Local plant-lovers have gardening covered

Pat Munts’ earliest gardening memories involve her grandmother.

“I remember standing in my grandmother’s garden surrounded by tomato plants taller than me,” she said.

By age 6, she was happily digging in her own garden.

Similarly, Susan Mulvihill fondly remembers spending time in her grandmother’s garden. The love of growing things proved contagious. “At 16, I started growing my own vegetables.”

The two Master Gardeners and Spokesman-Review garden columnists have authored “Northwest Gardener’s Handbook.”

Released in January by Cool Springs Press, the book covers Washington and Oregon, southern British Columbia and northern California, and focuses on sustainable landscaping practices and the challenges facing gardeners in each region.

Munts had wanted to write a gardening book for many years, so when the offer came from an editor at Cool Springs Press, she jumped at the chance.

“I started writing in June 2013,” she said. “It was hard to give up gardening and real life outside to sit in front of the computer.”

But she persevered, working with an editor to select the 300 plants to be profiled in the book. Then, in September 2013, Munts was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer.

In the midst of surgeries and chemotherapy, she continued writing. In December she knew she couldn’t continue the project alone. “The one non-fuzzy thought in my chemo-brain was ‘I need help,’ ” she said.

Help was just a phone call away. Munts had met Mulvihill when they attended the Master Gardener program together in 2002. Their shared love of gardening and writing provided a bond.

“I called Susan and said I need someone to write the plant descriptions for the book,” Munts recalled.

Mulvihill quickly agreed. “How many plant profiles do you need?” she asked.

“Three hundred,” replied Munts.

By January 2014, Mulvihill was on board and working to gather the information needed to write about plants from Brass Buttons to Bottlebrush.

“It was my slow time of year – my off-writing season,” Mulvihill said.

So they forged on, with Munts writing the chapters and calendars and compiling charts, tables and graphs, and Mulvihill meticulously researching shrubs, trees, annuals and edibles.

They pooled their photos, often using pictures of their own gardens. These photos, in addition to the plant profile pictures, make “Northwest Gardener’s Handbook,” a delight for even the novice gardener to pore over.

The two Master Gardeners found working together came easily. “Pat and I have a very similar writing style, so it blended well and naturally,” Mulvihill said.

Munts said many Northwest garden books keep their focus west of the Cascades. Not so with this one.

“Out of the 300 plant profiles, 89 percent of them will grow in the Inland Northwest,” Munts said. “In addition, we talk about fire-resistant plants and how to landscape in a region prone to wildfire.”

“Inland Northwest gardeners have not been forgotten in this book,” she said.

Munts received a clean bill of health in September and is looking forward to promoting the book and, more importantly, digging in her beloved garden.

While the project proved daunting at times, Mulvihill smiled and said, “We’re both very proud of how it turned out.”