Petal and Twig: Seasonal Bouquets with Blossoms, Branches, and Grasses from Your Garden

Forcing flowers to stand up and do tricks is the old way of flower bouquets. That called for flying in blossoms from around the world. The new way is so much more DIY and all about what's happening in the garden right now — no matter the season. Petal and Twig is full of photographs and descriptions of wonderfully fresh combinations from garden-expert Valerie Easton's own garden. With an inviting and personal tone, Easton shows how to assemble floral combinations for color, for fragrance, to express the essence of the season, for the dinner table, for the kitchen, for the bookshelf. Inspiration, experimentation, and simple pleasure are the keys to the new bouquets.

"Almost any flower, leaf or branch can look good in the right vase. The combination is a study in texture, color, shape, the reflection of light. Valerie Easton, a Seattle-based garden writer, discusses the art of growing and arranging cut flowers in Petal and Twig: Seasonal Bouquets With Blossoms, Branches and Grasses From Your Garden. Written as an informal diary, with photographs of arrangements from her own container garden, and tips on cutting and keeping flowers fresh, the book inspires ideas not only on what to grow but on how to combine (or not) those beauties inside." The New York Times

"In the most personal of her several books, Val Easton leads us gently through the seasons as she demonstrates the ease with which she brings her garden indoors to decorate her home....Petal and Twig is a book for anyone who wishes to bring cut material indoors-from even the smallest of gardens. While the palette in Val's arrangements is decidedly Pacific Northwest (after all, she splits her time between Whidbey Island and Seattle), the message of Petal and Twig is definitely non-regional: grow your own, cut your own, observe what you have, and learn to play with it. Let your bouquets exemplify nature's artistry brought indoors." Pacific Horticulture Magazine

"Open your eyes and keep it simple: those are two lessons Easton (The New Low Maintenance Garden), a garden writer and Huffington Post columnist, passes on from her own 40 years in the garden. When selecting and arranging flowers for bouquets, you needn't spend a bundle buying a bundle of imported flowers. Instead, check what's in stock in your own backyard. Easton, who gardens in the Seattle area, offers refreshing counsel for thinking about bouquets through the year. They needn't contain only colorful flowers. Add grasses, twigs, and foliage. Easton offers guidelines and principles (one can own a lot of thrift shop and garage sale vases) as well as a journal of possibilities through the seasons. Gardeners not in her area will have to substitute for some of her core list recommendations, and think very strategically in winters in less mild USDA growing zones about seedpods and branches. The result, however, will be unique, local, imaginative, and inexpensive. Color photos throughout illustrate and inspire." Publishers Weekly

"The next best thing to being surrounded by the real thing is immersing yourself in a floral volume packed with pretty pictures and, hopefully, sage advice. Valerie Easton's latest book, Petal and Twig...is just such a treat." Northwest Home

"Garden columnist Valerie Easton is an enthusiastic supporter of creating seasonal bouquets from a garden's bounty of blossoms, branches, and grasses. She relates the great joy that can be found in the use of 'what nature offers up.' Easton describes the pleasure one receives when employing the many forms — buds, seedpods, seedheads, berries, branches, twigs, and, of course, blossoms." Chicago Botanic Garden

Valerie Easton, longtime garden columnist for the Seattle Times, is the author of four books about plants and gardens including The New Low-Maintenance Garden. She also writes for the Huffington Post, Organic Gardening, and Garden Design. The author lives in Seattle and Langley, WA.