About the Author

Valerie Easton is a weekly garden columnist for Pacific Northwest Magazine of The Seattle Times. She has contributed articles on gardens, homes, and the people who make them to a variety of magazines, including Metropolitan Home, Fine Gardening, and Gardens Illustrated. Valerie trained as a Master Gardener and was for eighteen years the horticultural librarian at the University of Washington in Seattle. She gardens, teaches yoga, and blogs (www.valeaston.com) in the village of Langley, on Whidbey Island, Washington, and her own garden has been published in The New York Times, This Old House, and Horticulture. Her Timber Press books include The New Low-Maintenance Garden and A Pattern Garden.

Reviews

I don't recommend many books, but this one I really like. More than a coffee-table picture book of gardens, it provides serious food for thought in landscape planning. ... Photographs in [it] are very attractive. Grand Rapids Press 20070311 A garden design book that may very well become a classic. -- Karen Preuss Northwest Garden News 20070401 Starts with the complex garden design concepts employed by professionals, and demystifies them for home gardeners. ... Easton's writing is thoughtful and inviting. -- Barbara Lloyd McMichael Kitsap Sun 20070429 I've never particularly thought about 'patterns' in garden design, but I've now been convinced that they are a fundamental part of the design process. ... This is a book that every designer should have as a reference - it's a wonderful and surprising new take on design concepts that will make every garden a splendid new experience. -- Jane Berger Garden Design Online 20070516 Provides thoughtful, engaging counsel for the novice gardener and inspiration for the experienced one. -- Deborah Hornblow Hartford Courant 20070412 With this lusciously photographed book ... [Easton] proves to have a keen design eye. Beautiful and worth reading. -- Jennifer Jewell Colorado Homes & Lifestyles 20070501 The dry days of June are good for redesigning the garden. For great ideas on the subject, pick up A Pattern Garden. -- Jim McCausland Sunset 20070601 Really makes you take a deeper look at your garden to determine what elements create an inviting, comfortable, and intimate environment. Bulletin of the California Horticultural Society 20070601 Ms. Easton has an accessible, down-to-earth style in the book. ... When she writes or talks about her own garden and others, one is led to believe that even the most rank beginner should just do it: go ahead and decide where that path should go, imagine where it will lead, and what might lie, like a surprise, or a sanctuary, at the end. -- Anne Raver New York Times 20070621 [Easton] has a clear, approachable writing style that gives even the most novice of gardeners the confidence to apply these patterns to their own gardens. -- Karen Preuss Pacific Horticulture 20070701 Offers an abundance of beautiful photographs and inspiring and well-organized design ideas, but also provides insight into why these things matter. ... Explores garden making as an enlivening process that draws on every aspect of human experience. -- Virginia Small American Gardener 20070701 Top of the list is Valerie Easton's A Pattern Garden which has all the earmarks of an award-winning classic. ... This is a book to spend time with, and it's one where the text is critically important - don't just look at the pictures. ... A must-read. -- Linda Brazill Capital Times (Madison) 20070728 A great gift for any gardener that wants to realize more of the potential of their garden site. I have already started looking at my garden with new 'pattern eyes' and will use the concepts to add that ephemeral enchantment. -- Cheval Force Opp Washington Gardener 20070901 Val Easton's warm and clear writing style is very familiar, but her subject matter in this book breaks new ground as she applies the architectural concepts of patterns, or putting 'human instincts into words,' to garden settings. -- Brian Thompson Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin 20071001 Easton identifies fourteen garden patterns with innate, universal appeal. She addresses how to use elements of design ... to create spaces that soothe, intrigue, or surprise us. ... Sumptuous accompanying photos will enchant you. -- Maia Eisen Tacoma East King Trailhead 20070101 Along with a wealth of design ideas, Easton gives us insight into why and how these design elements work on the psyche. -- Catriona Tudor Erler Smith Mountain Laker 20071101 Easton's design ideas are chosen for a timeless quality: an intimate bower of plants, dappled sunlight, reflection of water, the gentle give of moss underfoot. This is a unique book for contemplative garden design. Green Bay Press-Gazette 20080202 Offers wonderful insight for garden designers as well as those of us who find gardening a relaxing romp through the soil. ... There is a richness of content offering garden lovers a chance to dream, plan, and consider architectural elements as food for thought. -- Kathleen Peabody Grosse Pointe News 20080207 The book contains the most beautiful prose. It reads almost like poetry. The many photographs by three different artists are stunning, and include various gardens to give context to a chapter's discussion. -- Thomas Mickey Seacoast Home & Garden magazine 20080415