Foxgloves and Hedgehog Days

Although at heart an urbanite, Blajan, a European cruise ship officer, bought a house in a small country village in the Netherlands and began to indulge a love of nature set in motion when he was a boy visiting relatives in the country. This memoir will surely appeal to those who dream of exchanging asphalt and concrete for flora and fauna. Blajan tells of his quest for the right daffodils, his encounters with mice (welcome outside the house but not inside) and his irritation with those who want to tame nature into formal gardens. Those less enamored of the rustic lifestyle will be less enchanted, for the author frequently essays a type of elfin whimsy that becomes elephantine before long, as peanuts tiptoe over the lawn, pine cones gambol, rhododendrons bloom inquisitive, begonias sulk and irises weep. But anthropomorphism aside, Blajan believes deeply in his conclusion that, for the true gardener, gardening is a way of life, and he makes a strong case for it here. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Apr.)