In Lieu of a Preface . . . vii
1. A New Place . . . 3
2. Sea Squill . . . 10
3. Cyclamen . . . 18
4. Wild Trees . . . 23
5. Long Gone . . . 28
6. Work Tools . . . 33
7. Mole Rat . . . 41
8. The Mukhraka . . . 50
9. Ants . . . 54
10. Fruit Trees . . . 62
11. Home and Away . . . 68
12. Sabras . . . 72
13. Seasons . . . 79
14. Weeding . . . 87
15. Big Trees . . . 95
16. A Night in the Garden . . . 101
17. A Sorrowful Song . . . 106
18. Anemones . . . 109
19. Italy in the Garden . . . 114
20. Grass . . . 121
21. A Prayer for Rain . . . 126
22. Chopping Down . . . 133
23. Poppies . . . 138
24. Moments of Bliss . . . 144
25. Land . . . 151
26. Collecting and Other Dangers . . . 156
27. The Great Snapdragon . . . 164
28. Kramer the Cat . . . 168
29. Splendid Bindweed . . . 172
30. Cracked Olives . . . 176
31. Two Moons of Sowing . . . 182
32. Patience . . . 190
33. Barefoot . . . 194
34. Figs . . . 199
35. Wasp Nest . . . 205
36. Lupines . . . 209
37. Just Like Bavaria . . . 213
38. Procrastination and Ridicule . . . 218
39. The Stupid Woodpecker . . . 225
40. The Locked Garden . . . 230
41. Compost in the Composter . . . 236
42. Spiders and Snakes . . . 242
43. Further Dangers . . . 248
44. Tree of the Field . . . 257
45. Date and Carob . . . 264
46. “Oh Oh Virgin’s Bower” . . . 270
47. The Lemon Tree . . . 276
Acknowledgments . . . 281
One of Israel's most celebrated novelists, MEIR SHALEV was
born in 1948 on Nahalal, Israel's first moshav. His books have been
translated into more than twenty-five languages and his honors
include the National Jewish Book Award and Israel's Brenner Prize
for A Pigeon and a Boy. He died in 2023.
JOANNA CHEN is the translator of Less Like a Dove and Frayed
Light. She is a columnist for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
REFAELLA SHIR is an Israeli artist who lives in Montreal.
She studied art in Israel, Canada, and the United States and has
exhibited internationally. Her work can be viewed at
refaellashir.com.
“Insightful, funny . . . Full of wisdom . . . You come away from
the garden memoir with a clear sense of the author—his
concerns, his surroundings, his loves—and a string of reverberating
questions. Why, for example, as Shalev notes, are so few flowers
mentioned in the Bible? What does that say about us as a people?
And why do the poppies sway—even when the air is still? . . . I
went to sleep every night with the smell of fresh figs and lemons
and the sound of birdsong in my ears and the image of Shalev’s
beloved black cat, Kramer, the hero of many of his Hebrew
children’s stories, sleeping the day away beneath the buckthorn
tree.” —Mitch Ginsburg, The Times of Israel
“A freewheeling horticultural homage . . . Shalev’s own garden
serves as a point of departure for literary musings that bloom into
a kind of ‘autobiography with flowers.’ . . . Witty prose expertly
translated from the Hebrew by Joanna Chen and charmingly
illustrated by Refaella Shir.” —Benjamin Balint, Tel Aviv Review of
Books
“A nurturer of plants who is careful not to waste even a single
seed and mourns the death of a tree, Shalev is a lyrical stylist
and philosopher who writes with passion and humor. Drawings by Shir
enhance the text.” —Sue O’Brien, Library Journal
“Charming musings on the ‘moments of bliss’ found in the garden . .
. in which gardening teaches perspective and the rewards of hard
work . . . Rests on solid botanical knowledge but is never
heavy-handed.” —Kirkus Reviews
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