EPISODE · Apr 20, 2026 · 7 MIN
The Most Unique Adventure Inside A Weedy Garden From Margaret Renkl
from Arroe Collins: Unplugged & Totally Uncut · host Arroe Collins
With evergreen themes of patience and respect for the natural world, The Weedy Garden the debut picture book from acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author Margaret Renkl invites readers to observe and wonder about the various inhabitants in the vibrant ecosystem of a wildlife-friendly backyard garden.Margaret Renkl writes beautifully about our changing natural world, asking questions that draw young readers deeper and deeper into the garden, inviting observation and conversation along the way. Each page turn introduces a new plant or animal friend, buzzing and dancing with quiet wonder. The fine artist Billy Renkl, Margaret Renkl’s brother and frequent collaborator, brings the weedy garden to life through his signature mixed-media collages. Includes backmatter with more information about the residents of the garden, eco-friendly gardening tips, and instructions on how to make your own collage art project at home or in school.Margaret Renkl is the author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, which won a 2024 Southern Book Prize and was a New York Times bestseller as well as Reese’s Book Club’s 100th pick. Her earlier titles are Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (2019), which won the Reed Environmental Writing Award in 2020; and Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South (2021), which won both the Southern Book Prize and the PEN/Diamonstein–Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay in 2022. Since 2017, Renkl has served as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear on Mondays. The founding editor of Chapter 16, a daily literary publication of Humanities Tennessee, and a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she lives in Nashville.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
What this episode covers
With evergreen themes of patience and respect for the natural world, The Weedy Garden the debut picture book from acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author Margaret Renkl invites readers to observe and wonder about the various inhabitants in the vibrant ecosystem of a wildlife-friendly backyard garden.Margaret Renkl writes beautifully about our changing natural world, asking questions that draw young readers deeper and deeper into the garden, inviting observation and conversation along the way. Each page turn introduces a new plant or animal friend, buzzing and dancing with quiet wonder. The fine artist Billy Renkl, Margaret Renkl’s brother and frequent collaborator, brings the weedy garden to life through his signature mixed-media collages. Includes backmatter with more information about the residents of the garden, eco-friendly gardening tips, and instructions on how to make your own collage art project at home or in school.Margaret Renkl is the author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, which won a 2024 Southern Book Prize and was a New York Times bestseller as well as Reese’s Book Club’s 100th pick. Her earlier titles are Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (2019), which won the Reed Environmental Writing Award in 2020; and Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South (2021), which won both the Southern Book Prize and the PEN/Diamonstein–Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay in 2022. Since 2017, Renkl has served as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear on Mondays. The founding editor of Chapter 16, a daily literary publication of Humanities Tennessee, and a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she lives in Nashville.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
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The Most Unique Adventure Inside A Weedy Garden From Margaret Renkl
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