Quick Guide to Plant People Info

I've been inside, working on a new book, resting, and reading this week. That is not my normal mode of operation. I'm an outside, digging-the-dirt, pruning, planting, and building-things guy.

Spending time reading other people’s Substack pages highlighted something to me: there are tons of great essays and information out there, but stuff gets buried.

For example, I dug around on Garden Masterclass and found ten interviews with garden designers from around the world. I loved them, but I had to dig.

Today, I want to give a brief guide to the stuff buried in Plant People. I hope you'll delve into it on some quiet, cold nights. There are sappy stories of memories, to advice on cabbage, and even some kind of raunchy, or at least suggestive, sexual discovery tales.

FOUR MAIN CATEGORIES ON PLANT PEOPLE

ONE: How-To Garden Tips A collection of about 50 short essays, including things like:

• Do Pollinators Use Non-Native Plants?

• I ❤️ My Bamboo Hedge. But Should It Go?

• Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit Alternative Lawn

TWO: Gay Gardener Stories Most of these include gay characters, and most have gardening lessons, too. Two favorites are:

• Old Gay Hippies Hike

• Generations of Gay Gardeners

THREE: Once You Go Back - A Garden Fiction Novella told by Buckey, a young, naive Southern landscaper, who’s thrust into a world of opulence and intrigue as he accepts a job on the isolated estate of Hollywood icon Kim Basinger. His horticultural expertise is put to the ultimate test, crafting a garden of unparalleled extravagance amidst a backdrop of luxury and excess.

With a local workforce plagued by addiction, Buckey must find new gardeners. The answer turns out to be Mexican men, but without Spanish, he's hindered. Undeterred, he embarks on a transformative journey through the exotic wilds of Hispaniola, where lush cloud forests, scorching deserts, and pristine beaches await.

As Buckey studies the language and immerses himself in this alien world, his long-held beliefs are challenged at every turn. But it is the unexpected that truly rocks his foundation—an electrifying and forbidden love that ignites between him and a charismatic black man. Contrasts and anxiety between poverty and excess, labor and management, duty, and self-truths drive Buckey through years of building spectacular gardens, friendships, and love.

FOUR: How I Wrote My Book "Garden Disruptors" These essays delve into life on the farm during COVID. While I wrote that book, memories and stories seemed more intense, often very sentimental and they convoluted my writing process. The isolation made for some sentimental and fun farm essays.

How to Navigate: If you go to the top of my Plant People page, you will see a menu bar that looks like the one below. Just click on the topic of interest.

You can click anywhere below, with in this text to go to the main page. ….