A Home in Bloom: Four Enchanted Seasons with Flowers

by Christie Purifoy

Through enchanting prose and delightful activities, avid writer, gardener and placemaker Christie Purifoy helps readers capture the curious magic of the garden and bring its life and joy into their homes.   A flower garden is a place where endless possibilities are contemplated (and celebrated), where reason bows to beauty, and practicality gives way to whimsy. It’s where we sink our roots deep, lean into the rhythms of each season, and wish for beautiful things to grow. This fully photographed guide shows you how to enjoy the many gifts the garden offers inside your own home, transforming your living spaces into places filled with warmth and wonder. Each season, Christie shares her notes on what to plant and walks you through easy projects that will surely become lifelong practices that help you bring the outdoors in. Learn how to grow your house into a home in bloom.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2023

About the author

My name is Christie Purifoy. I am a writer and gardener who loves to grow flowers and community.

I am the author of two memoirs, Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons (Revell 2016) and Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace (Zondervan 2019). Garden Maker: Growing A Life of Beauty and Wonder With Flowers releases in January 2022 from Harvest House Publishers.

A decade ago, I earned a PhD in English Literature from the University of Chicago, but eventually I traded the classroom for an old Pennsylvania farmhouse called Maplehurst. I still love to teach, but today I teach virtually and for small groups here at the Maplehurst Black Barn.

Each Wednesday, I join my long-time friend and fellow writer, Lisa-Jo Baker, for storytelling and conversation on a new episode of the Out of the Ordinary podcast. We believe that the very best stories grow out of the soil of ordinary life.

Lisa-Jo and I, along with a whole host of others, are turning social media’s usual ways upside down through quiet, weekly rhythms of listening, sharing, and celebrating in a virtual gathering place called the Black Barn Online. You are invited to join us in helping to build a place where art and faith cultivated in community can take root, flourish, and grow.

Reviews

[Teres · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What if our homes could be places that brought us back to life? For that is what sacred places do. They restore us and renew us and resurrect our spirits.”

A Home in Bloom by Christie Purifoy is a beautifully photographed guide on how to bring the beauty of nature into your home.

Whether a novice or accomplished gardener, you’ll discover practical advice, planting ideas, and inspiring projects, interspersed between Purifoy’s enchanting and lyrical storytelling.

This is no ordinary garden book. It’s just stunning in every way —photos, prose, and message.

[Amy Living Well Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Home in Bloom by Christie Purifoy 🌺

I read Purifoy’s memoirs Placemaker and Roots and Sky in the summer of 2019 and fell in love with her writing. Her prose reads like poetry. It is lyrical and lovely, yet also substantive and straightforward at the same time. Her newest book, A Home In Bloom—which releases today!—was an absolute delight to read. This book is a seasonal guide that gives practical suggestions on how to enjoy the many gifts the garden offers and how to bring those gifts into your indoor spaces. The timing for this book was absolutely perfect for me—over the last year, with a little more mental/emotional space for a variety of reasons, I’v been more intentional about bringing in flowers and cuttings from my yard into my home. I am very much a novice gardener, but I love flowers and creating beauty, and this book provides ideas for how to accomplish that. Even if you aren’t a gardener, the essays in this book are lovely, thoughtful considerations about nature and beauty. I read this book slowly—enjoying a chapter with each sitting and a cup of coffee, and it was such a delight. I particularly loved the introduction, “What Makes a House a Home,” and the chapter “Practice Resurrection,” a perfect read for Eastertide.

In her introduction, Purifoy writes, “What if our homes could be places that brought us back to life? For that is what sacred places do. They restore us and renew us and resurrect our spirits. They help us reconnect to our own souls, to other souls, and to the living ground beneath our feet. And they do this because, in some sense, they are themselves alive” (10). She goes on to quote architect Christopher Alexander and writes, “[Alexander] said even actions as small as planting a flower can be a form of worship and insisted that the presence of God ‘comes to life and shines forth when we treat the garden properly’” (14).

I want to quote so much of the entire introduction! She talks about Narnia and Hogwarts and the joy of an ordinary life with a bit of magic in it, and this book is an invitation to celebrate beauty and to tell a good story within our homes.

Please read this book and come back to talk with me about it on my IG post @livingwellread. 🥰

[Megan Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved spending time in this book, it was abundant with exquisite images and reflective writing. Makes me ache to create a home brimming with life and beauty.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful! It truly is a gorgeous book from cover to endpapers and photos. And the writing is lovely as well. Such an inspiring gardening book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most stunning book published by Christie Purifoy yet. It is captivating in both word and image, and casts a vision for home that is both beautiful and real. Christie offers projects and tips throughout the book to help you grow your own vision of beauty in the spaces you have been planted. Her words extend an invitation into the wonder of being human and growing delight for this garden we call home. Everything about this book is beautiful.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let the screen door slam behind you as you follow Christie Purifoy inside from the garden with a freshly picked bouquet of the season’s offering. And what her garden offers is an extravagance of stems, blooms, and greenery that grace her home with simple, eye catching arrangements all year round.

“A Home in Bloom” is a companion to Christie’s “Garden Maker.” It is one hundred percent authentic. The place is hers, the flowers are hers, the photography—stunning, especially in capturing light—is hers, and the stories woven throughout are hers, written in her warm and wise voice.

This is a cross between coffee table book and storybook, between memoir and how-to, between the tender and the tough of nature. Every detail is thoughtfully and beautifully presented.

I love the charm of Christie’s style. You will, too!

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie Purifoy has done it again! Whether you have read a book by this author before or this is your first, it most certainly won’t be your last!

A Home At Bloom: Four Enchanted Seasons with Flowers is a guide on how to enjoy the many gifts gardens offer in each season and how to bring those gifts indoors. Christie desires to show readers how easy it is to make our homes places that bring us back to life, as our homes are “gardens within a garden” and therefore alive. Through prose that reads like poetry, Christie’s mini essays walk you through the seasons in a lyrical, yet substantive and straightforward way that is inspirational whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned gardener.

[Brandee El-Attar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Home in Bloom is a true gem. Christie's deep devotion to placemaking and "creating home" spoke to my soul and made me feel seen in the most intimate kind of way. Bringing the outside in and reveling in the beauty and gratitude for nature's abundance across all the seasons of our calendar year and our lives, is both inspiring and vital. The photos from her home and garden were both gorgeous and galvanizing. Folded against her stories, keen poetic insights, and tips for tending our seeds and helping them bloom (in the garden and in life) made this book both practical and magical. As a guidebook to living and loving beautifully, A Home In Bloom doles out a seasonal dose of inspiration that transcends our earthly experience.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie Purifoy’s newest book, A Home in Bloom, is a beautiful invitation to celebrate home and the seasons through the enchantment of flowers. Part prose, part practical tips, this book showcases the author’s gifts of writing, gardening, and photography. She reminds us that a home in bloom “is not a static thing”, but a place of “ordinary, daily miracles….always growing and changing.” “If you long for beauty in a world that rarely has time for such nonsense, then consider this permission to pursue nonsense.” Highly recommend.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely beautiful, and timely, book that addresses the idea of gardens bringing joy into our homes and our lives on many different levels. Christie Purifoy writes insightful and lovely essays pivoting around the seasons of the year and gives readers space to contemplate the purpose nurturing a garden has in our lives. She also includes inspiration for projects and planting ideas. The photographs are gorgeous and this book follows Christie Purifoy’s wonderful Garden Maker: Growing a Life of Beauty and Wonder with Flowers, which was published last year. You don’t have to be a gardener to appreciate the messages and wisdom contained within the pages of this lovely and inspirational book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a beautiful escape into Christie's flower-filled world. It has thoughtful meditations on each season, plus practical tips for choosing flowers for your garden and using them to decorate your home. Inspirational whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned gardener like me. The photos are gorgeous all on their own, and I now have lots of ideas and new perspectives to take with me into the 2023 gardening season.

[Kaden Kozler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like in “Garden Maker,” Christie Purifoy delivers her stunning writing style and gorgeous photos that deliver a message as beautiful as the book. When you read this book, not only will you long to dive deep into the adventure of flower gardening, but you will also see the importance of the beauty, whimsy, and sunshine that flowers spread into every part of your everyday life.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What makes a house a home?” In this book, Christie Purifoy leads us through the seasons while looking at our homes and gardens in a way we do not usually look. With both poetic language and practical projects, we learn to nurture “the garden’s greatest gift: hope.” This is a wonderful book to give as a gift to yourself or someone else.

[Crystal Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Home in Bloom is another favorite. I’m not sure why I’m surprised as I devoured Christie’s prior book, Garden Maker. I especially enjoyed that she chooses to start the seasons with autumn. I also am partial to that period in the garden. She mingles in humor with great insight and encourages you to create sacred spaces inside and out.

[PVLD Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read and lovely pictures, garden and flowers are a nice relaxing read.

Reviewed by Denise, a 2023 Summer Read-A-Palooza patron
Find it at the library here.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book, in every way. Each turned page is a feast for the eyes visually and for the heart from the written word. I read this in February while the snow is literally falling outside. Beside me sits a catalog from a perennial plant company. I am longing for spring, but also inspired by Christie to rest and plan in this season of winter.

[Elena Limoges · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Christie Purifoy has crafted a lovely volume complete with stunning photos and essays. I love how she encourages readers to embrace each season as we tend our spaces. I will definitely return to this book!

[Desiree Jester · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Christie’s writing style and have gladly devoured every book she has written. This one has been a particular delight as it breaks down the various ways we can cultivate our homes and gardens by seasons in super lovely and approachable ways! I can’t wait to make my home bloom all year long 💗

[S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie Purifoy delivers another gorgeous book filled with generous beauty. A consummate storyteller, Christie weaves timeless truths into a homespun cloth fit to grace the grandest table or humblest corner- one that will allow your heart to bloom in the process.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie has combined her gorgeous garden with prose and it is lovely. Her photographs, tips, practical knowledge and essays are worth every minute of reading. Take a few minutes and read or take hours and get lost in this beautifully composed piece of art.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie Purifoy is a triple threat: wonderful gardener, beautiful writer, and keen photographer. This sequel to the inspiring Garden Maker is stunning in its beauty, thoughtful in its subject matter, and practical in its application.

[Jeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming and a bit random. I wasn't exactly sure what her thesis was with this book, it felt a bit scattered. Lovely pictures though and some great tips on things to plant in different seasons! A beautiful coffee table book to page through and get inspiration.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a delightful book! Christie makes me feel so much more confident about making a beautiful garden. Her real and refreshing voice clearly calls out the gardener in anyone who chooses to listen. I will be rereading this again, I’m sure!

[Cheryl Nyquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie writes a book that brings much harmony for your soul. It has caused me to believe in how I garden and that I can seek new ways and new flowers. Absolutely beautiful with her own photos.

[Joy Marker · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't need to be a gardener to fall in love with this book. Yet, after reading, you might find yourself inspired to plant a few plants.

[Windi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful prose and enchanting photographs. This book is truly a treasure!

[Tina Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book to simply page through with lovely pictures and both practical and thought provoking thoughts on gardening.

[Koren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a how-to book, it is more reflections about each season of gardening. A short book with lots of pictures of flower arrangements, you can read this in a few hours.

[Rachel Hafler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, enchanting images. Poignant and poetic words. I didn't exactly need to be convinced of the joy and value of flowers, but I am now even more so.

[B StLaurent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I read through it and I plan to read it again- by season.
Beautifully written. Soft. Reflective. Inspiring.