Dawn in the Garden: A Gardener’s Memoir

This is the story of one woman’s journey through time, accompanied by the most beautiful flowers; trees… even weeds, including: Lagerstroemia, saga tree, magnolia, kumquat, balsam, petunia, lilac, flame of the forest, chempaka, peony, narcissus, queen of the night. Interwined with her memories are plant lore and things botanical. “Plants bookmark the memories and milestones of my life. As an only child in a household of adult, plants became my friends. As I grew up and wherever I wandered, there was always a plant to cheer me up, a flower to keep my life connected. In San Francisco, an old Japanese garden sage taught me how to utilize light and shade, when to water, and how to get the best out of herbs and vegetables. In Hong Kong, an accidental weed visited my window sill and comforted me while I deliberated the future. It was plants that finally connected me with my husband in China. I’m an ethnic Chinese whose grandparents left the mother country. He was a descendant of Manchu princes and was sent down to Inner Mongolia as a teenager to toil in the potato fields during the Cultural Revolution. Yet both of us connected through our love and knowledge of nature and our gardens.”