There is something absolutely magical about gardens. They come in various shapes and sizes, but are similar in the restfulness and proximity to nature they inspire in us. A lone basil plant on the window sill or a thriving green backyard — both have the potential to calm our frayed nerves. As the pandemic exposed our vulnerability and cut us off from social interactions, more people turned to gardening than ever, and social media is brimming with proud plant parents.
But most of us urban creatures are constrained in the choice of plants that we can grow, by the lack of space, by our budgets, our poor skills in keeping plants alive or simply by the climate of the place where we live. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everything we planted survived? If we could plan and plant our gardens however we wanted, if we could have strawberries growing beside mangoes, and majestic firs alongside wise banyans? In this quiz, I invite you to dream up the perfect garden, and to take home a book recommendation based on the choices you make.
The books in this quiz are fiction from different genres, but nature plays an important role in all of them. The varied wonders and beauty of nature, and the deep connection that human beings share with it, are effectively conjured within the pages of these books. The book you are recommended is sure to satisfy some of the longing for the natural world that thinking about your dream garden will evoke.
Want more fiction and nonfiction books about nature? Check out our recommendations here and here.