No this isn’t a post about gardening—but stay tuned if you’re a nature lover. Some of you may not be aware of Timber’s extensive and rich list of books about the Pacific Northwest. We publish books on bugs, flowers, mushrooms, natural history, Timberline Lodge, city walks, geology, and much more. Now we want to publish a book about wolves. Yes, it’s a bit of an open secret, but there ARE wolves that have made it all the way from reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park to the Cascade forests in the shadows of Portland and Seattle. We’ve even put a photograph of one of these wolves on the cover of Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest (available in May).

Author Dave Moskowitz is writing the definitive account of these wolves’ lives and travels. It’s an enormous undertaking, and he is seeking funds for the extensive travel, research, and photography needed. We think Dave’s book will be vital to the protection of this endangered species, whose coexistence with urban Northwesterners will be in peril if rumors and lack of science win the day.

Visit his project site to learn more.

As a kid, I can remember feeling dubious whenever my parents tried to convince me that something educational could also be fun. I felt like they were trying to dupe me into doing the “smart” thing rather than hanging out with my friends or playing with my toys.

As an adult, I’ve learned that fun and educational don’t have to be mutually exclusive and as senior publicist I get to combine both by organizing bookstore events for my authors.  I attended one such event last week at Powell’s Books with David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth (or, “The Plant Doctors”, as we call them around the office), authors of What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?).

We were a little concerned that turnout would be hampered by the pelting rain and wind, but Portland gardeners rarely let the rain deter them. If they did, Portland wouldn’t be such a thriving gardening community. The crowd was lively, asking lots of questions:

“Why are my camellia buds brown?”—Probably because of last week’s cold snap.

“How do you get rid of mealy bugs?”—Sanitize the plant by removing affected leaves then spray with insecticidal soap several times a week until the pests are gone.

The audience had fun passing silk roses around with various maladies painted on them and following the flow charts in the book to “diagnose” them, and we learned a bunch of new tricks to prevent plants from going the way of the compost pile.

David and Kathryn are currently on tour along the West Coast.  Keep up with their schedule here if you are interested in a little educational fun!

As a member of the Official Group of People Who Like Succulents, I was as pleased and inspired as anyone when Debra Lee Baldwin’s new book, Succulent Container Gardens, came out. (I had the added perk of seeing the book far in advance of the actual publication date, too. Ah, the advantages of working in publishing.)

Part of my job in the marketing department at Timber calls for me and my fellow marketers to come up with ideas for how to spread the word about a new book. After all, if no one knows about a book, no one buys a book — a fact that never even occurred to me previous to this job. (People find out about books via osmosis, right?)

For this particular book, we decided that a “how-to” video would be a fun project. We thought that if Debra could give a quick demonstration on how to put together a succulent container garden, people would see how easy (and gorgeous) it can be, and be inspired to plant their own containers. And we would start a SUCCULENT REVOLUTION!!  (You have to think big.)

So that’s what we did, and we are very pleased with the way the video came out.

¡Viva la succulent revolución!

I love the title of this book. It lends itself to all sorts of vocal inflections, from “arch” to “zoned out”. And it’s tough to abbreviate, meaning that when it is spoken of around the office it often comes out really fast, as in: “SoYouWannaBeAGardenDesigner.” That, or every word is pronounced carefully, distinctly, with perfect enunciation.

But the title is purely a bonus. I’ve never personally felt the urge to be a garden designer, but I was thoroughly impressed by this book. Love Albrecht Howard’s writing is so clear, friendly, and informative — I felt that I could apply her excellent advice to any creative or business venture and  have a better chance of success. Ms. Howard manages that difficult combination of being encouraging, tactful, and practical. She does not pretend that it will be easy, but she makes you believe that even the hard stuff is important, and that you can make it through the hard stuff, and do it well.

Here’s the table of contents. She even has chapters on leaving the business, and how to deal with self-doubt. I don’t think I have any friends who aspire to be garden designers, but the minute I discover that ambition, I already know exactly what to get them.

Continue Reading »

This guest post was written by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, authors of What’s Wrong with My Plant?, and originally appeared on their blog.

Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, hosted our first bookstore appearance of the Great ‘Here Come the Plant Docs’ Book Tour of 2010. There is something very comforting about beginning such a venture talking about a book surrounded by good books, in the company of bibliophiles and phytophiles.

On this, my first trip to Bellingham, I discovered what a delightful town it is. Kathy, at the Village Inn, greeted us with an enthusiastic, “Oh, I should have recognized you. I have your book.”  Making us feel a little like the Olympic athletes who were also staying there (overflow from the games in Vancouver, just across the border).

Naturally this welcome warmed my heart immediately and made me very predisposed to love Bellingham.

Continue Reading »

This guest post was written by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, authors of What’s Wrong with My Plant?, and originally appeared on their blog. Kathryn and David are currently touring the West coast to solve plant problems and promote their book.

Spring is here. Friends already lay out their soaker hoses, sow seeds indoors, and move seedlings out into their cold-frames. We’re going to miss all that this year, as we travel to talk about our book, and other topics from the green world. We won’t bemoan the loss too much. Surely an exciting journey lies ahead. David and I love a road trip.

The second event on our book tour is behind us. David and I gave a talk at the Port Townsend, WA public library. This low-key chat with our “homies” in the town where we live was a perfect send-off for the tour.

At the library we talked about how we developed the book –- our book –- from inchoate thoughts about the questions we must ask when someone else asks us, “What’s Wrong With My Plant?” A very common question, by the way.

Continue Reading »

This guest post was written by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, authors of What’s Wrong with My Plant?, and originally appeared on their blog.

It’s time to get started on the vegetable garden for the coming season so you can grow your own healthy, organic food again this year. Many of us have already started seedlings indoors to transplant out to the garden or the cold frames as soon as weather permits. Kathryn and I have come up with a checklist of ten things to consider before you plant. Each item on the list helps to prevent pests and diseases in your vegetable garden. All ten of them acting in concert really gives you a leg up for a successful and productive year.

1. Sanitize. If you didn’t get around to cleaning up old left-over garden debris last autumn, do it now. Pay special attention to any dead plant material from diseased or infested plants and get it out of your garden. Fungal spores, insect eggs, and bacteria lurking on old infected dead leaves lying on the ground can quickly infect your new plants and ruin your produce all summer long.

2. Right plant, right place. Be sure and read the instructions on the seed pack or the vegetable start plant label and put your plants in the best location to meet those requirements. If your plants have the right amount of light and water, the correct temperature, and the proper soil they won’t be under stress. And stress, as we all know, predisposes our plants (as well as ourselves) to attack by pests and diseases.

Continue Reading »

There are certain things we do for every new book. Sending out review copies to sales people and the media is one of these. But every so often we really want a book to make a splash and try to do something unique.

Tom Fischer is very special to us. He is our editor-in-chief, our resident foodie who eats at least once from every new food cart, and—as of today—one of our spring authors. His newest book, The Gardener’s Color Palette, releases today. And we obviously had to do something special for it.

Continue Reading »

We are giving away three copies of Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers! See the end of this post for details.

I’m not what one would call a visual person. When it comes to taking pictures something always feels a bit off. I know what I want the picture to look like, but getting the camera to cooperate doesn’t always work.

When Timber published Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers in 2008, I knew that I wanted to teach myself to be a better photographer. I bought myself a nice Digital SLR camera, and have been playing around with it with mixed results. I’m still learning the ins and outs of shutter speed and aperture, and am realizing that I should probably experiment with lenses beyond the ones that came with the camera when I bought it.

I couldn’t have been more excited when the first of six podcasts that Alan Detrick did with Timber covered just that—lenses! He gave me some good suggestions on what to look out for in terms of price, lens quality, and how to get the family to help pay for them.

If you are looking for some pointers to help you take the most beautiful shots possible, listen to the Timber Press Podcast for the next six weeks. Alan covers everything a beginner like myself could hope to learn: equipment, lighting, how to handle windy photo shoots, how to find the best composition, and even how to photograph insects.

As spring beings to creep into the Northern hemisphere, any number of you will want to go out and take pictures of all the beauty. To support your efforts, Timber Press is hosting a blog/Twitter giveaway during the course of Alan’s podcasts. All you have to do is show us your favorite macro photograph.  You can email us (web@timberpress.com), or you can leave a link to one of your photos in the comments to this blog or on our Twitter feed.  (If you don’t already follow us on Twitter, please do!) We’ll post the photos we receive on our Flickr page as inspiration (with permission from the photographer.)

We are giving away three copies of Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers . Winners will be chosen from the comments, photos, and tweets on March 8th.

Take out your camera, send us your own shots, and have fun!

This guest post was written by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, authors of What’s Wrong with My Plant?, and originally appeared on their blog.

Well, we did it! Last week we held the first event of our book tour with a talk at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. There may be no better place to get inspired for the road ahead.

Display gardens at big shows always have an idea or two that can be incorporated into small gardens and home landscaping. Vendors always have enough stuff to sink several container ships, yet they also make attractive displays, offering useful tools, lovely plants, and often, solid information. We visited with the folks at Seattle Tilth and the Northwest Horticultural Society. We admired some of the new, more ergonomic pruning and digging tools.

We particularly appreciated the well-executed designs of two displays: “A Family’s Little Farm in the City,” designed by Jessica and Noah Bloom (N.W. Bloom and Seattle Tilth collaborated on the installation); and “Crops for Clunkers,” designed by Colin McCrate, Brad Halm, and Noel Stout of the Seattle Urban Farm Company.

Continue Reading »