Late Bloomer

How to Garden with Comfort, Ease, and Simplicity in the Second Half of Life
By Jan Coppola Bills
St. Lynn's Press, November, 2016

Jan Coppola wrote her book, Late Bloomer, for me. Well, for people just like me, anyway, older folks who are thinking of taking up gardening again after some years away, or who are considering getting into it for the first time. The over-riding message to the reader is to keep your garden “simple and organic,” to “relax and let go of pressure to conform or produce,” and thus find “balance and harmony” in gardening. It’s a yoga philosophy applied to nurturing plants, the earth, and yourself.

Throughout the book Coppola stresses organic gardening, condemning the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The book offers several tips for eradicating weeds naturally. The author discourages maintaining lawns, and encourages planting flowers and shrubs that will attract threatened insect species like bees and butterflies.

If you are a long-time, avid gardener, you probably won’t find much new or revelatory information here. Coppola explains many of the basic concepts such as informed plant selection, garden design, and watering and weeding. The value of this quick, easy read is in its numerous tips for gardening with “comfort and ease” while maintaining “simplicity and sustainability.” Coppola’s hope is that the reader will learn to tend her garden as opposed to toiling in it.

After reading Coppola’s book, this recently retired lady-of-a-certain age is feeling much more confident and eager to get outside and tackle the onerous mess of a yard she has been eyeing with despair and trepidation for years.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Brent, a recently retired teacher living in Michigan. She is thrilled to finally have all the time she wants to write and read -- and to garden.