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Rating: 
Summary: Such a cool gardening book!
Review: A friend brought this book to my attention and I'm so glad I bought it! In the first part of ther book (55 pgs), we're introduced to all sorts of neat things like companion planting (e.g cucumbers with chamomile, marigold with tomatoes etc), gardening with the seasons (working with nature rather than at odds with her), gardening by moon signs (e.g moon in aries, plant garlic & onions), crystals and gardening, and plant meanings. The rest of the book is dedicated to specific godess gardens - for each of these gardens, a goddess is described and then there are writings about the plants, crystals, stones, colors, decorative touches, directions, and adaptations. Each section has a great activity/celebration of the garden to perform as well. Its quite a wonderful book - poetic in many ways, and just plain fun. The only thing that I think is missing is a discussion of the use of native plants rather than non-natives in our gardens. Its so important and is SO integral to the whole web of life. I would have loved to have seen that discussion in the up front section on gardening with the seasons since, just like we shouldn't plant against the flow of the seasons we shouldn't plant plants that disrupt it either. The book that opened my eyes to all that was Planting Noah's Garden.
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Summary: Not a gardening book....
Review: I found Patricia Telesco's GARDENING WITH THE GODDESS a small disappointment. Although she has obviously done her homework in reviewing relevant material about various culturally diverse female divinities from around the globe, her choices beg the question of "Who or what exactly is the Goddess", and "Who determined the deities described in this text had acquired the status of THE Goddess"? In Part 1 "Goddess-Centered Thinking" Telesco attempts to briefly describe what she means by "The Goddess" but those unfamiliar with the Goddess may find the information insufficient. With few exceptions, little of historical import is known about many of the female deities Telesco includes, so one wonders how she became informed about what sort of garden a specific "goddess" would keep if that goddess kept a garden. Perhaps she received telepathic transmissions, if so I wish she would share as much. Having had these sorts of experiences myself while working in the garden, I can accept that one may find herself creatively inspired without understanding why or by whom. The dearth of critical gardening information regarding how to create, establish and maintain each garden make the book impractical, although the experienced gardener may find inspiration. Telesco says she is an experienced gardener, but unlike mzny other gardeners-turned writers, she reveals little of practical use based on her experience. Telesco alludes to her failed attempts at gardening with phrases about overwatering and starting seeds too late, but these vague statements may baffle the unintiated trying to decide "do I buy seeds or bedding plants?" "Do I accept a snippet of plant life offered by a neighbor?" Once I decide wether I am a seed person or a bedding plant person (which limits my choices) which plants do want? Telesco's suggested garden designs for specific various goddess gardens are mostly unhelpful. Where another garden writer might have included illustrations showing how one might lay out a bed and fill it, she does not. Instead, she suggests plants and colors, and shapes and leaves the novice gardener imagining all one has to do to garden is select plants.You can figure out how to arrange everything yourself and whether or not the plants you choose will survive in your yard or even grow together well. There are much better books on gardening available. For example, THE HERBALIST'S GARDEN by Shatoiya and Richard de la Tour combines helpful gardening advice and spiritual inspiration that can be combined to create something for the Goddess. Telesco's book is inspirational but not terribly helpful for actual gardening.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting the Garden in Tune with the Goddess
Review: In the springtime of year we are all busy with our little or big gardens. Some of us have vegetable gardens, some of us have herb gardens. Some of us have a sacred little patch of grass growing in our backyard in the middle of a large city somewhere, and its our only connection to the earth in a concrete world. In her book "Gardening with the Goddess" Patricia Telesco offers us a new way to look at our garden, a new focus for how we decorate and plant up our little spaces of serenity. The first part of her book offers the basics in gardening and setting up or cleaning up your garden and offering the correspondences of particular plants and herbs. There are suggestions for small rituals for land blessing, planting (blessing of the seeds) and gardening by moon cycles. She also suggests crystal companion planting. The second part of her book, the Goddess Gardens, is most intriguing. Here she discusses putting together a garden that honors your Goddess by planting those herbs and flowers and trees that are associated with a particular Goddess and by decorating with articles that represent your chosen Goddess. She starts each garden with a "Histo-Cultural Information" section about the Goddess to be honored in each particular garden, and then suggests plants, patterns, stones, colors, decorative touches, direction (north, south, east or west) associated with the Goddess and possible adaptations for indoor gardens, small spaces, allergies etc. She also has suggestions for what to do with the items you have planted, such as drying flower heads or using the fruits or flowers in your kitchen. This is a lovely idea for focusing your garden if you have not yet considered this, and the book itself is a wonderful contemplation of each Goddess she mentions (41 in all) and covers many different paths within the Pagan belief system, so there is bound to be a Goddess for just about any path in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: Patricia Telesco has a way of making home magic simple yet profound. In this book she lays out a variety of ideas for magical gardens that are guaranteed to make you eager to start digging in the earth! Be aware, however, that this is not a how-to gardening manual, nor does it contain illustrated garden plans. There are plenty of other books out there for that. Instead, this little book is a compendium of magical lists--lists of plants for various goddesss gardens (I'm planning a garden to Bast right now, specifically for my cats to lounge in), correspondences, crystals for gardening, and other magical ideas. Enjoy!
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Summary: An informative and practical work
Review: Patricia Telesco's Gardening With The Goddess: Creating Gardens Of Spirit And Magic is an informative and practical work combining the pastime of gardening with a spiritual reverence for goddesses, from Amaterasu to Gaia to White Buffalo Woman. The first section consists of primary advice and suggestions for adding the new age spirituality into one's gardening work. The second section is devoted to dozens of goddesses worshipped through human history and how to tailor a garden to the aspects of each one. A thoughtful and well-presented book of new age spirituality in practice, Gardening With The Goddess is an unusual and enthusiastically recommended addition to gardening and metaphsycial studies reading lists and reference collections.
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