Volume 4, Issue 9
Sarah Horowitz Wildflowers exhibit opens

The Miller Library welcomes a new exhibit featuring handcolored original etchings and watercolors by Sarah Horowitz. She recently collaborated with essayist Tim McNulty as well as local papermaking and binding artisans on a limited-edition book on the wildflowers of Chelan County. Horowitz drew, etched, printed, and hand-colored each of the twenty-­three plates for this 40-book edition at her studio in Peshastin, Washington. 

This exhibit features a selection of 12 original works and opens September 7, continuing into October. Join us for an evening reception Thursday, October 12, from 5 to 7 pm, when the artist will be on hand to discuss her work.

Ask a librarian: If Northwest native plants are adapted to our dry summers, why do new plantings need summer water?

Q: I am setting up a native plant garden in Seattle this fall. Since the plants I'm choosing are adapted to our dry summers, is it OK for my landscape to go without supplemental water next summer?

A: Expect that your new garden will still need some supplemental water next July and August. People often ask why it is necessary to water plants that can grow with just rainfall in the wild. Depending on the situation, though, it can be essential for several reasons. Our city gardens often have hot areas of paving nearby, and soil that's compacted, sandy or poor compared to forest or meadow soils. Wild plants spring up from seed or spread underground to where they can find water and other necessary conditions for their species, while the roots of transplants must suddenly support a whole plant in a new environment that is likely quite different than the native plant nursery where they were grown, and may also differ from the conditions for which they are ideally adapted. Climate change is a factor, too.

 Welcoming Anna Pavord 

In honor of Anna Pavord's visit for the 23rd Annual Elisabeth C. Miller Memorial Lecture, the library is now featuring a display of her books. In addition to Landskipping (the subject of her talk), this prolific author has written several others on a wide range of topics. In The Tulip, she explores the history of that bulb with as much zest and clear-eyed insight as she tackles the practical challenges and joys of vegetable gardening in Growing Food. The depth of her knowledge and passion for plants is evident and impressive in The Naming of Names, a history of botanical thought and science going back to ancient times.

We hope you will visit the library to borrow items directly from the display after hearing Anna Pavord speak. Registered borrowers can also use our online catalog to place holds.

New to the Library