Gardening & Aging

Jennifer Polanz

St. Lynn’s Press is releasing a new book in November by garden designer Jan Coppola Bills that tackles gardening as we age. In “Late Bloomer: How to Garden with Comfort, Ease and Simplicity in the Second Half of Life,” Jan shows readers how to rethink the approach to gardening in the second half of life.

“It’s not about keeping up with others,” she says. “It excludes memorizing botanical names and identifying every garden insect or noxious weed—that’s what Google is for. Rather, it is an ongoing relationship, with deep and lasting experiences. For me, it is an opportunity to bring what I love to the garden; it makes me feel alive, rejuvenated and well.”

With full-color photos throughout, the book is organized around four tenants of the Late Bloomer philosophy: simplicity, beauty and harmony, comfort and ease, and relaxation and letting go. The book is timely, in that 68% of the 80 million U.S. homeowners who responded to the National Gardening Survey were age 45 and older. The 160-page hardcover book retails for $18.95 in the U.S. ($24.95 in Canada) and is scheduled to be released November 17. GP