Books: Martha Stewart Flowers / Window Boxes

As with everything Martha, I almost defy you to try and re-create what she's accomplished with flowers.  Among her favorites, outlined in Martha's Flowers: A Practical Guide to Growing, Gathering, and Enjoying (Clarkson Potter, 2018) are daffodils, peonies, roses of course, hydrangeas, lilies, black-eyed susans, and dahlias.  Just to mention a few.

In the introduction, Martha says that she is the "grower" and Kevin Sharkey, her friend and colleague, who first came to work at Martha Stewart Living magazine, is the flower "arranger." As Martha writes, "The bouquets and arrangements in this book resulted from our close planning and envisioning -- and luck -- in growing spectacular blooms that combine well with one another, or with foliage, to bedazzle a room or call one's eyes to attention."

And that's a very apt description of all the arrangments you'll see in this book:  yellow and bi-color yellow and purple tulips in a shallow copper baking pan; pale yellow narcissus in a vase with deep violet lilacs and trout lilies; gladioli in a ginger jar; tall glass trumpet vases filled with clematis; black-eyed susans and purple coneflowers occupying a ceramic mixing bowl.

This book will inspire you to let your imagination run wild as you bring in blooms from your garden to make arrangements of all kinds:  romantic, modern, old-fashioned, exuberant -- whatever mood happens to strike you.

Comprehensive tips on how to select and grow each plant are welcome additions, along with special sections on tools, flower supports, vases and vessels, and techniques to make those arrangements last.

This little book by Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit,  How to Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out (Clarkson Potter 2018), is a treasure about small-space plants to grow inside or out, with great, great appeal.  The combination of plants is stunning, and is certain to get you growing.  How about an indoor box of cacti and euphorbias in a sunny window, in a box filled with sand?  Or an "Icebox" arrangement with small evergreens, ivy, pansies and ornamental kale: it'll withstand temperatures well below zero. There are window boxes for almost any situation, and the gorgeous photos will guide you along your way to filling your window sills and outdoor patios and balconies with plants for every season.