Synopses & Reviews
Who cares what the neighbors think? Kiss My Aster is a hilarious, irreverent, interactive guide to designing an outdoor space that is exactly what you want. Combining entertaining illustrations with laugh-out-loud text, Amanda Thomsen lays out the many options for home landscaping and invites you to make the choices. Whether you want privacy hedges, elegant flower beds, a patio for partying, a food garden, a kids play space, a pond full of ducks, or all of the above, youll end up with a yard youll adore. Forget about doing it the "right" way: Do it your way!
Review
Amanda Thomsen's new book, Kiss My Aster: A Graphic Guide to Creating a Fantastic Yard Totally Tailored to You (Storey Publishing, January 2013) shakes up traditional garden book publishing. Steeped in rock and roll irreverence and sound horticultural knowledge, Amanda takes us on a journey that is practical, active, and full of energy. Niki Jabbour, author of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener
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Amanda Thomsen is a quirky, badass landscape genius!
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Amanda Thomsen is one of the most imaginative minds in the world of gardening today, and this book is an exquisite reflection of the wallpaper of that mind--quirky, intellectual, original, passionate. Looking at your yard and wondering where to start? Start right here. Andrew Keys, author of Why Grow That When You Can Grow This? and Garden Confidential at Fine Gardening
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Garden writing has been far too uptight for way too long. Which may explain why a lot of young homeowners steer themselves and their pricey iced coffees clear of the garden section on date night at Barnes & Noble.
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Finally, one of my favorite bloggers has put her talents to writing a landscaping book for abnormal people like me who don't want to be mistaken for the Joneses. With the help of a talking squirrel and pink unicorn, Amanda delivers snarky landscaping lessons covering everything from soil and hardscapes to avoiding restraining orders from neighbors. Chock full of advice I won't soon forget. Julia Moran Martz, SnarkyVegan
Review
Garden blogger and landscape designer Thomsen (Grocery Gardening)offers beginning gardening advice in a totally fresh way: This is a graphic guide aimed at newbie gardeners who may have cashed in their hipster chips for homeownership but haven't changed their style. The gardening basics - design, hardscape, soil, water, plant selection, care -- are covered with panache. Thomsen's voice has a sassy edge ("Getting bored with all this? Why not make a chore cootie catcher?", a real object for which there are instructions), and the full-color graphics by Am I Collective simply steal the show. The book is fittingly idiosyncratic, which will profoundly challenge any readers who prefer linear thinking, chapters that treat one subject at a time, and tables of contents that help a reader find something quickly. But the book is irresistibly flip-through and a thing of beauty that will help a new school of gardeners who don't want to do it granny's way. Simple but revolutionary, it's an amusing new way to offer Gardening 101.
Review
A garden book for the age of graphic novels, in which wiseacre wordplay and cartoony illustrations make basic knowledge about plants and garden planning accessible to all. Behind it all is a landscaper and blogger who truly knows her stuff. Free Press
Review
Entertaining and vibrant, Kiss My Aster goes beyond horticultural information and ideas and stirs creativity... By pairing the illustrations with handwritten-style fonts, a synergy in engendered that perfectly complements the witty text's blend of practical tips and encouragement. Publishers Weekly
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We all know trying to design your
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Zany at times, Kiss My Aster is founded on sensible advice delivered in a way that makes the reader laugh, or at least snicker, with every page tuning.
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Her iconoclastic, and drenchingly colorful, new book, "Kiss My Aster", is her manifesto, her plea and promise that gardening should be one grand adventure. And, yes, you can still wow the neighbors."
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We all know trying to design your
Review
We all know trying to design your
Review
We all know trying to design your
Review
We all know trying to design your
Synopsis
Who cares what the neighbors think? Kiss My Aster is a hilarious, irreverent, interactive guide to designing an outdoor space that captures your unique personality. Amanda Thomsen fills this quirky book with innovative ideas, encouraging you to forget the accepted rules and make your own landscaping choices. Whether you want privacy hedges, elegant flower beds, a patio for partying, a pond full of ducks, or all of the above, you ll end up with a yard you ll adore."
Synopsis
Landscaping Has Never Been This Fun
Synopsis
Landscaping Has Never Been This Fun
Synopsis
Landscaping Has Never Been This Fun
Synopsis
Landscaping Has Never Been This Fun
Synopsis
Landscaping Has Never Been This Fun
About the Author
Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Table of Contents
Getting to Know YOU
In the Beginning
So, Whatcha Want?
Who Are You, Anyway?
Landstalking™
So, You Think You Can Plant
I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me
Right into the Danger Zone
Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
These Dreams
Where's My Motivation?