Join the Furness Library for Book Date with Helen Kate, a monthly book discussion group for adults! Good books, great discussion, what could be better? If you would like to reserve a copy of the book please email laura@hkflibrary.org.

Paradise Under Glass: The Education of an Indoor Gardener by Ruth Kassinger

Paradise Under Glass is a witty and absorbing memoir about one woman’s unlikely desire to build, stock, and tend a small conservatory in her suburban Maryland home.

Kassinger found herself in need of a positive path after the death of her sister, her home becoming an empty nest, and her own battle with breast cancer. A resident of Maryland, she visited the conservatory of the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. and was inspired to add a much smaller-scale conservatory to her home. “It occurred to me that adding a conservatory to our house was just what I needed,” Kassinger says. “Warm and humid, beautiful, ever-green, peaceful and still, a conservatory would be the perfect antidote to the losses and changes of middle age. It would be my personal tropical paradise where nothing unexpected lurked in the landscape.”

Kassinger was definitely not a skilled indoor gardener before taking her conservatory leap. As an experienced writer and researcher, she knew she needed to learn about indoor gardens and how to grow indoor plants if she was to be successful—the results of which she shares in Paradise Under Glass. This wonderful combination of warm humor, personal anecdotes, and fascinating history makes for a terrific read.

This book is a Longwood Gardens Community Read 2025 selection. Attendees will be entered to win a voucher for free admission to Longwood Gardens!

Photography and Video Policy: By registering for or participating in this event, you or those attending with you may be photographed or recorded on video that will be used for library promotional purposes. If you or a member of your group would not like to be photographed, please alert a staff member at the program.