Product Description

You won’t find potted petunias or rigid rows of hot-pink impatiens in this gorgeous new book. Instead, Plant Life features 80 luscious photographs of author Valerie Easton’s own garden (also seen in Better Homes and Gardens magazine). Drawn from her popular column of the same name in the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest magazine, Plant Life invites the world into Easton’s garden, offering readers a personal perspective from a master gardener. Organized around the twelve months, Plant Life covers a wide array of topics including climbing plants, leaves that aren’t green, containers, garden paths, pests, and much more. Each chapter contains several essays -- some instructive, others philosophical -- relevant to that time of year, and features a “Now in Bloom” section focusing on plants at their prime and illustrated with full-color photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #600691 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Valerie Easton is an author, Master Gardener, and Horticultural Librarian at the Miller Library of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington. She is the garden columnist for the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest magazine and currently writes for various national publications. Richard Hartlage is the former Director/Curator of the Miller Botanical Garden and a widely published garden writer and photographer.

Customer Reviews

Intimidating, but inspiring!
I received this book as a gift, being newly into gardening in the NW, and at first thumbing through I was a little puzzled. It appears to be more of musings then a 'real' garden book and I wondered how useful it would be for actual gardening. But once I started to read, I found this book to be such a delight! So many of the passages made me smile, so many made me want to laugh and all were inspiring. I really enjoy being able to pick this up and read a little on 'spooky' plants or the use of variegated leaves. This and the Western Sunset garden book are helping me make a great new garden here!

Year Round Garden Planning
I'm so glad that I bought this book (irresistible cover!) and am getting acquainted with Easton's garden writings. Her advice makes good sense and the monthly "Now In Bloom" suggestions and photos are inspiring me to plant for a year round garden. How could anyone resist October's "Spooky Plants" list?

A Gardener's Life
An excellent read! As an experienced gardener who is new to the climate of the Pacific Northwest, reading Plant Life was the perfect way to learn many of the nuances of gardening in this region. Valerie Easton not only speaks from considerable skill and practice, but also knows how gardeners think and the questions we ponder. Her essays amuse, inform and broaden your thinking, all at the comfort level of a neighborly chat over afternoon tea.

Gleaned from the author's highly popular weekly newspaper column, the text is well supported by the top notch photographs of her own garden (taken by Richard Hartlage, a fine author in his own right - see "Bold Visions for the Garden"). For those who wish to expand their gardening horizons, or simply enjoy good garden writing, I highly recommend this book.