About this item
What do you discover when you cut back? At thirty-five, Leslie Buck made an impulsive decision to put her personal life on hold to pursue her passion. Leaving behind a full life of friends, love, and professional security, she became the first American woman to learn pruning from one of the most storied landscaping companies in Kyoto. Cutting Back recounts Buck's bold journey and the revelations she has along the way. During her apprenticeship in Japan, she learns that the best Kyoto gardens look so natural they appear untouched by human hands, even though her crew spends hours meticulously cleaning every pebble in the streams. She is taught how to bring nature's essence into a garden scene, how to design with native plants, and how to subtly direct a visitor through a landscape. But she learns the most important lessons from her fellow gardeners: how to balance strength with grace, seriousness with humor, and technique with heart. Cutting Back is an insightful debut memoir and story of personal growth that will appeal to gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
About the Author
Leslie Buck's website https://www.lesliebuckauthor.com/home (bio, appearances, Cutting Back photo diary and more) . Leslie has been a natural garden designer and aesthetic pruner in the San Francisco Bay Area for over two decades. She has lectured regularly and led many workshops, including her specialty workshop "Pruning for Beginners."
She holds a fine arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, attended the School of Fine Arts in Bordeaux, France, and studied horticulture at Merritt College, where she met her mentor Dennis Makishima, a world-renowned pruning instructor and bonsai artist.
She has worked, taught, and volunteered in hundreds of private landscapes as well as dozens of public gardens, including Portland Japanese Garden, Hakone Japanese Garden, and Tassajara Zen Center.
In 2000, Leslie studied in Kyoto with Uetoh Zoen, one of the oldest and most highly acclaimed landscape companies in Japan. Her time in Japan became the subject of her memoir, Cutting Back - a story full of heart and humor.
Drawing from her experience in Kyoto, Leslie has planted native gardens around her house in California. She continues to sketch whenever she travels and loves sailing in the Berkeley Bay.
