Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers
Reviews
Excerpt
Photos & Fact Sheets
A New York Times Bestseller! Flower Confidential is an around-the-world, behind-the-scenes look at the flower industry and how it has sought--for better and worse-- to achieve perfection.
Does it matter that a bouquet of roses travels halfway around the world before it arrives at your supermarket or florist? Or that growers force tulips to bloom in December? Are we being tricked when a scientist engineers a lily that doesn't shed pollen?
For over a century, hybridizers, geneticists, farmers, and florists around the world have worked to invent, manufacture, and sell flowers that are bigger, brighter, and sturdier than anything nature could provide. Almost any flower, in any color, is for sale at any time of the year.
Amy Stewart travels the globe to take us inside this dazzling world. She tracks down scientists intent on developing the first genetically modified blue rose; an eccentric horticultural legend who created the world's most popular lily (the 'Star Gazer'); a breeder of gerberas of every color imaginable; and an Ecuadorian farmer growing exquisite, high-end organic roses that are the floral equivalent of a Tiffany diamond. She sees firsthand how flowers are grown and harvested on farms in Latin America, California, and Holland. (It isn't always pretty.)
What has been gained-and what has been lost-in tinkering with Mother Nature? Should we care that roses have lost their scent? Or that most flowers are sprayed with pesticides? In a global marketplace, is there such a thing as a socially responsible flower? At every turn, Stewart discovers a fascinating intersection of nature and technology, of sentiment and commerce.
You'll never look at a cut flower the same way again.
The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms
The New York Times called it "a completely original combination of science and passion."
This is a fascinating
exploration of the underground world and one of its most amazing denizens.
The earthworm may be small, spineless, and blind, but its role in the ecosystem
is profound. It tills the soil, destroys microscopic organisms that cause plant
disease, breaks down toxins, and turns the ground into rich compost, creating
the most fertile areas on earth. In her witty and offbeat style, Amy Stewart
shows just how much depends on the humble worm..
Reviews
Downloads, and worm composting handout (PDF
572k).
From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden
Amy Stewart had a simple dream. She yearned for a garden filled with colorful jumbles of vegetables and flowers. After she and her husband finished graduate school, they pulled up their Texas roots and headed west to Santa Cruz, California. With little money in their pockets, they rented a modest seaside bungalow with a small backyard. It wasn't much--a twelve-hundred-square-foot patch of land with a couple of fruit trees, and a lot of dirt. A good place to start.
From the Ground Up is Stewart's quirky, humorous chronicle of the blossoms and weeds in her first garden and the lessons she's learned the hard way. From planting seeds her great-grandmother sends to battling snails, gophers, and aphids, Stewart takes us on a tour of four seasons in her coastal garden. Confessing her sins and delighting in small triumphs, she dishes the dirt for both the novice and the experienced gardener. Along the way, she brings her quintessential California beach town to life, complete with harbor seals, monarch butterfly migrations, and an old-fashioned seaside amusement park just down the street.
Each chapter includes helpful tips alongside the engaging story of a young
woman's determination to create a garden in which the plants struggle to live
up to the gardener's vision.
Ordering Information
We encourage you to support your local
independent bookseller. To find your
nearest bookseller, visit Booksense.
You can also order the books online from Powell's
City of Books.