowledge of plants and Christian history, planting times and Catholic myths and legends, seasons and scripture, this book is not merely a guide but a visual, intellectual and spiritual gift.
Isn’t it gorgeous?
And so full of fascinating facts, helpful hints…
And spiritual prompts!
Let me put it another way: If you pick this book up and thumb through it you will be immediately “hooked” and want to own it, and that for good reason. Master Gardener and Benedictine Oblate Margaret Rose Realy has brought all of her extensive knowledge on raising and nurturing the abundant delights of color and scent which grace each season, and married it to her deep study of scripture, Catholic devotionals, saintly hagiographies (and even delightful legend), and brought us a book that is almost impossible to put down. I was happy to discover that the Hosta beside which I pray the rosary in my backyard in summer is a kind of lily, and so goes with the rosary! Coupled with the gorgeously wrought illustrations by Mary Sprague, this book is an informative and entertaining treasure. A Garden Catechism: 100 Plants in Christian Tradition and How to Grow Them* will become the classic reference for its topic.
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