Lavender for All Seasons by Paola Legarre

Paola Legarre Is the author of a new and enchanting book by Timber Press called Lavender for 

All Seasons A Gardener’s Guide to Growing and Creating with Lavender Year-Round.

This book is not just «dedicated» to people interested in planting, cultivating tons of lavender, but to all the passionate ones, intrigued by the topic or with the desire of embellishing their homes, with some plants.

Everything started in the San Joaquin Valley, California,  when little Paola understood the power of plants, and their beauty thanks also to the ability of her ancestors and relatives in transmitting this passion.

The contact with nature became part of her. She writes in the foreword: «Experiences of scent, texture, light, and transformation hold on and have the power to lead one to a destiny one never would have imagined or predicted».

Fascinated by lavender, at first Paola planted just 40 plants: then she decided to move on, buying a farm in the high desert at an elevation of 4800 feet. She is cultivating now more than nineteen thousand plants and more than sixty-five cultivars. They have ten acres and six are covered just with lavender.  

They called the farm Sage Creations and this reality is now welcoming visitors. They also hold classes, create a lot of products with lavender. 

This book will help you to find the proper lavender plant based on your climate, but also for the purposes you intend to plant it. 

Then of course you'll understand how to harvest your lavender, discovering also how you can use it in your kitchen, or how you can prepare lavender-crafts or succulent recipes with chocolate and lavender! Honey sounds to be incredibly good and so tasty!

Kenneth Redding, the photographer of this book has done a beautiful work!

Highly recommended book to the appassionate of lavender and nature in general.

Anna Maria Polidori 

The Owl Handbook Investigating the Lives, Habits, and Importance of These Enigmatic Birds by John Shewey

The Owl Handbook

Investigating the Lives, Habits, and Importance of These Enigmatic Birds by John Shewey is a new, fascinating, captivating, beautiful book by Timber Press. Written by an enthusiast of the topic, this one is the pefect book, for you.

Owls: extraordinary intelligent creatures but.... partially misunderstood. 

Although beautiful animals, there are still problems because considered, wrongly, being nocturnal animals, the obscure part of that humanity, close to the darkest powers of this world. 

For a long long time, as you will read, owls have been discriminated, treated seriously bad just because they live and interact the most during the night, and maybe because they are curious animals. 

Yes, they are curious: 14 vertebrae in the neck, men just 7, they can rotate their head wherever they want to look at. They are brutal hunters, but their action in the environment is absolutely indispensible because they keep clean places by snakes, mouse and other sometimes disturbing animals.

In the book you will find wagons of beautiful pictures of these animals also thanks to the fact that in the USA and Canada there are many varieties, all differents, and each of them is unique in its own way. You will find great explanation of every owl in a special chapter dedicated to them. 

The author will explain you how to interact with them, trying to understand their behavior,  offering advice to the peoople interested to become friend with them, explaining also  to the reader how to help their preservation. 

A splendid  book for all the passionate of wild animals and nocturnal ones, serious, complete. It doesn't forget anything.

Personally, let me add this, I have had a little owl in our barn years ago. It has been a beautiful experience. They are friendly animals, close to the man more than what we can believe and truly truly affectionate if you treat them well. Gustavo became a photo-addicated!  Oh, of course I had called that little owl Gustavo

(but it could be a girl-owl of course!) and I have seen him again once adult several times.

Highly recommended book!

Anna Maria Polidori 

The California Garden Tour by Donald Olson

The California Garden Tour by Donald Olson will be published soon by Timber Press a specialized American publishing house about gardens, plants and flowers. This one is an interesting book about the most iconic, important gardens of this superb and diversified State of the West American Coast that it is: California. 

A dream for many thanks in general at the good weather,California offers spectacular views, thanks to the extension of this State, but also wonderful landscapes, beautiful corners.
We will also find different kind of weather and so diversified  plants, and flowers.

The book is divided in sections: Northern California, East Bay, Sonoma & Vicinity, Central and North Coast, Southern California starting with Los Angeles & Vicinity, Pasadena & Vicinity, South Coast, Santa Barbara & Vicinity, Palm Springs & Vicinity, San Diego & Vicinity.

In each section you will find the various private mansions, parks or universities gardens of the area where you live in or where maybe you are in vacation in at the moment and a visit in some of these places don't appear to be bad considering that it is summer-time.
From the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden with its carnivorous plants, to the Getty Center and Getty Villa in which they incorporated diversified genre of plants including beautiful superb succulents but also romantic flowers, passing through The Secret Garden of Monterey located in the heart of the old part of the city,  to the beautiful Californian vineyards seen in all their beauty thanks to the chapter dedicated at the Ferrary-Carano vineyards and winery,  Alcatraz won't disappoint you as well. You can't believe it, but they created a stunning and remarkable garden in the island and considering the weather, plants and flowers are pretty interesting.

I thank NetGalley and Timber Press for this ebook.

Anna Maria Polidori