‘Earthman’ Columns Compiled In New Book

Readers who miss the gardening philosophies of the late Henry Mitchell can welcome publication of a new book of his Washington Post Earthman columns, “Henry Mitchell on Gardening” (Houghton Mifflin, $24).

The book represents the final collection of Mitchell’s work for The Washington Post; his other columns were published in “The Essential Earthman” (1993) and “One Man’s Garden.”

As with the others, the new book abounds in Mitchell’s iconoclastic truths. Musing on this time of year, he writes: “Benighted folk think spring is when the peonies and roses bloom. Gardeners think spring is from late February to mid-April. Thus we see we are now in mid-spring, and it is as usual splendid.”