Our book “What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?)” has just been reviewed by Dominique Browning at the New York Times, May 27, 2010. And it’s a really good review too.

Her topic for the reviews is “Gardening Books.” She reviews several good gardening books and our book is among them.

Here’s what she has to say: “Many gardeners find it hard to ask for help. The excellent (and sturdy) WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY PLANT? (And How Do I Fix It?) (Timber Press, paper, $24.95), by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, will be indispensable to them, and to the rest of us as well. The information is concise: “A borer’s hole and frass (poop) are obvious on this asparagus stem.” (Thank you very much.) The illustrations are clear, the remedies organic. I promise you, things will go wrong. Be prepared.” You can read the whole article  at this link

Our book has now been reviewed dozens of times, from the NY Times to the Washington Post and many more. All the reviews have been very positive and we are very grateful. Our book is now an award-winning best-seller. And that is very gratifying indeed.

Our blog post for today is a guest blog written by Olivia Dunn, Publicist at Timber Press.

Book publicity is a little bit like a junior high dance. If both the author and the publicist are ready to dance, it can be a ton of fun and really successful. If one party decides to stay on their side of the gym and leave everything up to the other person, it can be dull and lifeless. As a book publicist, I always hope for the former, and with the publicity campaign for What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How do I Fix It?) winding down, I thought it might be fun to explain what made the campaign so successful.

When I first met David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth of What’s Wrong With My Plant?, I was instantly struck by their willingness to do anything to help with the book’s publicity. Get up at 4 am Pacific time to do an East Coast radio interview on the phone? Check. Pack everything up and go on an 8 week West Coast bookstore tour? Check. Having authors willing participate in their book’s publicity is huge because no one knows the book better than they do.

After author participation, the second biggest piece needed for a successful publicity campaign may be the most obvious — it’s the media. Sometimes you have a book that clicks with the media and What’s Wrong With My Plant? was just such a book. If you haven’t seen the amazing praise for this book, check out the page on our site and read through it.

I could go on and talk about press releases and review copy mailings, media pitches and book tour organization, but that would probably get a little tedious. Let’s just say there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in order to create a successful publicity “dance.”

In the end, though, it really comes down to having a book you believe in. One you can stand behind, and one you know needs to be in everyone’s hands. That’s what made working on What’s Wrong With My Plant? so easy — it’s a book I felt was important, and I had fun making certain that everyone else felt that way, too.

In Arizona the desert wildflowers are particularly abundant this year because of the generous rainfall last winter. We’re driving through this enchanting landscape on our way to bookstore appearances at Changing Hands in Tempe and at the University of Arizona in Tucson, but we stop to watch a storm sweep across the desert along the way. When it rains in the dessert, aromas blossom, as though the arid ground was biding its time, eager to release it’s pent up beauty.

Spectacular blossoms of pink penstemon (Penstemon parryi) and yellow baileya (Baileya multiradiata) erupt among the yuccas and mesquites. The beautiful colors of the desert wildflowers amaze and strike us dumb. Their profusion and their diversity inspire us to take way too many pictures.

Whole hillsides are carpeted with the lovely little Mexican gold poppy (Eschscholzia mexicana) a close cousin of the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). Mexican gold poppy is often considered to be a subspecies of the California poppy. It is an altogether delightful little plant that blooms in extraordinary abundance once a decade or so.

When we arrive at our destination we soak up the warmth and the sunshine. How delightful to be here after winter in the chilly Pacific Northwest. Palm trees sway in the breeze and the mountains glow in the late afternoon sun.

We park in front of Changing Hands in Tempe and meet with the biggest crowd we’ve had on our whole book tour. Amazing. Several people bring in sick plants to be diagnosed and we all have a great time detecting plant solutions for an evening.

In Tucson we give a PowerPoint presentation at the University of Arizona Bookstore. One woman brings in photographs of a Dracaena in trouble. We use the book together to diagnose the problem. The leaves are turning brown and the plant sheds its oldest leaves. This is a natural process, as all leaves have a finite life span.

 It’s really wonderful to get to see how many people find that using the flow charts in our book is much like a game, or like being a detective. It allows people to be forensic scientists as they work through the decision tree to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. Who knew it would be so much fun?

 If you have a favorite spot we should not miss, please let us know. We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details (www.ddandkw.com/events)

We’re at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, California, giving a presentation to the “Compulsive Gardeners”, a wonderful group of knowledgeable and dedicated gardeners whose enthusiasm is boundless.

 It’s interesting to be back. I (David) used to work here, in the Research Division, just after finishing my PhD. It was my first professional position and I loved all the exotic plants from Mediterranean climates around the world. And, of course, the peacocks!

Back then there were a lot of peacocks on the Arboretum grounds, and they’re still here after all these years. The peacocks and peahens are wild animals that live at the Arboretum and forage through the neighborhood. They’re big birds and their raucous calls are very loud. It’s amazing to see them fly up into the trees to lounge about and rest. The flamboyant tail plumage of the male birds is so huge it seems impossible that they can fly. And yet they do!

The grounds surrounding my old Research Division sport a brand new Permaculture demonstration garden featuring berms and swales. Swales are ditches dug on the contour to capture rainwater. The soil removed from the swales is piled up in mounds (or berms) adjacent to the swales and planted with a variety of fruit trees (citrus, banana), vegetables, and herbs. All the plants get watered when the swales fill up with water every time it rains. A drip trickle system waters the garden in between rains.

The Arboretum grounds feature exotic ornamentals grouped by region of origin. Many plants of Madagascar are spiny, and some look a lot like the boojum from Baja. Like Baja, Madagascar has extensive desert regions with plants adapted to extremely arid environments.

Australia is another part of the world with an extensive Mediterranean climate. Plants from these climates (summer-dry, winter mild and moist) do well on the pacific coast of North America where we normally receive no rainfall during the summer months. The Pacific Northwest is too cold in winter for many tropicals but they flourish in California.

South Africa also has a Mediterranean climate and its flora features many beautiful flowers. Ever notice that the five major areas of Mediterranean climate are also the premium wine growing areas of the world? The med, of course, and California, but also Australia, South Africa, and Chile. Beautiful flowers and great wines. What could be better?

 If you have a favorite spot we should not miss, please let us know. We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details (www.ddandkw.com/events)

Santa Barbara, California – a gardener’s paradise. While it may have heavy, clay soil, and little water, it has perfect temperatures for growing plants from all the “Mediterranean” climates of the world. The flora of South Africa, the west coasts of North and South America, Australia, and, of course, the Med itself make appearances here.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden displays the amazing diversity of flora native to California. The collection reaches into every corner of the state. Grasses, cacti, succulents, wildflowers, trees, and shrubs make a home here. The staff welcomes us warmly when we arrive to teach a morning workshop. We set up in the library to deliver a PowerPoint presentation followed by a hands-on diagnostic session. Some students have brought sick plants from home (contained in plastic bags to help prevent accidental introduction of pests or diseases into the botanic garden collection), and together we use the flow charts in our book to diagnose a wide variety of plant problems.

At the Book Loft in Solvang we enjoy an afternoon in the sun, signing books and diagnosing plant problems for the bookstore’s customers and passersby who are visiting the Danish village in the foothill. At Chaucer’s, a busy bookstore in Santa Barbara, we meet some avid, well-informed gardeners. Their enthusiasm for What’s Wrong with My Plant? is truly encouraging.

We explore shady trails through a forest of tree ferns in Lotusland, a botanical treasure featuring plants from all over the world. Madame Ganna Walska created this private garden on the estate she owned from 1941 until her death in 1984.

Lotusland features an amazing array of plants adapted to very dry environments. A large collection of succulent species of Aloe is featured in the photo above. Some people mistakenly call these plants cactuses. But they’re not cacti at all. Formerly included in the lily family, the Liliaceae, the aloes are now sometimes placed in a family of their own, the Aloaceae, or Asphodelaceae. Many of these plants have thick succulent leaves with a tremendous capacity for water storage.

Cacti have fleshy, water storing stems, and do not have leaves. Many have pretty flowers in bright colors. Cacti are placed in their own family, the Cactaceae, and are only found in the Americas. Most species are true desert plants and highly specialized for extremely arid conditions. Some are epiphytes, however, that grow on rainforest trees in the same manner as orchids and bromeliads.

Plants from desert regions of Africa and Asia that resemble cacti are in the family Euphorbiaceae. Although these plants superficially resemble cacti, their flowers have a completely different structure than those of the cacti.

If you have a favorite spot we should not miss, please let us know. We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details. 

We leave Mendocino in the morning and arrive in the Bay area late in the day to continue our booktour to promote our book “What’s Wrong With My Plant (And How Do I Fix It)?”. We’re scheduled for a lot of bookstore appearances in the area and everywhere we go we see posters announcing our arrival.

Copperfield’s, in Sebastopol, rolls out the red carpet for us and a good group of people attend our presentation. Several people bring plants in trouble for us to discuss diagnosis and solutions.

Mrs. Dalloway’s, in Berkeley, also brings in a good group. One woman brings a chunk of the tree that fell on her house. It’s riddled by termites.

At Books Inc., in Palo Alto, we have a small but enthusiastic audience with lots of questions.

Book Passage, in Corte Madera, has a sohisticated set up where we show a PowerPoint Presentation. Then we answer questions and diagnose plants with problems for an hour or so.

 At Towne Center Books, in Pleasanton we again have a small but enthusiastic audience. Kathryn discusses problems on roses.

And David does a consultation out in the garden.

 And then we’re off to Santa Barbara. Whew! It really is a whirlwind!

If you have a favorite spot we should not miss, please let us know. We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details (www.ddandkw.com/events)

We’re at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show 2010 to present a PowerPoint show on diagnosing plant problems using examples from our book. And what a great show it is! The theme this year is Gardens for the Future.

One of the first things we see on entering the show is a giant cube made entirely of succulents. It seems to float on water. We walk around it and then see that it’s actually an outdoor room that we can get to by crossing the water on stepping stones. People are inside already, delighted with the novelty of a freestanding room. With exterior walls covered completely with plants, and surrounded by a water filled moat, this exhibit is intriguing!

As we look around we spot an amazing high tech construction using solar power, recirculating pumps, a tank full of fish, and a hydroponic vegetable garden! Talk about gardens for the future, these constructions are amazing. One uses a recycled satellite dish covered with vegetable plants. And there are two rotating cylinders about twenty feet tall each covered from top to bottom with vegetable plants. Very interesting!

As we walk further into the show we see a very strange exhibit with what looks like a roller coaster covered with grass. On closer inspection we realize it’s demonstrating the process of lifting up and removing a lawn and replacing it with other, more sustainable plants that use less water and don’t need to be mowed, sprayed, or coddled. This is a great example of Gardens for the Future.

 Outside the door of the room where we are to speak there is a wonderful exhibit of the Edible Schoolyards program. This is a great program that develops organic vegetable gardens on school grounds that are planted and managed by the children. Tons of food is being raised by these programs nationwide.

Our talk goes very well and afterwards we are happy to answer questions people have and to autograph our books for them.

As soon as we returned from our travels by plane to Philadelphia and Boise we drove to Oregon in our car and began the road trip portion of our book tour.

We stayed with friends in Portland and drove out to our bookstore events and then back to Portland each night. We appeared at Powell’s at Cedar Hills, Beaverton, Oregon, on Thursday, March 11. Next we went to Grassroots Books and Music, at The Art Center, Corvallis, Oregon, on Friday, March 12. And after that we went to Third Street Books, McMinnville, Oregon, on Saturday, March 13. Whew! That’s a lot of driving and it’s only the beginning. Next we go to Northern California.

We parked our car, with signs, in front of the bookstores as soon as we got there.

Every place we went we were greeted with the posters telling people where we’ve been and where we’re going next.

The bookstores displayed our book prominently in attractive displays.

And we spoke to the group, letting them know how the book evolved and how it’s structured. Then we held a mini plant clinic and used the book’s diagnostic flow charts to diagnose plant problems for people. When people bring plants to us for diagnosis at these bookstore events they have a lot of fun with the book. It’s a bit like being a forensic scientist on CSI. Like being a detective and that makes using the flow charts almost like a game. It’s fun. And that’s a good thing.

Kathryn speaking at the Idaho Horticultural Society Symposium in Boise.

Our whirlwind of activities landed us at the Philadelphia Flower Show and the Idaho Horticultural Society Symposium week before last. We presented slide shows and seminars at both events.

 When people describe the Philadelphia Flower Show as the biggest flower show in the country, they’re not kidding. It is a mob scene, crammed with exhibits, vendors, and visitors. Long lines form to enter each seminar and exhibition space. And the waits are all worth it. This year’s theme “Passport to the World” inspired exhibits that represented New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Holland, and India.

 I thought all the exhibits were extraordinary. A gigantic hot-air balloon made of flowers floated above a stage of musicians and scarcely clad Bollywood dancers. It reminded me of car shows I’ve attended in the past.

Tree ferns and palms rose above a lush understory of white lilies in New Zealand. A tropical display featured huge bromeliads. The South Africa exhibit was a favorite. Small grass huts fitted with tools, everyday items made entirely from plant material, and elaborate masks adorned the walkway through the middle of the exhibit. Protea flowers and grasses predominated. I found it creative and evocative.

The shipping containers painted with lively graffiti decorated with cut flowers and grasses were apparently provocative. The Philadelphia Enquirer condemned the display as glorifying graffiti. I did not find it so. I found it rather, to be about “plants in cracks”. Life blooms wherever it can. A subtle statement of hope. One of these shipping containers featured a study of extreme contrasts. The totally functional and ordinary container held an elegant and sophisticated table setting of fine china and crystal decorated with purple Vanda orchid flowers.

Although the show is several weeks in the past, the exhibitor’s creative endeavors stay with me. I’m grateful for my first opportunity to go to “the biggest show on earth.”

 The same week we went to Philadelphia, we also blew into Boise, Idaho, for two gracious days of sun and spring weather.

 The Idaho Horticultural Society does an amazing job with their spring symposium. Plant aficionados from all over Idaho gather to take classes to improve their growing techniques. They also gather to share their passion. Teaming with the Idaho Botanical Garden the Horticultural
Society is involved with many incredible projects, and they do a great job.

David speaking at the Idaho Horticultural Society Symposium in Boise.

The Society runs a series of contests as part of the symposium. Individuals, neighborhoods, and community gardens compete in categories such as “Best Community Project”, “Most Improved Front Yard”, “Best Dryland”, “Most Sustainable”, and others. The contest is only open to non-professionals and the contestants enter photographs.

 I looked over a display of the winner, and thought about what a great way to get more people involved in gardening, in beautification, in civic participation. I saw lots of thoughtful effort on display.

 We returned home after these events, briefly, to finish packing and then we took off on our driving tour of the West. We’re driving south through Oregon now, visiting bookstores and posting blogs along the way.

What people are saying about our book at about.com. Read the whole review. The Bottom Line What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?) is a book that every gardener, whether you’re a newbie or an old pro, should have on the shelf. It’s like having a Master Gardener at your beck and call, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, any season of the year.