Diane Ackerman delights in her garden through all the seasons. Whether she is deadheading flowers or glorying in the profusion of roses, offering sugarwater to a hummingbird or studying the slug, she welcomes the unexpected drama and extravagance as well as the sanctuary it offers.

Her garden nourishes its creator who imaginatively returns the favor, and seizes privileged moments to leap from science and metaphor to meditation on the human condition. Written in sensuous, lyrical prose, Cultivating Delight is a hymn to nature and the pleasure we take in it.