photo credit: The Toronto Star
THE UNTAMED GARDEN TO APPEAR IN PAPERBACK
A new version of my award-winning book The Untamed Garden: A Revealing Look At Our Love Affair With Plants is to be published by McClelland & Stewart in November, 2013.
The paperback edition will sport a brand new cover and cost about $20. I’ll post more details in the fall.
In the meantime, the beautiful hardcover edition of this sexy book is still available for $26.99 or less (U.S. $24.95). The cover depicts a famous painting of a Roman orgy with roses — and it’s concealed by a “plain brown wrapper”, a clever design idea which helped us win the biggie Gold award from the Garden Writers’ Association in Tucson last October.
Buy the book on line or in any bookstore.
Scroll down to learn about the lusty contents of The Untamed Garden.
Read more about our win at:
I DO AN AUDIO TOUR: Here I am having fun in a recording studio in June, as I help the Toronto Botanical Garden put together a wonderful new idea: an audio tour of their gardens.
Using one of these hand held devices you can now stroll around the gardens, while listening to me and people like Charlie Dobbin, Marjorie Harris and Denis Flanagan talk about all the plants, shrubs and flowers there are to see.
You can learn a lot in this self-guided tour, which takes in part of Edwards Gardens too. And on a nice day, it makes a lovely leisurely walk.The whole tour lasts 60-90 minutes, but can be shortened at any time simply by pressing a couple of buttons.
And believe me, the TBG gardens look spectacular at any time of year. Not enough people know about them. Tell friends about this tour. Take your visitors along.
The audio tours can be rented for $5 in the TBG shop, open daily from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. For more information go to: www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca
MORE FUN: I had a grand time recently at the Elora Writers’ Festival, where I read sexy excerpts from The Untamed Garden and showed off a luscious tomato (once known as Pomme d’Amour by the French) to a sold-out audience at the Elora Centre of the Arts. Five other Canadian writers spoke at the Festival and here we are, at the reception.
MEET ME IN QUEBEC’S EASTERN TOWNSHIPS SUNDAY, JULY 21
Fifty Shades of Green. Yes, folks, that’s the topic of my talk at Knowlton Literary Festival that weekend. So prepare to be titillated!
I’ll be reading from The Untamed Garden in a marquee set up in the Joie de Lavande (Joy of Lavender) garden, 50 Chemin du Mont Echo, Knowlton, My talk starts at 2.30 pm, but there’s a poetry reading beforehand by Steve Luxton and a picnic.
This festival features fun stuff about books and writers all weekend. It’s taking place in a truly beautiful area of Quebec, south of Montreal, where you can find lovely B & Bs and restaurants serving great French cuisine. So come and join us.
For more information about the Festival, contact: Philip Lanthier. philiplanthier@iteract.ca
The Lavender Garden: 450- 525-5438 joiedelavande.ca
WATCH ME reading some sexy stuff beside the tallest, most suggestive flower in the world. This flower, called 
the Amorphophallus Titanum, bloomed for the first time in Canada during May 2012 at Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse. And it caused a huge sensation. The botanical biggie also plays a starring role in my sexy new book, The Untamed Garden, A Revealing Look At Our Love Affair With Plants. So videographer Mark Disero and I hopped down to Niagara to witness its performance.
Sonia’s story about the Titan Arum appeared Friday April 27 in the Star. Here’s the link: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1168772–world-s-tallest-plant-ready-to-bloom-in-niagara-the-real-dirt
SPICY STUFF ABOUT PLANTS REVEALED
My seventh book, The Untamed Garden – A Revealing Look at Our Love Affair With Plants –contains delicious tidbits that may surprise you. I reveal some of its lusty secrets in this gorgeously illustrated little volume, which was deemed so original, informative and entertaining, it won the top Gold award from the Garden Writers’ Association in late 2012.
Why do people like it? Well — whoo hoo — you can read about:
- A luscious-looking rose whose name scandalized the Victorians.
- A suggestive plant that caused a Spanish queen to faint at court.
- The real forbidden fruit which caused the downfall of Adam and Eve.
- The amazing Coco De Mer, which resembles the pelvis of a naked woman.
- The reason why men fall in love with orchids.
- The night-blooming flower with a scent that turns men on.
- Love potions and lots more.
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
A remarkably sexy butternut squash (shown here) provided the inspiration. The “buttocks” of this squash had somehow managed to insinuate themselves into the backyard fence of a garden in downtown Toronto. After I wrote about her curves in my Toronto Star gardening column — and they ran the photo — it got me thinking: Why not a book about plants and sex? Could be fun. Thus The Untamed Garden was born.
What the book is — and where to buy it:
- Hard-cover, in full-colour, with easy-to-read. entertaining chapters that follow the “arc” of a love affair.
- Packed with remarkable illustrations and photographs. Some are contemporary, others are classic paintings by famous artists of bygone days, like Leonardo da Vinci.
- Buy (or order it ) at any bookstore. Or get it online from Indigo or Amazon. Click on Appearances for a list of where I’ll be autographing copies.
- Also published as an E-book. Go to Amazon or Indigo for instructions on how to download it.
INCREDIBLE EDIBLES GOES OVERSEAS
My colourful little book on growing food in the city (which won Silver at the Canadian Cookbook Awards in late 2011) is being translated into Turkish. The largest and oldest publisher in Turkey, called Inkilap, has bought rights to the book and will bring out a local edition in 2013. There are apparently legions of rooftop gardeners in Istanbul, the capital city, so here’s hoping for big sales!
