Pods: Wildflowers and Weeds in Their Final Beauty

Rating:
Summary: Pods: Alien beauty here on Earth!
Review: While many focus their dried efforts on garden flowers or attempt to hold back the ravages of time on "hot house beauties", author Jane Embertson and photographer Jay Conrader focus on the almost otherworldly beauty found in the dried pods of wildflowers and weeds. This book has a lot to offer, whether to gardeners, naturalists or dried arrangement artists. Photos of 143 plants from NC to NE US ("where frost and freeze are common") are presented in their green plant and dried seed pod versions. Info is provided on blooming season, leaves, flowers, and where to find each kind of plant. So, it's great for weed identification. The icing on the cake for each plant is a photo showing an example of how to use it in a dried arangement! So there are a wealth of great ideas to stimulate creativity. Who would have thought "poke berry skeletons" might be useful? With the info Jane provides you can craft with colors ranging from purple-pink to pale pea-green to a rich raspberry just from pokeweed pods. Actually, a whole arrangement could be made from "noxious" weeds. (There's a "value-added" idea for a small farmer with an excess of weeds in the pasture!)

This book is "to die for". IF you can track down a used copy of this book, it's worth every penny. Enjoy.