Books & Blooms returns with gardens, poetry and a summer evening party

One of Cornwall’s most anticipated summer traditions returns June 20 and 21 when the Cornwall Library presents the 11th annual Books & Blooms, a two-day celebration of gardens, literature and community.

Part garden tour, part literary event and part neighborhood gathering, Books & Blooms begins Friday evening with a talk by acclaimed editor, poet and author Jonathan Galassi at Cornwall Town Hall. Galassi, former president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux and one of the most influential figures in American publishing, will speak on “Writing about Place and Living with a Garden.”

“Friday evening is fun because you start out listening to a learned and sometimes humorous take on your passion — or your partner’s passion — gardening,” said event organizer Kirk Van Tassel. “Then you proceed to the cocktail party on a beautiful evening, talking to friends old and new, including the speaker.”

Galassi is the author of four poetry collections, including his latest, “The Vineyard,” and has translated the works of Italian literary giants Giacomo Leopardi, Primo Levi and Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale. His poems have appeared in publications including The New Yorker, The Nation and The Threepenny Review.

Following the presentation, guests can walk next door to the Cornwall Library for a cocktail reception featuring live music by the Crownback Funk Trio, whose performances blend funk, blues and jazz.

The festivities continue Saturday with self-guided tours of four private Cornwall gardens, three of them appearing on the tour for the first time.

The featured landscapes range from exuberant village plantings and a traditional country garden that blends seamlessly into its surroundings to a landscape designed for a postmodernist icon and a contemporary ravine garden marked by dramatic sculptural elements.

“Every year the committee strives to find gardens that haven’t been on the tour before,” Van Tassel said. “This year three of the four are new, so you get that sense of discovery.”

Part of the appeal, he said, is simply spending a summer day exploring Cornwall itself.

“Cornwall is a beautiful place in which to walk and drive around,” Van Tassel said. “You’ve got farmland, rolling hills and quiet country roads.”

The gardens also offer visitors a chance to learn from passionate gardeners and see a wide variety of approaches to landscape design.

“The four gardens on the tour are tended by people who love gardening and know a lot about it,” Van Tassel said. “The gardens are beautifully kept and the grounds are often wonderful.”

Books & Blooms serves as a benefit for the Cornwall Library, which has hosted the event for more than a decade. For tickets and information, visit the cornwalllibrary.org or call (860)672-6874