Book Review and Tool Give-Away Party: Indoor Plant Décor May 6, 2013
Book Review: Indoor Plant Décor
by Kylee Baumle & Jenny Peterson
160 pages
St. Lynn’s Press, 2013
List Price: $16.95
This jewel of a book is not only a bountiful little purse-sized plant shopping companion to take with you to the greenhouse, it’s a style and inspiration powerhouse for your home’s houseplants. If you feel challenged by choosing plants for your home and bewildered by the array of choices, then Kylee and Jenny have your answers, by giving you the elements to succeed with 21st century charisma.
Starting with a guide to eight décor styles to springboard from, readers will begin to understand what they can do to create the comfortable and warm feeling that the houseplants bring to your home. From Peaceful Zen to Vintage, each styleboard has gorgeous images and décor style ideas provide you with tips, tricks, how-to’s and care instructions to bring your design ideas to life. Plus, they have taken great care to give options for low maintenance plants as well as options for those of you who are not afraid of a plant Diva or two.
Indoor Plant Décor really takes the idea of customizing your houseplant displays to another level of inspiration. With emphasis on textures, colors and home décor in addition to plant selection, this book takes a holistic approach to interior landscaping. Artwork, fabrics, lighting, flooring and more go into each carefully considered combination.
In the care and feeding of plants section titled Practical Matters, Kylee and Jenny begin with the admission that they too have also killed houseplants, like the rest of us. They offer enthusiastic encouragement up, its OK, keep trying, no guilt here. How refreshing!
The Houseplants at a Glance sections are genius, laid out according to the ease of maintenance with such group titles as Easy Breezy, Moderately Manageable, and Design Diva’s the reader will find options for every location in the house.
Whether your design style is simple, traditional or wacky, you are going be so inspired with the ideas in Indoor Plant Décor you will want to get in your car and immediately head to your local greenhouse for some new plants to dress up your home!
St. Lynn’s Press graciously supplied me with a copy of Indoor Plant Décor for my review but you can order your very own copy NOW on Amazon.com right here!
Kylee Baumle enjoys photographing gardens as much as she does tending to them. Her photos have been published in trade catalogs, garden magazines and books. She writes for several gardening publications, has a weekly local newspaper column on gardening and has appeared on America’s Web Radio show, America’s Homegrown Veggies, the web TV show, Garden World Report, and has been a guest host on the popular #gardenchat on Twitter. Kylee currently shares living space in rural Ohio with her husband, two cats, and over 200 plants in their house and conservatory.
Read Kylee’s great blog, Our Little Acre here!
Jenny Peterson lives in Austin, Texas. She is a landscape designer and freelance writer specializing in small spaces. Her deign work has bee featured in Garden Up! (Cool Springs Press, 2011) on vertical gardening, in Small-Space Container Gardens (Timber Press, 2012), and in Horticulture and Cottages & Bungalows magazines. She is a horticulturist and a member of the Garden Designers Roundtable. She writes on her blog, J.Peterson Garden Design (www.jpetersongardendesign) and is a regional writer for Houzz.com.
Read Jenny’s fabulous blog here!
Excited about designing with houseplants? Want to win a GREAT tool for helping to care for your new plants? YES you do! Leave a comment on this post and you are automatically entered to win this lovely watering can for your houseplants courtesy of Master Gardner!
(Give-Away is open to US residents only)
Master Gardner is giving away this adorable Stainless Steel Watering Can.
Also -
Several other bloggers are participating in this virtual book tour, each offering a different prize. Visit each blog and leave a comment on the giveaway post for a chance to win that prize. The more blogs you visit, the more opportunities for you to win some goodies!
Steve Asbell – The Rainforest Garden
Debra Lee Baldwin – Gardening Gone Wild
Carolyn Binder – Cowlick Cottage Farm
Shawna Coronado – Shawna Coronado
Charlotte Germane – Dirt Du Jour
Pam Penick – Digging
Stacy Risenmay – Not Just a Housewife
Erin Schanen – The Impatient Gardener
Rebecca Sweet – Gossip in the Garden
Robin Horton – Urban Gardens
A FAST Fine Foliage Give-Away! March 14, 2013
FINE FOLIAGE GIVEAWAY
What do I win?
One signed copy of Fine Foliage
Where?
On our blog www.fine-foliage.com (note the hyphen)
When?
Right now!! Drawing will take place at midnight Saturday March 16th PST and the book mailed out first thing Monday.
What do I do to enter?
Head over to www.fine-foliage.com and follow the link to sign up for our blog. It’s that easy! Everyone that is registered will be entered into a random drawing. The winner will be notified by email within 24 hours and the winners name will also be posted on the blog itself.
Gardener Give-Away! – Down to Earth Designed Apron March 11, 2013
Janna Lufkin from Raw Materials Design sent me this apron to try out and I immediately fell in love the minute I opened the box. This is no wimpy thing. It’s truly a tool in your arsenal for the gardener who is not easy on things. This is one TOUGH piece of fabric and sewing. This apron was even featured on the TODAY Show!
I’m NOT easy on tools or clothes when it comes to gardening. I have been through many many aprons. So, when I endorse a product like this, its because it truly does what I need, it stands the test of ME! Here is a link with an informative Q & A about Janna’s products and why she is SO passionate about them.
Here is a great pic of my friend Jessi Bloom wearing hers at the 2013 Northwest Flower and Garden Show! How cute is Jessi????? 
Now you have two ways to get your very own Raw Materials designs apron too, you can simply go to this link and order one for yourself right now. OR you can WIN one of your very own!
Here are the contest rules:
1) Go to The Personal Garden Coach on Facebook and “Like” the page.
2) Post a photo of yourself showing everyone why YOU deserve to win the Raw Materials Apron here in the comments section or on the FB page.
Good Luck! May the dirt be with you!
Nancy Claire Guth “Electro Cute” at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show February 20, 2013
Some designers are truly gifted at bringing creative ideas to life. Other designers are good at running a business and creating a loyal following of clients. Its uncommon in my experience to find both in one person. But, now I have found both in my new friend and colleague Nancy Claire Guth of Artistic Garden Concepts.
This year Nancy has created a Small Space garden featured on the sky-bridge at the 2013 Northwest Flower and Garden Show. Her inspiration for this design began by upcycling a whole bunch of electric themed parts and other found objects, which is Nancy’s signature design secret. Clients will frequently ask for one of a kind, funky treasures to be featured in her design and she is more than happy to accommodate those requests. I am in awe of anyone who can take an old radiator heater and think to create a bench seat!!
In years past she has been a creator of a number of the large scale award winning gardens like this amazing Rain Garden at the 2011 NWFGS. Here is a cute video of Nancy Claire Guth being interviewed by Marianne Binetti at the show describing her amazing garden concept.
Join us at the show this year and see all of the amazing ideas that Nancy has included in her design for this year up close and personal. There are details on top of details that are SO crafty and creative. It will make you want to go find some treasure of your own to upcycle! Follow Nancy Claire Guth’s Artistic Garden Concepts page on Facebook too!
For more ideas, photos and general ogling of ALL of the details at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, follow me on Facebook at The Personal Garden Coach. I will be covering the WHOLE show!
Gardening With Confidence – Book Review February 14, 2013
My book shelves are organized by a few different groups. I have a my garden “How-To” books, then my juicy pictorial coffee table type books, then my collection of what I refer to as my beloved “Garden Literature”. These are first-class books having to do with gardening that I would want to read over and over because they have such impressive writing. Books that make it on to THIS shelf have a high bar set and earn their space there.
When you open this book and start reading the “What people are saying” section, you think to yourself, “WOW, that is a LOT of gushing about this book, can it possibly live up to all that?” It does. As so many others have said over and over in other reviews, Helen clearly has a gift for writing as if you’re having a conversation with a great friend in the garden over a cup of tea, or a glass of great wine at sunset. This is a rare talent indeed.
To be able to address such broad topics as “50 Ways to Add Style For Personal Creativity” in a way that’s both comforting and reassuring is very unusual. As a person who works with the public in a nursery where the hot business conversation topic right now is getting the NEW gardeners the confidence to simply come IN to the nursery, here is the manual they need.
I have crawled into bed with Helen’s book on a number of occasions so far this winter and referred to it quite a few times. Helen makes me feel great about trusting my own instincts with friendly lessons told in humorous and touching ways. She talks about gardening and design with all the new fangled approaches, but also about not losing sight of the tried and true too. Both ideas are addressed with passion and comedy.
Chapters in Helen’s book are soft approached by a Garden Coach who gives you light-hearted direction not dictation. The book is broken into these thoughtful sections: Basics, Garden Styles, Garden Elements, and Your Garden Environment. The three segments add up to 50 different themes that range from Bulbs to Balance, to Moss and Movement, and so much more.
This book gives elegant insight and helps you understand these ideas in the most gracious ways;
We are all unique, and you need to learn what goes into creating your own signature style, but that style needs to be balanced with good design technique.
Take the BIG picture view, while focusing on the harmony of your designs.
Developing your style means that there is a beginning, a middle and an end.
If YOU love it, then its right!
How can you apply what you have learned about your style?
Lastly, be wary of transplanting Voles.
As a Garden Coach myself and a fan of Helen Yoest for a number of years, I can with all my heart say that THIS book has earned a coveted spot on a very special book shelf. It’s the book I would want all of MY clients to read too.
If you would like to buy Gardening With Confidence, here is the link for you!!
