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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A green-fingered gardener, Amy Stewart has always delighted in the sight of freshly cut flowers, but she grew increasingly curious and uneasy about the journey those flowers take to reach her bouquet. In Gilding the Lily Stewart introduces us to the people, places and plants that make up this multi-million pound industry, from a lily grower in the American Northwest, to the rose fields of Ecuador and the tulip greenhouses in Holland. Gilding the Lily is a page-turning enquiry into the controversial practices that lie behind each bloom, including the treatment of the workers in the fields and greenhouses, the issue of patenting and the use of pesticides, and the financial forces that drive the quest for the "perfect" flower. It is also a wonderful story about the romance and the reality of growing and cultivating flowers.
About the Author
Amy Stewart is a garden columnist who lives in California, where she writes for Organic Gardening, the San Francisco Chronicle, and others.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
What's the first thing a person does when you hand them flowers? Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
What's the first thing a person does when you hand them flowers? Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book but I made the mistake of ordering Flower Confidential at the same time. The content is identical to Gilding the Lily so don't make the same error as I did.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Loved this book. Very informative about global flower production and as a florist I am interested and concerned about the effect of the cut flower industry. Very good explanation of the wholesale market in Holland and I was at Aalsmeer when I was reading the b ook, so very useful indeed.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
same book!
2 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback
This is not as much a review as a note. If you look inside this book, you will see that it was formerly published under a different title, Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful and as far as I can tell there is no stated difference. EXCEPT there are 29 reviews there and only a couple here.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Fence-sitting
16 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback
While this is indeed an inside view of the cut flower industry it lacks the conviction of a "Fast Food Nation" in terms of the Author's POV.
Yes:you are taken behind the scenes at various stages of the flower game from breeding to farming to selling floor,however none of it is compelling enough to give the whole a sense of purpose. If in fact there are hazardous working conditions and child labor is put to use to grow roses in Latin America and Africa for the EU/UK/US markets-little is made of this. The overall feeling is that "A rose is a rose..." no matter that some worker has suffered nerve damage or reproductive problems or been denied an education to grow and ship it.
If you want a lot of scientific facts about floral reproduction and genetic make-up;this is the book for you. If you want to know how Big Business is making a profit off cut flowers this is the book for you. If you want to know what it takes to become an educated consumer of sustainable cut flowers you'll have to look hard and read a long time before you even get close to finding out. Most telling is the Author's own admission to being surprised to see white,blond,blue-eyed greenhouse employees in Holland instead of the latin-american/hispanic variety she was used to seeing in California. The best testimony for growing one's own.
Yes:you are taken behind the scenes at various stages of the flower game from breeding to farming to selling floor,however none of it is compelling enough to give the whole a sense of purpose. If in fact there are hazardous working conditions and child labor is put to use to grow roses in Latin America and Africa for the EU/UK/US markets-little is made of this. The overall feeling is that "A rose is a rose..." no matter that some worker has suffered nerve damage or reproductive problems or been denied an education to grow and ship it.
If you want a lot of scientific facts about floral reproduction and genetic make-up;this is the book for you. If you want to know how Big Business is making a profit off cut flowers this is the book for you. If you want to know what it takes to become an educated consumer of sustainable cut flowers you'll have to look hard and read a long time before you even get close to finding out. Most telling is the Author's own admission to being surprised to see white,blond,blue-eyed greenhouse employees in Holland instead of the latin-american/hispanic variety she was used to seeing in California. The best testimony for growing one's own.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Delightful!
5 July 2011
Format:Paperback
I had just spent two weeks bicycling through the tulip season near Amsterdam when I discovered this at the airport bookshop. I rarely read nonfiction but I could not put the book down! It reads like a good novel. I especially enjoyed the stories about the flower farm in Bonny Doon, California, near my home, and the rural fields of Northern California I've driven through so often. I loved the part about the flower auction in Aalsmeer; I had just been there - I could picture it! Her writing style is informative but not dense, humorous but not smart-alecky, and the story unwinds with an elegant scope. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in what's behind the scenes of something we tend to take for granted. Fascinating!
Also, I am keenly aware of how important it is to be a responsible consumer. There is a deep connection between our economic and political lives. Here's a quote from The Better World Shopping Guide: "We vote every single day with the purest form of power - money. The average American family spends around $18,000 every year of goods and services. Think of it as casting 18,000 votes every year for the kind of world you want to live in." When I have a choice I always prefer to support organizations that don't pollute and exploit resources, destroy forests, abuse animals, that treat their workers fairly, and so on. Bad corporate behavior doesn't get my vote. The more I know about the source of the goods and services I buy, the better I am able to make choices that contribute to socially responsible business and thereby a better world community. In this way, learning more about the flower industry served my personal goal of being a discerning consumer. Thank you, Amy Stewart!
Also, I am keenly aware of how important it is to be a responsible consumer. There is a deep connection between our economic and political lives. Here's a quote from The Better World Shopping Guide: "We vote every single day with the purest form of power - money. The average American family spends around $18,000 every year of goods and services. Think of it as casting 18,000 votes every year for the kind of world you want to live in." When I have a choice I always prefer to support organizations that don't pollute and exploit resources, destroy forests, abuse animals, that treat their workers fairly, and so on. Bad corporate behavior doesn't get my vote. The more I know about the source of the goods and services I buy, the better I am able to make choices that contribute to socially responsible business and thereby a better world community. In this way, learning more about the flower industry served my personal goal of being a discerning consumer. Thank you, Amy Stewart!
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