by Grow Northwest

We’re going to jump right into this month’s reading list because we are just so excited! Last month, Gardening Expert of the Pacific Northwest Ciscoe Morris released his new book Oh, La La! Homegrown Stories, Helpful Tips, and Garden Wisdom, AND WWU’s Gigi Berardi released her book, FoodWISE: A Whole Systems Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Food Choices. Both great reads from two locals who know what they’re talking about and care about our region. And this month, we are greeted with a new release from another local. Erin Benzakein, the amazing flower farmer-floral designer-owner of Mount Vernon’s Floret Farm, gives us Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers. 

With a release date of Feb. 11, the book presents the techniques and tools to arrange beautiful, garden-fresh bouquets. With Julie Chai and Jill Jorgensen, and photography by Chris Benzakein, Julie Benzakein has done it again. (She previously produced the best selling Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden – recipient of the American Horticultural Society Book Award – as well as Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Journal.)

Specializing in growing unique, uncommon and heirloom flowers,  they sell their favorite cut flower seeds, as well as dahlia tubers, spring-flowering bulbs, tools, supplies. Floret Farm also offers workshops.

The book is an informative and stunning visual of the growing process, giving readers a view of the hard work that goes into growing beautiful blooms. If you love growing flowers, or having cut flowers, you will appreciate this book. Also available this year is Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden 2020 Daily Planner.

Anyone who loves succulents will enjoy The Gardener’s Guide to Succulents: A Handbook of Over 125 Exquisite Varieties of Succulents and Cacti by Misa Matsuyama. More than 125 plants are identified in these colorful pages, filled with succulent and cacti descriptions. Plant characteristics, needs, growth and care are all covered, with suggestions and tips. Whether you enjoy planting outside or inside, this book will guide you through the overall care needed to keep your succulents happy and thriving. 

Do you love botanical history, plant science, and incredibly interesting stories? The Incredible Journey of Plants (coming March 17) is beautifully illustrated and covers exceptionally interesting pieces of the plant world. Written by Stefano Mancuso, leading plant neurobiologist and author, with translation by Gregory Conti and watercolor illustrations by Grisha Fischer, readers are taken through time and across the globe. Visit the polar ice caps to desert lands and desolate islands, and learn about some of the plant world’s amazing stories throughout history to the present. For example: the migration of plants; 99 percent of bananas produced today are genetically identical; how humans saved the avocado from going extinct; how the Zone of Alienation around the site of the Chernobyl disaster has become one of the most biologically diverse territories in the former Soviet Union; and Old Tjikko, the oldest tree in the word at about 7,000-10,000 years old. Delightful and rich in information, this book is a must read.

Margaret Hellyer’s A Home on the South Fork: An Early History of Acme—A Northwest Washington Community, released in 2018, traces the early community history. Anyone with an interest in local history will enjoy the pages filled with photographs, interviews, letters, documents, and more. Starting with the first land claims in the 1880s, and contact with the Nooksack Indians—the first people–the book shows the transformation of the area over time. It’s full of historical community tidbits. An early map of the community details the first businesses, school, and church sites, and locations of family homes. A brief history of other valley communities, including Park and Deming, are also highlighted, as well as farms, homesteads, the local baseball team, and more. The book contains 29 years of school census records, lists of Acme school teachers from 1888 to 1930, and the earliest school district officers and directors. For more information, see www.southforkpress.com. A Home on the South Fork is available at Village Books in Bellingham, and through Amazon.