![\"\"](\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flowering-Shrubs-of-California-cover-356x528.jpg\")
The author said it the best.\u00a0 \u201cThis is not \u2018another garden book.\u2019\u00a0 Nor is it a handbook of California wild flowers.\u00a0 What I have tried to do is to convey to those who garden, as well as those who don\u2019t, something of the loveliness and the garden possibilities of certain less familiar hardy native plants of California.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowntree was born in England, but moved with her family as a child to the United States.\u00a0 She had a marriage and child, and a not very successful native seed business, but ultimately settled in Carmel, California, on her own at age 52.\u00a0 For the next 20 years, she would spend most of the year traveling throughout the state, timing her visits for the best blooms and weather prospects.\u00a0 Her car had all seats removed except for the driver\u2019s, to allow room for sleeping and all of her gear.\u00a0 At higher elevations, she traveled by burro.\u00a0 She would spend weeks at a time in one location to acquire a more thorough understanding of each plant she studied.<\/p>\n
In addition to her native plant books, Rountree wrote four children\u2019s books, and had over 700 articles published, some on topics such as her peripatetic life style.\u00a0 Her story is well-described in, \u201cAbout Lester,\u201d a chapter added to the 2006 edition of \u201cHardy Californias<\/a>\u201d and written by two of her grandsons.\u00a0 As she lived a few days past her 100th<\/sup> birthday, she was a considerable inspiration to all her descendants, and was described by her grandsons as \u201cgood company until the end, with a deep interest in current events, a keen wit, and quick laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on December 2, 2024<\/p>\n Excerpted from the Winter 2025 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most books on native plants are in the style of a field guide.\u00a0 These are very practical with entries for each plant in similar formats.\u00a0 While useful in the field, they are not especially enjoyable for reading cover-to-cover. Lester Rowntree\u2019s (1879-1979) two books on California native plants from the 1930s are very different \u2013 they are fun to read!\u00a0 The author had a lively and dry sense of humor, and is excellent at pointing out at the distinctive features of…<\/p>\n