The book "Tea Gardens"

It's a rainy, thunderstormy morning here in Georgia, but like many I'm grateful to see the rain here in our parched state. When I saw it puddling on the deck last night, I began to get hopeful about that small plot of land in the backyard where I'm hoping to tend a few plants this Spring. Toward that end, my evening reading (also read during the duller parts of the presidential debate) was "Tea Gardens: Places to Make and Take Tea" by Ann Lovejoy.

This 1998 book seems to have been ahead of the curve on the nation's love affair with tea, discussing as it does not just the how-to's of taking tea but the why-to's, such as relaxing and winding down with a cup of tea and a stroll through the garden.

The author discusses five different styles of tea garden: the English Tea Garden, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Herbal Tea Garden, the Cottage Tea Garden and the Container Tea Garden. You may, like me, decide you'd really like to incorporate elements from several of these styles into your "dream" tea garden. The book didn't give as much information on the individual plants as I had hoped, but it was a good starter book for anyone thinking of trying to grow a tea garden.