About the Author

Ellen Spector Platt—a psychologist with many years in teaching, research, public mental health work, and private practice—switched careers eighteen years ago. She became a flower and herb farmer in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, growing hundreds of varieties of flowers and herbs, primarily for drying and use in decorative designs. She sold her products at retail and began writing and teaching classes in growing, drying, and decorating with flowers. She currently gardens on an eighteenth-floor roof in New York City and in New Hampshire and Massachusetts with her children and grandchildren.

She is a part time instructor at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and lectures around the country at herb and horticultural societies, lavender festivals, garden clubs, and arboreta. In 1998, she was designated one of ten “Great American Gardeners” by the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival at Walt Disney World.

She has written nine books and edited two magazines, and her designs have been featured on the covers of many national magazines. Contact her through her website, www.ellenspectorplatt.com.

Ellen is shown here in the roof garden she tends for her building. B. B. PLATT