The official "I wrote a book and it's in stores now" post

As many people who hang around with me on Facebook, Twitter, or in real life know, last year one of my projects was to write a book for Nimbus Publishing of Halifax. That book, Plants for Atlantic Gardens, is in stores now throughout the region, including independent local stores like The Box of Delights in Wolfville, on Amazon.ca, and will be in the US in a couple of months time. Hopefully, it will inspire you enough that you'll want to buy it. But you could also win a book...keep reading for the details.




I've been hugely delighted with the responses by reviewers so far, all of whom seem to be very pleased with the book and think it's a useful thing. Which is, of course, why I wrote it. Living where we do, in Atlantic Canada, we have a variety of gardening challenges, from clay soil to acid soil to cool springs to lots of wind off the water (salt damage) to coolish summers to downright cold winters. And while there are hundreds or thousands of books on gardening out there, there hasn't been one that is focused primarily on our region, or more specifically, primarily on ornamental gardening. There are several good books on food growing, more than several on the botany of the region, and a couple of real beauties on native wildflowers.

So after consulting with some of my gardening friends, who include seasoned gardeners, nursery operators (many of whom are in the sidebar on the left of this post), and general plant geeks, and with huge help from my wonderful editor at Nimbus, I came up with what I thought would be a good format. The book profiles 109 genera of plants divided into two sections: shrubs and trees, and perennials. Each plant profile gives some practical gardening advice on zone hardiness, where to plant, bloom period, size, and notes about what makes the plant particularly appealing: traits such as attracting pollinators, good winter interest, good fall colour, deer resistance, those sorts of things that are always handy to know. We like plants that give us more bang for our buck, after all.

There are a few specialized sections, including one on alpines, just so I could include the glorious blue of a springflowering gentian (not a plant profiled in the book because some of them can be quite tricky.

Wherever possible, I included some anecdotes as well as wisdom shared by other gardeners, and I also provided all the photography.

This book came about in no small part because of the scads of knowledge I've learned from fellow gardeners, both locally and across the blogosphere, over the past mumblety-mumble years of being fascinated with plants. I've said this before, and will say it again--gardeners are some of the most fabulous, generous, funny and wise people in the world, sharing their wisdom and suggestions as readily as they do their seedlings, transplants, and seeds. That's one of the reasons I find gardening such a joy, especially in a world that is sometimes dark and frightening.

I dedicated this book to the best plantsman I ever had the privilege to know, the late Captain Dick Steele of Bayport Plant Farm, who was a huge and positive influence in my plant-obsessed life, and continues to inspire me even now.

The official launch of Plants for Atlantic Gardens is on this coming Saturday, February 26th, 2-4 pm at the Telegraph Tea Room in Melvern Square, just outside of Kingston-Greenwood. We'll have some tea and treats, The Inside Story in Greenwood will be selling books, and we'll swap stories while I sign copies for people. If you can't get there, don't worry...I am selling the book through my blog, (it costs a bit more because of postage, but I will personalize it) or you can catch up with me at one of my other events; I'll be around here, there and everywhere in coming months, and look forward to swapping lots of stories with other gardeners.

During my anniversary post celebrating 5 years of writing this blog, I announced a giveaway of a copy of this book: the winning name was Carol Blunden, and her book is on the way to her. But since we're celebrating the launch of this book, I figure I should give away another copy, so please leave a comment telling me what your most FRUSTRATING plant is to grow. Doesn't matter where you live, or if it's a vegetable, a native, a houseplant, a tree...we all have our frustrations, as well as our triumphs. (I've learned to mostly laugh at mine. Even the goutweed). I'll do a random draw early next week (not doing another post til after the book launch because it's a bit busy here) and announce the winner.

Thank you to everyone for your support, your wisdom, your humour and patience, your generosity in sharing plants and knowledge and so much more over the years...truly, I couldn't have done this without the community of gardeners.