Amy Stewart

New York Times bestselling author of Flower Confidential and Wicked Plants

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Biography

Amy Stewart tends a poison garden of her own in northern California. She is the award-winning author of four books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world.

Her essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Garden Design, Organic Gardening, and …

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Amy Stewart tends a poison garden of her own in northern California. She is the award-winning author of four books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world.

Her essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Garden Design, Organic Gardening, and elsewhere. She has been featured on NPR, Good Morning America, and CBS News Sunday Morning. Stewart lives in Eureka, California, with her husband Scott Brown. They own an antiquarian bookstore called Eureka Books and tend a flock of unruly hens in their backyard.

She is the author of From the Ground Up:The Story of a First Garden, The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms, and the New York Times bestselling Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers. Her newest book is Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities (Algonquin Books, May 2009).

Stewart’s recent honors and awards include a National Endowment for the Arts grant for Creative Writing in 2006, the California Horticultural Society’s Writer’s Award in 2005, the Barnes & Noble’s “Discover Great New Authors” program, and the Discovery Channel’s Book Club Selection.

Amy Stewart blogs with a group of opinionated gardeners at GardenRant and on her own at Dirt.

Check out Amy’s entire website at www.amystewart.com.

Photo by K.C. Kratt
 
Speaking Topics
  • Wicked Plants: The Deliciously Dark Side of the Plant Kingdom
    In her New York Times bestseller Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, Amy Stewart takes on Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, Stewart presents tales of bloodcurdling botany that will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature-lovers.

    Find out which plant killed Abraham Lincoln’s mother, which shrub ignited a global war, and what plant has killed 90 million people. From strychnine to castor bean, from poison sumac to monkshood, from carnivorous plants to weeds that spontaneously combust, Stewart introduces an unforgettable cast of characters and tells their tales with her own wicked sense of humor.

    This 45-minute talk is accompanied by dazzling photographs, historical images, copper engravings, and other visuals as illustrations. In addition, Amy will bring seeds and plant samples with her when possible so that the audience can meet some of these botanical villains in person.
  • The Global Garden: Connecting the World of Horticulture to Your Own Backyard
    Amy Stewart was a beginning gardener in Santa Cruz when she wrote the gardening memoir From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden. In the last decade, her curiosity about the natural world has taken her to earthworm scientists in the Midwest, flower-growers in Ecuador, plant-breeders in Holland, and poison gardens in England.

    Now the author of four award-winning books, Stewart always returns to her own garden, where she uses the lessons she’s learned around the world to plant a lively, colorful, and environmentally friendly sanctuary. Join her as she shares her unique stories about how science, natural history, and a community of plant-lovers have shaped her experience of gardening. As Stewart says, “Gardening is about so much more than what you do in your backyard on the weekend—it’s about creating habitat, creating community, and making the world a better place.”
  • Behind the Scenes and Around the World in the Global Flower Market
    Amy Stewart traveled around the world to learn more about the extraordinary business of flowers. At laboratories, greenhouses, airports, warehouses, and flower shops, she discovered a remarkable intersection of nature and technology, of sentiment and commerce. She told this story in her bestselling book, Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.

    What has been gained and what has been lost in the quest for the perfect flower? Does it matter if roses have lost their scent? How do we respond to a lily that has been bred for the convenience of the grower, rather than the desires of the customer? Are we better off with 209 varieties of daisies from which to choose? In a global marketplace, is there such a thing as a socially responsible flower?

    Join Stewart for an exploration of the individuals, the corporations, and the technology dedicated to the pursuit of the perfect flower. You’ll never look at a rose the same way again.
  • The Surprising Secret Lives of Earthworms
    Join Amy Stewart, author of The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms, for an entertaining and in-depth exploration of that tireless ploughman, the earthworm. She’ll discuss her book and demonstrate the fine qualities of the inveterate invertebrates that have captured her affections. But earthworms are just one part of soil ecology: Stewart also will bring incredibly detailed photographs, taken with a high-power microscope, of other soil-dwelling microbes that form complex and important relationships with earthworms. She’ll explain these interactions and their impact for gardeners and conservationists alike.

    You’ll get a chance to learn about some of the thousands of species of earthworms that have been identified around the world, including the giant worms of the Pacific Northwest. She’ll bring several species of earthworms with her and explain each species’ unique role in the soil. Stewart will trace the ancient history of earthworms, describe their travels around the globe, and share some of the many secrets of earthworms’ lives that Charles Darwin uncovered. She also will share photographs and anecdotes about some of the most remarkable worms ever discovered, including a giant Australian worm and an indigo blue worm from the Philippines.
  • Worm Composting and Healthy Soil Workshop
    Thousands of earthworms can live in a small worm bin and consume all your kitchen scraps, creating earthworm castings that are rich in soil microbes and that help produce healthy, disease-free plants. Worm composting also is a fun project for parents and kids to do together, allowing kids to learn first-hand about recycling and earth science.

    Join Amy Stewart to find out all about the care and feeding of earthworms, and learn more about the extraordinary role that these creatures play in the soil. This hands-on course in worm composting will give you all the necessary information to get you and your worms started. Even better, you’ll hear the latest, up-to-the-minute science on the specific benefits of worm castings for your soil, and find out how to increase and support the worm populations that already live in your garden.
  • A Chronicle of Gardening Adventures

    Amy Stewart’s garden journal was the inspiration for her popular gardening memoir, From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden. Now, when she writes about her garden, she publishes the results online through her blog, which lets her meet other gardeners around the world. In this talk, Stewart will discuss the challenges and rewards of keeping a seasonal garden journal. She’ll demonstrate techniques for keeping a journal online, on the computer, or in a simple sketchbook, and she’ll share her secrets for telling a great horticultural story.

You can find more speaking topics from Amy Stewart here.

Featured Book

Featured book's cover Wicked Plants

"[A] who's who of fearsome flora...Stewart is so good, as in her previous books, at cutting straight to the most interesting stuff, whether it's about Freud's cocaine use or the coyotillo berry, whose toxic agents can sit in your system for a week before total paralysis sets in."
—The Boston Globe

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