A voice from the Northwest joins Rant

Expect to read rants from Seattle-based Lorene Edwards Forkner starting next week.  A longtime  garden writer, Lorene was the first woman to edit Pacific Horticulture, a quarterly magazine focused on West Coast gardens. She also owned and operated a small specialty nursery at one time and gave design advice to gardeners looking to tame their plant collections.

Most recently, Lorene’s been regularly contributing stories to the GROW column in the Seattle Times.

We’ve been needing a regular contributor from the West Coast for a while now – the current Ranters hail from Northeastern, Midwestern and Southeastern states – and are so pleased that Lorene is able to join us. 

I first met Lorene in 2011 as one of the organizers of a fabulous garden bloggers get-together in Seattle. I wish I could say I remembered our conversations, but I don’t, though I know we must have chatted.

I do remember a beautiful afternoon at the Bloedel Reserve (above), a blackberry cocktail at a Dragonfly Farms & Nursery reception and I believe this was the year bloggers started making their own garden-themed fascinators (weird hats).

Since then, I have been aware of Lorene’s writing. Her latest book is Color In and Out of the Garden, which passes along easy watercolor painting techniques for would-be gardener/artists. My favorite of hers is Hortus Miscellaneous, which came out in 2011, because it’s a hodgepodge and I’ve always liked books you can page through and read bits and pieces at random. Doesn’t work with novels, but it’s how I prefer to read gardening books. Here’s a couple quotes from that book that I enjoyed:

“It has been said that a good martini should taste like rain.”
“Pogonip is a meteorological term that describes an uncommon occurrence–frozen fog.”

It also has a lot of DIY tidbits like how to make moss posts and rose vinegar.

Anyway, that’s how I met Lorene. Now you can. You’ll find her knowledgeable, opinionated and fun.

Look for her first post next Monday, 10/17.

Lorene’s photo by Mary Grace Long.