Paradise Under Glass - DIG IT! Magazine

This snowy winter, why not cozy up with a fascinating plant book?

paradise under glass, An Amateur Creates a Conservatory Garden (Morrow/Harper Collins, 2010) by Ruth Kassinger is a riveting read for plant lovers. What it’s not: a how-to. What it is: one woman’s account of building a conservatory and her journey in seeking the knowledge to create her own paradise.

But it’s more than that. It’s Kassinger’s personal story: an account of facing her sister’s final years and her own diagnosis of breast cancer, and the discovery that life isn’t perfect in the beautiful world of flowers and plants, either.

Further, each chapter is defined by entrancing details of the lavish and often decadent history of glasshouses, early plant hunters and the invention of terrariums, citrus trees coveted from the 8th-century onward, Victorian English ladies collecting ferns, Biosphere intrigue, today’s Florida tropical plant business and critters – all adorned by Kassinger’s fun writing.

As author of eight young adult science books, Kassinger is an awesome writer – one to be enjoyed for her clarity, humor, astonishment, curiosity and the ability to put it all together weaving detail with emotion and fact.

When researching for the book, she traveled the U.S. looking for answers: Glasshouse Works in Ohio, clivia in California, butterflies in Florida, Logee’s in Connecticut, algae in Texas and, finally, a trip to Phyto Universe in New York that sparked the idea to build a living wall. She even learned to grow her own milkweed for the monarchs in her conservatory.

“There are a lot of interesting people out there who are doing such interesting and unusual things in the field of gardening and horticulture,” she says.

Now that her conservatory is complete, if ever a condition exists, Kassinger has its value as a rendezvous rather than refuge. “There are certainly times when it’s wonderful to walk in there when it’s quiet and peaceful and perfect but, better yet, are when friends and family are in there with me and we’re having dinner or our book club meets in there or the kids come home and that’s the place where I’ll get the debriefing on what’s going on in college. It’s a wonderful setting for people.”

Kassinger defines the book’s market and herself: “I don’t think you have to be a gardener at all to read the book. I still don’t consider myself a very accomplished gardener. I’ve made lots of mistakes and I always look for the easiest plants, the most foolproof ones. I don’t feel like I’ve got a particularly green thumb. I put my heart and soul into the book.”