BOOKS TO READ BY THE FIRE THIS WINTER

Suzi Freitas gives her recommendations for books to cozy up to this winter. For our readers, we’re also doing a special giveaway. Enter below by visiting our Facebook page or following us on Twitter  to win a copy of The Drunken Botanist and cocoa powder from famed French luxury baker and sweets maker, Laduree. The perfect treat while reading a book this winter.*

 

1. Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, By Amy Stewart

Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling children in an A to Z description of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. Scary botanical illustrations create a portrait of the evildoers that may be living in your own backyard. This collection of bloodcurdling botany will frighten, entertain and educate even the most courageous gardeners. This book would provide perfect fireside reading on a cold winter evening.

 2. The Drunken Botanist, By Amy Stewart

Also by Amy Stewart (can’t get enough of her), The Drunken Botanist details the botanical history, science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees and fruits. Many surprising and somewhat odd plants have been fermented or distilled, in fact every great drink starts with a plant. For example, Sake: rice, Scotch: barley, Gin: juniper. One of the most interesting sections regards the thirty-year court battle over Angostura bitters and its “secret” recipe, which technically may not even contain bark from the Angostura tree. The book includes over fifty drink recipes along with growing advice for gardeners, making it a great gift for gardeners/cocktail lovers or gardeners or cocktail lovers.

 

3. Mister Owita’s Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart, By Carol Wall

The author’s neighbor, Mister Owita, helps her to transform her outlook on life following a series of personal misfortunes, and to allow herself to appreciate her lush backyard oasis. Through Owita’s extensive horticultural education, kindness and a variety of mutual interests, the pair becomes inseparable while they perform miracles on Wall’s property and her life.

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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*Giveaway Open to U.S. Residents Only, 18 Years Old and Over.

Giveaway Ends December 31, 2014.

Starting this Wednesday, March 19th and running through the rest of the week and weekend, Eye of the Day will be exhibiting fine terra cotta garden pottery and Fermob outdoor furniture in a booth at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the San Mateo Event Center.

The fun starts at the entry, where Eye of the Day’s authentic European pieces will be incorporated into the display garden that lines the path leading into the main exhibit hall. Designed by the show’s director Chris Woods. A native of England and now a U.S. citizen, Woods has worked in the garden world as a director and designer for over thirty years. He started his career at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, where he was trained as a horticulturist.

After moving to the United States and occupying several prestigious positions in the garden world, he was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to design the central feature for the Philadelphia International Flower Show 2013. The SFFGS is pleased to have him on board, and the entry gardens–complete with Eye of the Day’s beautiful containers–are sure to be spectacular.

Congratulations to Bruce Bieri, Jay Graham, Jennifer Wait, and John Savallo for winning the $250 gift certificates Eye of the Day gave away at the recent ASLA Expo in San Diego!

• Bruce is a landscape architect out of Portland, OR
• Jay is a landscape architect out of Annapolis, MD ()
• Jennifer is a landscape architect in San Diego, CA
• John is with Terra Firma Landscape Co. in San Diego ()