This 287-page stunner by acclaimed garden writer Ken Druse is what you need to get to spring and back into your own garden.

Druse shows us botanical marvels and introduces us to plant explorers who face danger searching for rare and exotic specimens, all in the name of preserving threatened species.

Filled with facts, punctured myths and practical wisdom, this gloriously illustrated book celebrates the secret stories of plants and explains their role in daily life, now and since ancient times.

For example, plant petunias if you like sitting on your patio after dark. Why? Because they are evening fragrant - their pollinators only come out at night.

And have you ever noticed the beautiful spiraling patterns on sunflower heads? Druse says all plants feature such spirals, and that they correspond exactly to mathematical principles that captivated history’s great thinkers and artists.

Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden reviews the book here.

To win this copy, simply leave a comment below before Feb. 2 telling us a little about your gardening fantasies. The winner’s name will be picked at random. Because of shipping costs, you must live in Canada or the United States. Sorry Bora Bora.

The Winner: Congratulations Mr. Tumnas: Please contact us with your address so we can send you this beautiful book.

The New York Times has two stories today that speak to our Gimpy Girl hearts. The first requires little money and is not for the squeamish. The second requires big bucks and has something for everyone.

Urban Worm Composting talks with New Yorkers about the ups and downs of keeping worms in the city.

The story is fine, but the graphic is not — too much food in too small a bin. Worms are not going to be happy and neither are the apartment dwellers when flies arrive and the bedding begins to smell. Read our post for more information on successful worm composting.

This second story is akin to Architectural Digest for the Gimpy. It showcases homes in Colorado and Paris featuring the latest in Universal Design to make life easier. The homes are fabulous and so are the designers. Here’s a quote from one:

‘I want people to know no matter whether they have mental or physical disabilities’ — change that word to differences — ‘they are only disabled if they can’t do what they want to do. Architecture can eliminate disability by design.’ You see my point. If you are in a house where you can do what you want to do, you’re not disabled anymore.’

Cait & Marty do not hunt, unless you count their scavenging forays at estate sales. Cait’s Baby Boomer friend, Steve, does hunt and knows what he’s talking about when it comes to protecting his hearing. Steve owns Best Days a A field, a fine Wisconsin hunting lodge, and sent us this post about a hearing Gimpliment he uses in the field:

I have been using hearing protection for 40 or more years for shooting, and operating noisy equipment. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to use electronic hearing protectors, one of my favorites is the Howard Leight Impact™ Sport Earmuff with a jack to plug in an iPod.

I love listening to books-on-tape and use my iPod for the treadmill at the gym, for driving, and for the deer stand. If you get engaged in a good story you will probably last longer on the treadmill, and it’s always more pleasant. The iPod also makes driving more pleasant, keeping me awake and alert on longer drives as it does in the deer stand.

I jack the iPod cable into the earmuffs to listen to books-on-tape for lawn mowing and sedentary hunting like sitting on deer stand, or waiting for a turkey. Turn the iPod off and turn the earmuff volume up and you can hear game sneaking around.

A friend missed a nice deer years ago using headphones to listen to a big sports game. The headphones did not have an external microphone, like my Leight earmuffs do, so he didn’t hear the deer sneak up. When he moved slightly, not knowing the deer was practicaly in his lap, he spooked it and the deer bolted.

Eds. Note: Cait thinks bird watchers would find these useful, too.

Marion Roach Smith, of The Sister Project, has written this lovely post about the “Sisterhood of Aging Well.” In it, she challenges us to “learn not only to age, but to age well - in body, mind and spirit. ”

Marion is a writing teacher, radio columnist and author. Her sister, Margaret Roach, is the former editorial director of Martha Stewart Living and now blogs on A Way To Garden — called by The New York Times one of the best garden blogs “ever seen.”

Marion and Margaret don’t look, act or talk alike, but it’s clear when you read them that they share the same eloquent DNA. If you aren’t familiar with their work, take time and treat yourself — their writing is a combination spa and sabbath for the brain.

Eds. Note from Marty: I still owe Marion and her husband, Rex, for helping rescue me years ago when a broken-down U-Haul filled with my life had to be unloaded into another U-Haul in South Portland, Maine. Rex and Marion were en route to visit Elizabeth Edwardsen, who had just spent a very long, hot and sticky day helping me pack the U-Haul that then broke down. I swear I heard trumpets sound when Rex and Marion arrived on the scene.

Cait came across this on Etsy and it’s giving us stick envy.

Woodworkers in Texas at Brazo’s Walking Stick make these sturdy beasts from ash or oak with a 36-inch ruler on the side — perfect for placing plants in the garden.

The handsome Yard Stick has a metal tip which doubles as a dibber, so not only is it a sturdy walking aid, it’s also a functional garden tool.

We fancy it would make walking around the backyard a more majestic experience and quite elevate tedious, but necessary, summer-long bug smashing.

Our friend Lori P. shares our passion for finding easier ways to garden and move heavy loads with less effort. Here’s her review of Vermont Garden Carts, which she says she couldn’t live without in her garden and elsewhere:

I have a delicate lower back and wonky knee and need all the help I can get when it comes to carrying things. I’m now 55 and have been using these Vermont Garden Carts since I was in my 20s and working in my first garden.

The cart is so well balanced that I can carry a full load of cordwood and easily flip it up to dump the load, without anyone helping me.

I’ve used them to carry everything from compost and buckets of water to hay, pumpkins, shrubs, ducks and even a lamb or two. Other members of my family have used the same cart to move gravel, car engines, wood stoves and heavy loads of automotive supplies.

Perfect for giving my nieces rides down to the garden, the carts comes in several sizes and can be taken apart for moving, if necessary. To me, my cart is priceless because it makes life so much easier.