An Abundance of Flowers

An Abundance of Flowers PDF

Author: Judith M. Taylor

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 2018-01-08

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0804040850

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Walk into any nursery, florist, or supermarket, and you’ll encounter displays of dozens of gorgeous flowers, from chrysanthemums to orchids. At one time these fanciful blooms were the rare trophies of the rich and influential—even the carnation, today thought of as one of the humblest cut flowers. Every blossom we take for granted now is the product of painstaking and imaginative planning, breeding, horticultural ingenuity, and sometimes chance. The personalities of the breeders, from an Indiana farmer to Admiral Lord Gambier’s gardener, were as various and compelling as the beauty they conjured from skilled hybridization. In Visions of Loveliness: Great Flower Breeders of the Past, Judith Taylor wrote engagingly about the vivid history and characters behind eighteen types of popular flowers. In this companion volume she uncovers information about another eight familiar flowers: poinsettias, chrysanthemums, gladioli, pansies, carnations, water lilies, clematis, and penstemons. Taylor has tapped into an enormous trove of stories about extraordinary people with vision and skill who added to our enjoyment piece by piece, starting about 150 years ago. This beautifully illustrated book will please flower enthusiasts, gardeners, and history buffs alike.

Strange Bright Blooms

Strange Bright Blooms PDF

Author: Randy Malamud

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2021-10-19

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1789144019

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Virginia Woolf famously began one of her greatest novels: “Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” Of course she would: why would anyone surrender the best part of the day to someone else? Flowers grace our lives at moments of celebration and despair. “We eat, drink, sing, dance, and flirt with them,” writes Kakuzo Okakura. Flowers brighten our homes, our parties, and our rituals with incomparable notes of natural beauty, but the “nature” in these displays is tamed and conscribed. Randy Malamud seeks to understand the transplanted nature of cut flowers—of our relationship with them and the careful curation of their very existence. It is a picaresque, unpredictable ramble through the world of flowers, but also the world itself, exploring painting, murals, fashion, public art, glass flowers, pressed flowers, flowery church hats, weaponized flowers, deconstructed flowers, flower power, and much more.

The Keeper of Stories

The Keeper of Stories PDF

Author: Sally Page

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 2023-01-24

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13:

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A charming, uplifting debut novel—full of humor and depth—that has taken readers around the world by surprise. Everyone has a story to tell. But does Janice have the power to unlock her own? She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they had always done so, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her ... Cleaner Janice knows that it is in people’s stories that you really get to know them. From recently widowed Fiona and her son Adam to opera-singing Geordie, the quiet bus driver Euan, and the pretentious Mrs. “YeahYeahYeah” and her fox terrier, Decius, Janice has a unique insight into the community around her. When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs. B—a shrewd and prickly woman in her nineties—she finally meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share. Mrs. B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?

The Flower Book

The Flower Book PDF

Author: Rachel Siegfried

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-02-07

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1465495533

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Explore 60 flowers, bloom by bloom, in stunning portraiture with lush macrophotography that showcases the details of each flower, and learn how to arrange flowers with different styles, tips, and techniques. Intimate portraits of each flower include quick-reference profiles with tips for choosing the best blooms, care for cut stems, arranging recommendations, colors, shapes, and even growing tips to transform the home, from yard to tabletop. Study a multitude of blooms, from the amaryllis in spring, snapdragon in summer, and dahlia in fall to tropical wonders such as orchids and African lilies. The Flower Book spotlights 30 sample floral arrangements that show how to design and build custom floral arrangements using featured blooms. Plus, a step-by-step techniques section walks beginners through the basics of foliage and fillers, bouquets, and arrangements to make this book as practical as it is beautiful. A perfect gift for anyone who loves flowers, The Flower Book celebrates all the wonderful qualities of flowers—their sheer beauty, infinite variety, and power to evoke admiration—bloom by exquisite bloom.

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