Garden Maker by Christie Purifoy

Garden Maker by Christie Purifoy 

This book came out in January of 2022, and the subtitle is Growing a Life of Beauty and Wonder with Flowers.

This is Christie's third book, and her books are about beauty and placemaking, sustainability, and love.

Her first book is Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons. It is about purchasing her beautiful property, Maplehearst, in Pennsylvania.

Her second book, Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace, was released in 2019. It is about creating a garden home for yourself.

I view her latest book, Garden Maker, as part of this garden trilogy.

In this spiritual and inspirational book, Christie teaches us how to grow a beautiful garden and create our own little slice of heaven on earth.

Now, in addition to teaching you how to make a garden, Christie is a cut flower expert and a master at creating beautiful bouquets and other arrangements.

Christie teaches you some of her tried and true techniques and her easiest bouquet recipes in this book.

In addition to sharing her list of favorite shrubs—she calls these superhero shrubs—she also shares her favorite flowers—she calls these flowers of importance. Last but not least, she shares her favorite self-sowers in a section she calls self-sowing salvation.  

Now, Christie is a lyrical writer. Her tone is super friendly and personable. When I read one of her books, I always feel like I'm reading something a garden friend wrote.

But best of all, and I think more important than any of her credentials, is her passion for plants and the garden, which comes through loud and clear in every word she writes in this book.

I wanted to end this review today with a little excerpt from what Christie wrote in the introduction to Garden Maker.

She writes,

I grow flowers because cannot help myself. 

I grow flowers as if some magician at the center of the universe has cast his spell on me, and I will never want my old unenchanted life back again.

In my flower garden, I am the weaver of stories. In my flower garden, am the composer of seasonal songs. Or maybe I am more conductor than composer. 

This garden of mine is certainly singing a song, but the song delights me, moves me, and surprises me.

I cannot recommend flower gardening for the sober-minded. 

I cannot recommend it for those afraid of mysterious rabbit holes, who prefer to keep their two feet fixed firmly to a clean and solid, and entirely predictable floor. 

I cannot, in good conscience, recommend intoxicating moonflowers or romantic roses
to anyone who values utility and efficiency and productivity above all. 

But for those who read fairy tales or cry at arias, for those who suspect that
heaven lies just behind the veil of this everyday world, well, to those I say:

Welcome to the garden. 

Welcome to this holy work. 

I understand if you are afraid. 

The thorns are knife-sharp, and the weeds are always waging their quiet wars. 

But here is the promise that has been made to each one of us: 

"Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy" (Psalm 126:5). 

Every garden is singing a song for the One who made us, and we are invited to sing along.

Beautiful verse.

And by the way, can you tell that Christie has a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Chicago?

Yes, you can. She's a beautiful writer.

This book is 208 pages of a love letter to flowers, plants, gardens, and garden making.

You can get a copy of Garden Maker by Christie Purifoy and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $16.