Join us at the library for a friendly book discussion of Paradise Under Glass by Ruth Kassinger. Copies of the book are available at the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library and other libraries across the region. This event is part of the Longwood Gardens Community Read which is designed to encourage reading for pleasure and start a conversation. Focusing on literature about gardens, plants, and the natural world, Longwood chooses an exceptional book annually (paired with similarly themed younger readers’ book) through a variety of programs, discussions, and lectures across all community partner organizations. Some lucky participants will win passes for four to Longwood Gardens. Please register through our events tab on our website: https://mnl.libcal.com/event/14150190
Paradise Under Glass: The Education of an Indoor Gardener
By Ruth Kassinger
Paradise Under Glass is a witty and absorbing memoir about one woman’s unlikely desire to build, stock, and tend a small conservatory in her suburban Maryland home.
Kassinger found herself in need of a positive path after the death of her sister, her home becoming an empty nest, and her own battle with breast cancer. A resident of Maryland, she visited the conservatory of the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. and was inspired to add a much smaller-scale conservatory to her home. “It occurred to me that adding a conservatory to our house was just what I needed,” Kassinger says. “Warm and humid, beautiful, ever-green, peaceful and still, a conservatory would be the perfect antidote to the losses and changes of middle age. It would be my personal tropical paradise where nothing unexpected lurked in the landscape.”
Kassinger was definitely not a skilled indoor gardener before taking her conservatory leap. As an experienced writer and researcher, she knew she needed to learn about indoor gardens and how to grow indoor plants if she was to be successful—the results of which she shares in Paradise Under Glass. This wonderful combination of warm humor, personal anecdotes, and fascinating history makes for a terrific read.
