I have wanted to make a terrarium for a while now. They’re suddenly so popular—you can buy them in cute boutiques, at nurseries, and can even use them as ornaments!  They are uniquely stylish—a perfect mash up of science experiment and 1970s houseplant kitsch. Just what I need to brighten up my living room.

The first step was finding the right glass. A true terrarium should be fully or partially enclosed. And though I found several pieces of glassware at a thrift store that fit the bill, only one of the two pieces was even partially enclosed. The second piece was the wrong shape, but too beautiful to pass up. And it was a perfect fit for the teak bowl I had bought on a prior thrift store outing.

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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.

David and I are wandering the Northwest Flower and Garden Show this week. The display gardens are beautiful, as always. Some are even spectacular.  But only two garden installations serve to truly inspire an urban gardener in these times. Since David and I are particularly interested in sustainable, organic food production for urban dwellers we found that these two gardens had the most to offer: “A Family’s Little Farm in the City” and “The Truck Farm.” (More on that in my next blog). “A Family’s Little Farm in the City” certainly lives up to its promise: to “demonstrate how a family can live sustainably in the city.” A small dwelling – actually a barn, but it could be modified – with solar panels, a quiet patio serving as a front porch, vegetable beds, an edible forest, compost bins, rain barrels, and bee hives. All thrive on this tiny plot of land.

I love this chicken tractor. The hen industriously scratches and pecks, tilling the soil for you. She can retire to her little shed to lay her eggs. Talk about a valuable partner!!  This is probably my favorite item in the display.

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Growing up, we were considered to be the country mice of the extended family as we lived on a one acre plot about 45 minutes from the “big city.” All of my cousins, aunts, and uncles lived on medium sized suburban city lots, and it was just understood that we lived in the wild, though my family religiously mowed the lawn at least once a week spring through fall.

Our huge expanse of a front yard was mostly lawn, as was our back yard, and even though we had fir, cedar, and fruit trees placed sporadically about, our street was about as suburban as you can get in the middle of the country.

It wasn’t until I moved to a small suburban apartment complex with an almost perfectly manicured lawn and grounds that I began to realize the similarities between the two places and started wondering what truly is wild.

In comes William Robinson — with Rick Darke — and The Wild Garden. William Robinson pioneered the naturalistic gardening style in Britain (home of the perfectly manicured lawn and sculpted boxwoods), and his style continues to influence gardeners across the globe today.

Timber author Rick Darke updated Robinson’s classic with gorgeous new photography, and some introductory chapters, and he has recently written an article for The American Gardener magazine that describes exactly “What is Wild?” (Link goes to a PDF.)

William Robinson and Rick Darke have shown me that you don’t have to live in the country to have a naturalistic, “wild” space.

The San Francisco Chronicle featured a great article on John Greenlee and The American Meadow Garden today.

John Greenlee has targeted the Great American Lawn — that notorious sink of fossil fuels, water, chemicals, and spare time — for destruction. “The revolution is clearly on,” he says, adding: “It’s a one-garden-at-a-time revolution.” With his manifesto The American Meadow Garden, sumptuously illustrated by Novato photographer Saxon Holt and published this month by Timber Press, Greenlee is hoping to reach lawn owners ready to change.

You can read the full article here.

The Wall Street Journal ran an enlightening story recently about “turf wars” over water guzzling landscapes and what the EPA hopes to do about it.

The article outlines various municipal programs (incentive-based as well as voluntary) currently in place (primarily in the west) to encourage homeowners to “tear up” their turf lawns in favor of a more sustainable landscape, requiring much less water, fertilizer, and fewer pesticides. They are offering up to $1.50 per square foot of turf grass if you replace that same area with regionally-appropriate, drought-tolerant plants. It’s a neat idea, this “cash for grass.” Makes sense. People will be financially rewarded for ripping up their water-guzzling, synthetic-chemical-sucking lawns and planting better choices for their neighborhood and region.

But, what kinds of plants — besides the obvious cacti and succulents — don’t require much watering or fertilizer, you might ask? Lots of them, actually.

Enter the “new” American landscape: the meadow garden.

A meadow garden, or prairie-style planting, is a shimmering mini eco-system, in which regionally-appropriate grasses combine with colorful perennials to form a rich tapestry that is friendly to wildlife. This type of garden is not only good for the natural environment, virtually maintenance free, and needs far less watering than a turf lawn, but best of all—it requires no mowing, ever! Wow, can you even imagine?

As you can see, we’re not talking not boring, monotonous-looking, either. These are visually stunning, colorful,vibrant, bold, textured, flowering plants, with four-season interest. Bonus — they attract wildlife and are a huge benefit to the natural ecosystem.

It’s fortuitous timing that Timber Press’s new book, The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn by John Greenlee with photos by Saxon Holt, has just been released this month. It can help homeowners who are choosing to tear up their lawn this fall find the right mix of perennials and regionally appropriate grasses and grass-like plants to suit their local landscapes.

Author John Greenlee has been designing meadow gardens for decades. Dubbed “The Grassman” by The New Yorker, Greenlee (who also happens to be sought-after garden designer to a number of well-known Hollywood celebrities) is just the authority to help navigate and inspire folks to install a meadow garden at home.

And, if you’re interested in more information, check out the new Lawn Reform Coalition website, a newly-formed group of activists and plant nuts who, like John Greenlee, want to help educate others about “killing the lawn.” They’ve banded together in the hopes of creating a national revolution on the topic.

It’s time to get rid of the old-fashioned lawn and embrace a sane and healthy future: the designed meadow.

Last week I traveled to the Bay Area to attend the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association’s annual regional show.

This year it took place in Oakland. And surprise, surprise — I loved it! (It’s a well known fact around the office that I adore traveling for work. I don’t know why, but I really do). In fact, I fell in love with the entire area. I rode the BART, walked around downtown Berkeley, went shopping on College Avenue, had hot chocolate in San Francisco, and…

But, back to the show. Each regional area has a related association of independent booksellers—there is PNBA in the Pacific Northwest, SIBA in the south, NEIBA in New England, etc. Each associations hosts an annual Fall trade show. It’s a chance for publishers, bookstores, authors, distributors, and the rest of the people involved in publishing to come together to learn about — and hopefully sell — new Fall titles. I was there to help our regional sales reps — the inimitable Craig McCroskey and John Majeska of Book Travelers West.

So what did I actually do? I talked to booksellers, explained our new titles, searched out new event venues, and grabbed the catalogs of several other publishers. I also had the chance to host a dinner at Oliveto, an amazing restaurant in the Rockridge section of Oakland. I enjoyed pasta, wine, and great conversation with Saxon Holt, the photographer of The American Meadow Garden, Keeyla Meadows, the author of Fearless Color Gardens, Stephanie Deignan, the events coordinator at Copperfield’s Books, Ann Leyhe, the owner of Mrs. Dalloway’s, and Margot Sheffner, the book buyer for Flora Grubb Gardens and advertising manager for Pacific Horticulture.

A pretty incredible mix of people.

Each year there are questions about the viability and role of the regional shows. Fewer orders are placed each year and many publishers wonder if they are necessary. I don’t know if the shows as they are now are a good model, but I do know the very real value of the face-to-face time with booksellers and authors. No amount of email, promotions, or publicity can replace regular old human interaction.

And, if they canceled the regional shows, how could I convince Timber Press to send me to the south next year?

P.S. If you live in Berkeley or are just visiting, go to Mrs. Dalloway’s. I’ve never seen a bookstore with such an amazing selection of gardening books — they literally have a WALL dedicated to them (please ignore the awful photography).

Notes from Olivia:

It’s taken me a full week to catch my breath after the flurry of activity surrounding GWA, but I think everything is back to normal.

As usual, the symposium was packed with seeing old friends, greeting new acquaintances, and finally getting to meet people face to face after years of corresponding by phone and email.

The Timber/Storey booth was consistently hopping with activity—three author signings will do that. And I am happy to report that all of our books were completely gone by 2 o’clock on the last day of the exhibit. All I had to bring home were bookstands.

Our “Secrets of a Book Publicist” presentation went—I can happily say it went swimmingly!

Michael Taeckens, Publicity Director at Algonquin Books, talked about his publicity campaign for Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart (Center left). Amy Greeman (far right), Publicity Director at Storey Publishing, discussed Backyard Homestead, and I covered my publicity plan for Bringing Nature Home.

All in all it was a great trip, and I can’t wait to see everyone next year in Dallas!

Notes from Emma:

GWA is one of the only times in the year we get to meet our valued media and authors face to face. It is always such a treat to have conversations in person with the people we usually interact with through a keyboard. Everyone has traveled far and wide to connect with a group that shares the same passion — the energy and excitement is potent.

There were many new and familiar faces who brought life to the show, thankfully keeping our Timber/Storey booth lively from beginning to end. Photographer Saxon Holt shared stories of photographing the dazzling landscapes in The American Meadow Garden. Pam Baggett talked cannas and elephant ears while signing copies of Tropicalismo. Amy Stewart and the rest of the Garden Rant crew brought their usual vivacious, plant loving personalities. Patti Moreno of Garden Girl TV walked the grounds filming the action, while Joe Lamp’l talked about his new television series airing on PBS this spring. There was a strong feeling of good things to come with all things gardening.

Jennifer Bartley’s seminar The Seasonal Useful and Edible Garden was particularly inspiring. Her designs were smart and breathtaking, and her year-round use made me want to rush home and get to work on my own. She shared images of the pathways she and her sons created out of reclaimed bricks from a demolished building (so artistic, so affordable!). She showed images of the butternut squash soups and winter greens cooked from her winter harvests, and heirloom tomato salads and berry tarts from her summer harvests. It was a pleasant reminder that you can make use of your garden year-round—that you don’t have to pay $5 for kale in the winter if you just do a little planning. She lives in Columbus, Ohio—case in point. Hearing her speak and seeing her photographs whet my appetite for gardening and cooking. Can’t wait for her new seasonal harvest book next spring!

I look forward to seeing everyone again soon. Thanks for a great meeting this year!

In the late summer and early fall, my husband and I pack up the car and head out to Smith Rock in eastern Oregon for a little camping and rock climbing. (We like to feel hardcore, even if we still only climb on the “easy” end of the spectrum.)

Smith Rock State Park is in the “high desert” of eastern Oregon, and is truly one of the most spectacular state parks that I have ever been in. In the fall, the foliage around the Crooked River would win all the top awards at design shows if it could be picked up and plunked down in the middle of a convention hall. (Admittedly, the towering rocks do add a fair bit of — ah — “drama” — that would be lost in a convention center. Perhaps a suitable backdrop painting could be arranged?)

The colors alone reduce me to squeaking fits of trying to point out how gorgeous everything is. There are beautiful earth tones, gold grasses and silver grey sage, punctuated with unidentified bright yellow flowers and the dried seedheads of Queen Anne’s Lace. There was also an interesting small plant that I couldn’t identify – it looked kind of like prickly heather – which was turning shades of purple and scarlet. Really! I can’t make this stuff up!

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There was an article in The New York Times on Wednesday that warned of the dangerous levels of lead found in the soil of many urban gardens. Between this and Michael Tortorello’s hilarious blog about the challenges and pitfalls of starting a vegetable garden, it’s beginning to seem like the Home & Garden section is beginning a revolt against the edible gardening trend!