Congratulations to our winners! All have been notified by email:
Paul from Palm Springs, CA, whose favorite plant is Justicia california (chuperosa).
Shirley from San Antonio, TX, whose favorite plant is Texas mountain laurel.
Lise from Bonny Doon, CA, who loves hellebores and antique roses, and who dreams of tomatoes.
Candy from Roseville, CA, whose favorite plant is Echeveria ‘Afterglow’
Elizabeth from Aurora, CO, whose favorite is hummingbird mint (agastache).
P.S. Because so many of you mentioned succulents in your comments, I’ll be doing a similar giveaway when my next book comes out!
Many thanks to Sunset for the honor of giving away to YOU, dear GGW readers, FIVE copies of the 2012 edition of the New Sunset Western Garden Book.
Sunset‘s up-to-the-minute, 21st-century moxie doesn’t end with their appreciation of garden blogs, bloggers and blog readers. The venerable publishing company also exhibits it in a comprehensive, easier-than-ever-to-use edition of this, THE bible of gardening west of the Rockies.
The new edition has photos of plants, rather than illustrations. Not that the previous color drawings were bad, they were excellent. But kudos to Linda Peters, Sunset’s art director, for tracking down photos representative of every single genus—well over a thousand. I like to think there were huge sighs of relief at Sunset’s offices when I emailed Linda back saying yes, by golly, I DO have a photo of Beschorneria yuccoides in bloom. It appears on page 195, in all its pink-stemmed and floppy glory.
Amazingly, over 500 new species or cultivars were added. I don’t know how they did it, considering this edition weighs about the same as the last. Naturally at first I hoped all were succulents. They’re not, of course, but I do know that more succulents are represented than ever before. “How could there not be?” editor Kathy Brenzel asked me. “The plants have never been so popular.” Amen, sistah!
One way the editors might have gained a little space is by no longer listing common names in the encyclopedia. These once were included followed by the plant’s botanical name and its page number. After a frisson of dismay, during which I thought the book was seriously flawed, I located “century plant” in the General Index, with Agave americana and the page number right after it. So if you’re looking for a plant by its common name, start there first.
To enter to win a free copy, there are three things you must do:
ONE: Leave a comment below stating what your favorite plant is or why you’d love to have this book.
TWO: Provide your email address so I can immediately notify you that you’ve won. Prefer not to have your email address here for all the world to see? No problem. Cut-and-paste the comment as it appears below into an email and send it to me. My email address is on my website in the green bar. Your comment MUST appear here as well.
THREE: Let me know your first name and city or blogsite, so on April 14, I can announce you on this page as the winner—and also acknowledge your blog.
A few more details: The winners will be chosen randomly by a disinterested party at 12:01 a.m. PST on lucky Friday April 13, 2012 and contacted within 24 hours. Winners will be listed here, in red, as an addendum to this post. If a proposed winner forfeits or does not claim the prize by April 23rd, the prize will be re-awarded based on the sponsor’s sole discretion. All prizes will be awarded.
The number of eligible entries will determine the odds of winning. This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only, who are over the age of 18. No purchase necessary to win. This sweepstakes is void where prohibited by law (not exactly sure where this might be, but I’d hate to live there). By entering this giveaway, you are agreeing to these conditions.
Disclaimer: The book was provided for me to review.
Fine print: Some of the above about entry rules was borrowed–ok, plagiarized–from Rebecca Sweet’s post on the same topic, notably the part about hating to live where sweepstakes are void if prohibited by law (ha).
I won’t be responding to each of your comments as I normally do, but rest assured I’ll read all with keen interest. Good luck everyone!