Life with Flowers: Inspiration and Lessons from the Garden

by Frances Palmer, Erin Benzakein (foreword)

Become a part of artist and master gardener Frances Palmer’s world as she shares everything she knows about growing and arranging flowers in this gorgeous book—"Flower lovers, prepare for peak inspiration" (Amy Merrick, author of On Flowers).

In this follow-up to Life in the Studio, potter, gardener, and photographer Frances Palmer celebrates her love of flowers. Frances approaches her garden planning in waves, ensuring there are always beautiful booms for her to photograph in her vases. In Life with Flowers, chapters for each these “waves" includes profiles on her favorite varieties--with flower-specific gardening how-to's and arranging techniques, as well as delicious flower-forward recipes and simple DIY projects. 

Part of the delight and richness of this book comes from the fact that Frances is at once a gardener and an We learn that she was inspired to grow bearded irises after an exhibition of Cedric Morris’s iris paintings at the Garden Museum in London; that when arranging her tulips she thinks of André Kertész's 1939 surreal photograph Melancholic Tulip; and that she never passes a tiger lily without imagining the chattering garden from Alice in Wonderland or smells her azalea bush without being transported to the English garden of Rebecca. 

To read Life with Flowers is to be invited into both the garden and the creative mind of an insatiably curious, highly skilled, and wildly generous talent.

Genres: Gardening

288 pages, Hardcover

Published May 13, 2025

Reviews

[Christina Zambon Aranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Frances Palmer outlines her gardening process, season to season. It is not a "how to" book but much more personal, her own process. If you're a fan of her work (as I am), you'll love this book. If you're trying to learn how to flower garden, there are probably better books out there for that. I really enjoyed the photos of her flower arrangements in the book, in her own vases that she makes. Overall, the book is very inspiring, as she is.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful gardening book on growing flowers.

[Sharron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous book to leave on your reading table for perusing on winter days. The photography is extraordinary.

[Jennybeast · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photos and flower arrangements are stunning, and I love that this book lets more imperfections through. Meditative, lovely, full of enthusiasm for plants and appreciation of forms. Love the list of nurseries in the back, and the gardens to visit. No regrets for spending more time with Frances and her garden.