Review by Kelly Jarvis: Enchanted Plants: A Treasury of Botanical Folklore and Magic by Varla A. Ventura

If you love books, plants, folklore, and magic, Enchanted Plants, by Varla A. Ventura, is for you! I fell in love with the book’s gorgeous cover and gilded pages the moment I laid eyes on it, and what awaited me when I opened the cover was anything but a disappointment. Varla A. Ventura begins by revealing that she has always been able to hear the voices of plants. She describes her conversations with foliage as “suspended somewhere between audible and inaudible,” situating them in the same liminal spaces where we find fairy tales and folklore. She then begins her exploration of botanicals, beginning with the much loved apple and progressing all the way through to the melancholy willow. Each entry in the book features a stunning portrait of the fruit or flower, a quotation drawn from literary study, an encyclopedia reference of medicinal and magical properties, and a collection of lore combining the author’s personal experiences with her knowledge about myth, legend, and fairy tale.

Enchanted Plants is divided into enticing chapters including The Apple Doesn’t Fall Too Far (A Queen’s Garden of Cultivars and Edible Delights), The Cottage Garden of Earthly Delights (Humble Foods in Story and Legend), The Witch’s Garden (What Doesn’t Kill You Makes Your Heart Grow Stronger), Among the Fields and Valleys (Wildflowers, Meadowlands, and Other Things to Gather), The Woods Are Lovely, Dark, and Deep (Trees, Shrubs, and Woodland Dwellers), and The Marsh King’s Daughter (Plants that Grow Near Streams, Bogs, Lakes, and the Sea). Following the chapters is an Index of Botanicals and a list of Recommended Resources for those hoping to learn more. This beautiful book makes a wonderful reference text, but I found myself falling into its pages and reading for hours. Although I have never had a green thumb, I was delighted by the illustrations of plants, fruits, and flowers, and thoroughly enjoyed learning about their folklore. Ventura’s riveting prose walked me through familiar tales and introduced me to stories I had never known. I especially loved her thoughtful selection and presentation of quotations taken from literature, poetry, and nursery rhyme. Each lyric perfectly complimented the plant it accompanied, using its linguistic magic to evoke the beauty of the botanical being explored.

“This is a book you need to see in person,” I was told by the publicity director of Red Wheel/Weiser, and nothing could be further from the truth. Enchanted Plants is a jewel that will grace any home library, and I plan to revisit the book often for my own writing, teaching, and research. If you are interested in learning more about the botanical world and the lore it has inspired, purchase a copy of this book today! It would be a wonderful gift for yourself or for someone you love.  You can find it here.

Thank you to Eryn Carter Eaton for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Her first novella, Selkie Moon, comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/