Books in sync with nature.
Books in sync with nature.
Pittsburgh, Pa. (January 27, 2014) – One of the most talked-about trends in gardening today is wildflowers – those jewels of spring and summer everywhere. Families drive miles to witness their beauty in natural landscapes. Now, gardeners can easily and successfully cultivate these gorgeous hardy natives right at home, for year-after-year enjoyment. A new book by widely respected wildflower farmer Miriam Goldberger is here to show us all how.
Taming Wildflowers: Bringing the Beauty and Splendor of Nature’s Blooms into Your Own Backyard (St. Lynn’s Press, February 2014), is a richly photographed tribute to the dazzling beauty and profound ecological value of Nature’s “original” flowers. This is the ultimate DIY book on wildflower gardening and floral design: part wildflower/pollinator awareness, part gardening how-to, and part essential primer for designing with these breathtaking cut blooms and dried flowers (including a workshop for designing a one-of-a-kind wildflower wedding).
Goldberger profiles 60 of her favorite wildflowers through the seasons, and gives illustrated, step-by-step guidance for seed growing and cultivation. To help the reader envision how to incorporate native plants into a home garden, she offers creative design tips, from formal to freeform – from a riotous meadow to a simple bright swath of color within an established garden. With wildflowers, she writes, a gardener becomes an artist, painting with color and texture.
This is a book with crossover appeal: to the home gardener, the floral designer, the environmentalist, the bride who wants a uniquely beautiful wedding – and the armchair gardener, who will be happy just to look at the glorious photographs.
Piet Oudolf, internationally acclaimed designer of public and private gardens, says: “I will buy this book. Not only do I love wildflowers but it is also a beautiful book. I hope Taming Wildflowers will find its way into the world of garden and landscape designers.”
Damon Waitt, Senior Director, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, says: “We couldn’t ask for a better ambassador for our mission to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants and landscapes than Miriam Goldberger.“
Mark Cullen, Canada’s gardening guru and host of HGTV Canada’s “Mark Cullen Gardening,” says: “I have known Miriam through her work in the business of wildflowers for about 20 years. I have grown to admire her passion for wildflowers and the depth of her knowledge of this fascinating topic. She has achieved a level of awareness about the benefits of native plants that is unprecedented.”
Mark Richardson, Director of Horticulture, New England Wild Flower Society, says: “Miriam Goldberger has devoted a lifetime of work to propagating native plants and advocating for their widespread horticultural use. …Taming Wildflowers promises to build on her important legacy and continue to inspire others to share in her love of our native flora.”
Miriam Goldberger has been a wildflower farmer since 1986 and is a self-taught horticulturalist. Born in New Jersey, and with a background in dance, childbirth education and public relations, she has lived in rural Ontario, Canada for over 25 years. The author is founder and president of Wildflower Farm, a 100-acre wildflower seed company and pollinators’ paradise, where wildflowers thrive without irrigation or pesticides. The farm produces wildflower and native grass seeds for private and public gardens and meadows throughout North America. The author is also a floral designer, teaching wildflower wedding workshops at the farm. Goldberger is a frequent speaker for botanical garden, horticultural society and flower show audiences, and is a regular radio and television guest. She is truly a woman out standing in her field.
Taming Wildflowers: Bringing the Beauty and Splendor of Nature’s Blooms into Your Own Backyard
Miriam Goldberger
ISBN-13: 978-0-9855622-6-7
$18.95 US/ $19.95 CAN
Hardcover, 208 pages