Petal & Twig

December 19, 2011
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.