National gardener speaks

Did you know that spiders come in a saffron color? Or that Lambs Ears’ leaves make great pretend moustaches and fairy doll blankets? Or that sweet basil rubbed on hair and skin will help ward off bugs? Sharon Lovejoy does.

Early in her childhood, this nationally acclaimed writer and illustrator began observing every little details of the natural world in her Grandmother Lovejoy’s garden. For the first seven years of her life, Lovejoy spent her days learning from this remarkable botanist, naturalist and children’s educator.

Since then, she has spent a lifetime teaching others to observe the natural world.

Spokane gardeners and anyone who appreciates the beauty and intricacies of the natural world will have a rare treat tonight, when Lovejoy shares her experiences and the joys of really seeing what happens in a garden with members of The Inland Empire Gardeners at their monthly meeting.

She will discuss how gardeners can create a magical garden in whatever space they have using colors, patterns, water elements and pure whimsy, to create a garden that is as beautiful and artistic for people as it is attractive and functional to birds, animals and insects.

“My talk will incorporate things like hardscape, different furniture and different plants that bring art into the garden. It will also focus on the art of gardening which is making room for toads and bugs and all the good things that keep a garden healthy,” says Lovejoy. “I want to tell the story of a garden.”

Lovejoy has been “telling her story” in many different ways for more than 30 years. For nearly 15 years she was a docent naturalist for the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institute.

In 1982, she founded Heart’s Ease Herb Shop and Gardens in Cambria, Calif., where for another 15 years she shared her love and knowledge of nature with visitors. Her display gardens, home and business, first came to national attention on the cover of Country Living Magazine in August 1990.

Since that first magazine cover she has gone on to write hundreds of articles, made hundreds of presentations and television and radio programs and written seven books. She has received numerous awards including five from the Garden Writers Association.

Lovejoy is passionate about bringing children and gardens together.

“I learned from my experiences with my grandmother, that children have these incredible minds that take in knowledge and retain it.”

Her first book, “Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden” (Workman, 1991 with a reissue in 2001) helped inspire the use of gardens as a teaching tool for introducing nature to children. She still gets letters from people around the world who have used its concepts to draw children into nature.

In “Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together with Children” (Galison, 2003) Lovejoy gives educators and parents hundreds of ideas and ways to involve children in the world around them through gardens.

Her latest book, “The Little Green Island With a Little Red House: A Book of Colors and Critters” (Down East, 2005) is a wonderful poem about all the colorful little things Lovejoy and her husband Jeff find at their cottage on an island along the coast of Mane.

For grownups, Lovejoy has authored such gems as “Trowel and Error: Over 700 Shortcuts, Tips and Remedies” (Workman, 2003), and Country Living Gardener: A blessing of Toads – A Gardeners Guide to Living with Nature” (Hearst Books, 2004). In these, Lovejoy shares some of her experiences and observations about really seeing what happens in a garden and maintaining a healthy environment for all critters, plants and people.

While Lovejoy’s writing is wonderfully bright and inspiring, her illustrations are a big part of her experience.

Throughout her books and articles she illustrates her points with hundreds of colorful and often whimsical watercolor drawings that bring her bits of wisdom and experience alive.

Even adults will find themselves being drawn back to their childhood curiosity and desire to explore something new. It takes a special writer to be able to do that.