Update January 2020: Think Spring! Plan Your Garden!

Update: Since I wrote this post, Perennials has sold. If you're looking for a Guide to Planting, you might like Flowers by the Way, available on Prospero's Bookshelf.

Flowers by the Way

And now, here's the original post ...

Perennials: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening

With several feet of snow on the ground and another wintry blast predicted, what better time to curl up with a steaming cup of whatever warms your heart and start planning your springtime garden?

No better time, says Prospero!

To get started, take a peek at this wonderful vintage book.

A vintage hardcover book, Perennials: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, was published in 1981 by the American Horticultural Society and is beautifully illustrated throughout with splendid color photos and charming drawings.

You'll read about ...

The Traditional Flowers 

Planning a Perennial Garden

Basic Care and Culture

The Art of Perennial Gardening

And there's handy Plant Selection Guide and an Index. 

So ... grab a pencil and paper and start sketching and taking notes, because ...

... you'll be donning your gardening gloves, grabbing your trowel

and digging in the dirt before you know it!

©2015 ProsperosBookshelf

The profound, the delightful and the fantastic   The Theater of Asia

Classic Dance Drama of Thailand

I would like to show you some books from the Bookshelf which may introduce you to the great beauty and strangeness of Asian theater as it is distinguished from the Broadway shows that have been part of your heritage.

First, let's look at a basic form of Chinese theater that you probably know by title but have never really enjoyed in particular.  On the cover of this book on Peking Opera  you will see Monkey, the God-King of Asian legend, who is featured in most theaters and can be clever beyond measure, powerful beyond imagination and a trickster beyond doubt.

Peking Opera

India has its profusion of festivals and sectional theater as well as serious playwrights such as Tagore who received the Nobel Prize for his literary accomplishments.

Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore's Red Orlanders

And festivals are a constant part of Indian culture.  And here are some suggestions when you plan your trip to India.

Festivals of India

Looking at puppets, one must never forget the Malaysian shadow puppets from whose performances children of traditional Malaysia learn about their history and culture as well as their manners and religious beliefs.  And here again is the Monkey King Hanuman that mythical and spiritual figure of Asian thought and literature.

Hanuman

And finally Japan where theater has always been a dominant part of culture: the serious and profound Noh drama, its comic relief in Kyogen and the popular Kabuki.  Today American politicians tend to flip that term kabuki around in a ridiculous manner.  Learn what Kabuki really is.

Kabuki

Kyogen

 Come visit the many shelves of Prosperosbookshelf,

©2012 ProsperosBookshelf.