Plant Talk: November 2012

November 04, 2012

The First Townsend's Warbler Is Back in Town...a Harbinger of Winter to Come...

I received an email first thing this morning from Ellen Blackstone, writer and web editor for public radio's popular "BirdNote" series: "Saw the first Townsend's Warbler of the season yesterday on my suet feeder...Winter is a comin' on...."

Read more about which birds you might spot over the winter outside your windows, and how to attract more birds to your garden (hint: organics only, don't be too hasty to clean up out there, and keep your cat indoors) in my column this morning "Invite the Birds Over for Fall and Winter" in Pacific NW magazine.

Thanks to Ellen for the bird arrival update and to Mike Hamilton for this photo of a Townsend's Warbler going after suet.

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November 01, 2012

Botanically Themed Artisanal Tile Show At Center for Urban Horticulture this Friday and Saturday

The Center for Urban Horticutlure is hosting this year's Artisan Tile Show, and the theme is botanicals. With Northwest favorites like Carol Rose Dean and Clare Dohna of Firehouse Tileworks on Vashon Island (that's Clare's work, above) the show is sure to be fabulous. The opening reception is Friday evening, the show continues on Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.

Free admission, free parking...soul-stirring color and design on handmade tiles by local artists...what's not to love? Many of the pieces, like Clare's, not only depict nature, but are made to go out into the garden to embelish it....

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New Book: Petal & Twig

Petal & Twig Made The New York Times!
From Anne Raver's review: "Valerie Easton, a Seattle-based garden writer, discusses the art of growing and arranging cut flowers in “Petal and Twig: Seasonal Bouquets With Blossoms, Branches and Grasses From Your Garden” (Sasquatch Books; $16.95). Written as an informal diary, with photographs of arrangements from her own garden, and tips on cutting and keeping flowers fresh, the book inspires ideas not only on what to grow but on how to combine (or not) those beauties inside. See review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/garden/new-books-on-growing-and-arranging-flowers.html?scp=1&sq=petal%20&%20twig%20anne%20raver&st=cse
The first reviews on the new book are in! From Publisher's Weekly:
"Open your eyes and keep it simple: those are two lessons Easton passes on from her own 40 years in the garden. When selecting and arranging flowers for bouquets, you needn’t spend a bundle buying a bundle of imported flowers.....The result will be unique, local, imaginative, and inexpensive. Color photos throughout illustrate and inspire."

In the News

Montreal Blogger Reviews "A Pattern Garden"
I was so pleased to find that "A Pattern Garden" is still being reviewed...check out Allan Becker's generous review on his Garden Guru blog.. I felt like Allan really understood what I was working towards in that book....he writes...."There is a delightful abstract quality to this publication. In it, the author takes good garden design to a higher, more spiritual level. Instead of discussing the aesthetic and scientific elements of design, as so many traditional garden design books do, she focuses on the role played in garden design by archetypal ideas - a.k.a. patterns - that reference the longings of human beings. These pleasure and comfort-rooted ideas are those that inspire designers to create gardens that are satisfying beyond their beauty." see more at http://allanbecker-gardenguru.squarespace.com/journal/valerie-easton
Planting art
Check out this interview with Val in the Chicago Tribune on using art in the garden...

The New Low Maintenance Garden

Reviews Are In....
"Over the years, countless books have espoused a low-maintenance approach to gardening. None have been as engaging, practical, or inspiring as this latest of Easton's contributions to the gardener's bookshelf,"
- Pacific Horticulture magazine, Jan/Feb/Mar 2010
"A handy guide to a garden you can raise without a corresponding increase in your blood pressure..handsome and informative...."
- Metropolitan Home, Dec. 2009
"This book is an invaluable addition to the garden library – destined to be a classic for many years to come."
- Garden Design Online