Matt Mattus, a third-generation gardener of his family property in Massachusetts, loves growing plants and is keen to share his experience and tips. In this down-to-earth guide, Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening, he curates a collection of plant suggestions for spring and summer blooms, both annuals and biennials. This is a book about growing flowers, the common and the extraordinary, for the joy and beauty they provide. The clear and concise writing is illustrated with beautiful photography.
Based on decades of first-hand experience in his own garden and greenhouse, every variety or species presented is one that he has personally trialed and grown. A well-done introduction about starting seeds, soil, sowing, hardening off, transplanting and growing on is followed by profiles of growing 100+ different annuals from seed and bulbs.
Naturally, his list is based on his location in the northeastern U.S., but the selection is broad and accessible in most northern climates. He explains how to grow challenging annual poppies and biennials from seed, and how to force flowers for winter blooms. Flowers covered include heirloom and exhibition chrysanthemums, larkspurs, delphiniums, peonies, lilacs and wisteria. Bulbs include spring and summer bulbs such as anemone, ranunculus, tulips, lilies, gladiolus and dahlias. A section on forcing bulbs indoors covers narcissus, amaryllis and even lily-of- the-valley.
In his professional career, Mattus is a principal designer at toy and entertainment company Hasbro, Inc., but calls himself a plantsman on his gardening blog, Growing with Plants. His previous book was Mastering the Art of Vegetable Growing.
Order Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening
Published by Cool Spring Press; 240 Pages; C$39 list price; ISBN: 9780760366271
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Draw to win a copy of Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening
Two winners. Because this is a book by a U.S. author, and we have readers in both the U.S. and Canada, we arranged with the book’s publisher to provide two prizes – one copy of the book to an entry from Canada and one copy to an entry from the U.S. The draw closed August 31 and from 990 entries we made random selections of the winner. Congratulations to Sandra P. of Strathroy, Ontario, and to Katharine F. of Corvallis, Oregon, who are receiving copies of the books in the mail thanks to Cool Spring Press.
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