Book Review: Planting the Wild Garden

Planting the Wild Garden
Author: Kathryn O. Galbraith
Illustrator: Wendy Anderson Halperin
Pages: 32 pgs
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Released: April 28th 2011
Review Source: Peachtree Publishers

This book is a simple and easy way of explaining how wild gardens come to be. The story is very songlike. The author explain in 32 pages the many ways that seeds are dispersed and    buried in the ground. It all begins with the farmers and then the wind blows a few seeds away and then birds pick them up. The birds of course drop some in a new location. Then you read of other animals that also carry them on their fur then drop them. Some plants do the scattering themselves just by opening up. What the book teaches you is how year round this is happening 24-7 all around us. The illustrations are all done in pastels colors, very sweet and inviting to look at. 

Summary: (from goodreads) Seed by seed, we plant the wild meadow garden wind and water, birds and animals, plants and people all of us together.

In this lyrical picture book, author Kathryn O. Galbraith explains the many ways in which seeds are spread and planted.

A farmer and her son plant vegetables in their garden, and the wind carries a few seeds away. Birds and animals may carry some along with them on their travels. Sometimes the rain washes them away to a new and unexpected location. And sometimes something more extraordinary occurs, as in when the pods of the Scotch Broom plant open explosively in the summer heat, scattering seed everywhere like popcorn. Year-round, we all play a role in the dispersal of seeds throughout our landscape, planting the wild garden together.