Sonia Day’s “The Untamed Garden” is a romp in a different kind of bed—a flowerbed. It is packed with research and fun flower facts relating to the impact flowers have on our sex lives and the coincidence that flower parts look like sexual organs (or “naughty bits” as Sonia calls them.)
From the “lewdness of lilies” to “exhibitionist peonies” Day covers the spectrum of floral carnal knowledge. This book is not strictly for gardeners although many will wish they did garden just so they could get some of the insider jokes. Fall crocus akin to “naked nannies”? Non-gardeners will have to grow them and find out.
This book takes a different approach from Sonia Day’s Incredible Edibles (2009) and will find an enthusiastic audience. I see a big sales opportunity at florist shops where husbands can pick up a dozen roses and a copy of the Untamed Gardener to go.
Day’s Toronto Star writer’s persona shines through. She has written a book for women looking for flower filler folklore to share at fundraisers or laughs at ladies lunches. Just don’t get me started on how the common prairie practice of planting peonies at the front door is anything other than good colour design. Day would have us believe the Chinese suggestion that peonies planted at the front of a house will “attract a new lustful lover into your life.” Better not tell the mailman!
Author: Sonia Day
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
Hardcover, 192 pages
ISBN: 978-0-7710-2505-1
Price: $26.99
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