I absolutely adore herbs. Rosemary, thyme, and lavender are my favorites, but all the others are delectable as well. Emilie Tolley and Chris Mead are the best partnership in the gardening world. Emilie really knows the cultivation of these wonderful growing things, and I adore Chris for his breathtaking photography. Together they created a volume for herb gardeners that is instructive, inspiring, and incredible. A remarkable team, this talented duo illustrate how to create an herb garden that will add to your personal happiness. They introduce us to forty herbs that will saturate your senses but will not try your patience. Follow their lead and you may end up doing what I do, reaching into your rosemary or thyme and succumbing to the most exquisite natural smells in existence. Our gardening friends show us everything we need to do to prepare the soil, care for the herbs we select, design a simple or detailed herb landscape, and grow our herbs indoors. They know we need inspiration, so Emelie and Chris provide us with some of the most gorgeous herb gardens in the world. They take us to England's Cotswolds to a reigning authority, Rosemary Verey. Her gardens are profuse and lush. Mrs. Verey's home, like many gardeners is evolutionary; she has an abundant cottage garden, a kitchen garden, and an exquisite knot garden, always maximizing the use of herbs in her landscape. The path to the kitchen garden, or potager, is laden with stones that lies between two inviting rows of lavender. There is a large section devoted to herb gardeners around the world each with their own designs and interpretations of showing off herbs in all their romantic and aromatic splendor. There is more! Turning the pages, we find methods for drying and preserving, creating beautiful crafts such as wreaths,sachets, potpourri, topiary, miniatures, decorating for holidays, and, oh my goodness, the most tempting recipes! My, oh, my! I'm diving right back into my Herbs book!

This is the most inspiring and beautiful herb book I have ever read. This is the book that got me "into"herbs and the herbal lifestyle. It truly changed my life. The pictures are beautiful, and the content is intriguing. Beginning with basic information on growing 40 common herbs, it takes you through beautiful gardens in the U.S. and Europe, Shows gorgeous herbal crafts, and has great herbal recipes. Really a great introduction to the wonders of herbs, but the experienced herbalist would love it too. A definitive herb book!

If you are new to herbs, this is THE book to really turn you on to this vast subject.If you are experienced, the book is an invaluable resource. If you just like great books with incredible photography, you will be proud to diplay this book on your coffee table. Buy it and enjoy!

This book was excerpted as a cover story in Sports Illustrated in 1986. I bought it then, loved it, and loaned my copy to somebody who never returned it. I recently bought this paperback edition and reread it. The book is every bit as terrific as I remembered. Chris Mead has done an astonishing job of reconstructing history and of reminding Americans just how different the world was in the 1930s and 1940s. This is a work of discernment and sensitivity -- but it's also an exciting page turner, even if you know how the story comes out. Buy it, read it, loan it to your friends -- but be sure they give it back!

Boxing fans everywhere must take a glimps at this book. You won't believe the struggle Joe endured to get where he wanted to be. An unbelievable book! You won't be sorry!

Another of Tolley and Mead's Herbal Masterpieces! I loved it. As always, their pictures are beautiful and inspiring, and the text is clear and well written. Wonderful herbal recipes for jellies, vinegars, oils, preserves, and much more. If you enjoy herbs, this book is a must!

This book contains some of the most creative and special ideas for honeys, jellies, herbs, butters, pastries, olives... the list goes on and on.It uses incredible ingredients such as lemon scented geranium and rose petals and the photographs make you feel like you want to make every last thing in the book.I borrowed the book from my mother for so long that i finally HAD to get my own copy!!!

This is a truly visually beautiful book. Reading this book made me wish that I could live such an "herbal" lifestyle. There are not a lot of "recipes", or step-by-step guides for making herbal gifts, just beautiful pictures and good general information. This book really inspired me to try to make the many beautiful handmade gifts from the herb garden. I loved it.

Tolley and Mead have done it again. With stunningly beautiful photos and to-the-point text, the wonderful world of herbs is explored in a new way. Many people don't fully appreciate the value of herbal flowers, but Tolley and Mead show that they can indeed stand on their own. They explore picking, conditioning, drying, growing, and arranging, as well as some unique craft ideas. For anyone into herbs, this is a must read. Another herbal masterpiece.

If you love herbs, if you love cottage gardens, or country gardens, or flower gardens, then you will love Gardening with Herbs. While many garden books have great photos or good content (but rarely, it seems, both), Gardening with Herbs has married the two beautifully. A pleasant read, garden descriptions often include quotes from the gardeners themselves and usually at least a partial list of plants used. From a perennial garden in California to a lavender field turned topiary garden in the countryside of France there are ideas and incredible inspirations for any garden style.

I was lucky enough to find this in our public library and checked it out several times before purchasing my own. In my experience, garden books filled with photos that initially take my breath away end up driving home the point that 1) I am not a professional landscaper; 2) I am not a millionaire with a Mediterranean garden estate and 3) Once again I have purchased a book whose ideas do not scale to my home, gardening expertise, or available time. This book did none of that. Naturally much of the landscaping is shown on a grander scale than what I could undertake, but so much of it could translate to a smaller city garden. It is easy to splice together your own garden design ideas from the hundreds of color photos- most of which go heavy on the durable, low maintenance plants (providing you don't become obsessed with the topiary possibilities...something the authors are pretty gifted with.) All in all, an inspirational book filled with possibilities.

Another absolutely gorgeous herb book by Tolley and Mead! This book contains gardens of your dreams and also lots of neat ideas for garden structures, pathways, and ornaments. Many inspiring ideas and actual herb garden plans. It's like taking a tour through the most beautiful herb gardens in Europe and the U.S. If only mine looked half this good. This book gives me the inspiration to keep trying.

While I purchased this book thinking it would help me learn about planting tulip bulbs, I didn't find any planting information. What I did find was still equally enjoyable. I learned that my favorite flower once grew wild in central Asia. I also found a creative idea for a "Tulip Ice Bowl." There is a short history of tulips and Chris Mead's photography captures the free, optomistic and swaying in the breeze life of the tulip.

If you are looking for a house warming gift, this would be so well received with a bunch of fresh tulips. When I look at this book, it reminds me of visiting LaConner, Washington for the Tulip Festival.

If you are a lover of tulips, you should buy this book even though it may be a bit expensive. There are lots of beautiful pictures showing different species of tulips. When you see those pictures, you will want to have all of them. This book also told you the history of tulips. From it, I learnt that tulip was so attractive and popular in Europe since the sixteen century. Even a miller was willing to sell his mill for one rare bulb of tulip. How crazy he loved tulip! This book taught you how to plant tulips. I have planted one before. It's wonderful to see my own tulip growing and growing. If you want to have such unforgetable experience, this book really helps you. I didn't think that tulip bulbs can be added an interesting crunch to salads, cakes etc. Their colour enhances any dish. There were two recipes teaching you how to make use of tulips with your food. It's fantastic and amazing. It's better to buy this book if you want to know more about tulips.

If you love Pansies you will LOVE this book. The illustrations in this book are beautiful. I received this book as a gift and have referred to it many times. There are all types of illustrations, crafts and recipes that you can use involving the use of Pansies. I have also given this book to many and it always receives rave reviews. This is a marvelous coffee table book. It is just fun to look at, yet at the same time offers useful information.

i ordered this book to give me some ideas and decorating tips, what i got are pictures of old flea market items, that have nothing to do with each other. didn't help a bit, and truthfully if it didn't cost so much to return, i'd return it in a second.

I am a fan of Chris Mead, and he didn't let me down with thisbook. I love the way many of the homes are decorated in this book. Ilove white walls, and I am thrilled to see so many of them in this book. For all those decorator's that say "Give your home warmth with wall color, " here is my rebuttal. I LOVE the peacefulness of white walls and this book inadvertantly demonstrates just how wonderful all the flea market finds look against a white backdrop. The styles provided in this book are varied and clearly loved by the home owners. A wide range of economic approaches are demonstrated in this spectrum of flea market finds. A fun, informative book with wonderful pictures to garner ideas.

This is a delightful book, but I also recommend a new book that's just out. It's Flea Market Decorating, which is full of fresh new ideas, especially about recasting old objects in new ways. For me, it captures the fun of going to flea markets and using those little treasures to personalize my home.

Cooking with Herbs was great to look through but one important ingredient was left out. The great Northwest. It had Europe, Northeast, California and so on but no Northwest. For shame. I haven't read all of it as yet and I'm not sure I will, but it wasn't the type of cookbook that I was looking for. Too much text and not enough recipes. Am I wrong but are there herb recipes for ordinary food? I love shopping on line and Amazon is great but if I could have seen this book before buying I probably wouldn't have bought it. But there were great pictures.

Compared to Tolley and Mead's other excellent herb books, this one was a trifle dissapointing. Althought the photographs were stunningly beautiful and the text was good, the recipes themselves were pretentious and impractical for the home cook who is busy tending their herb garden! I do not have the time or the means to be a gourmet cook, althought I do enjoy using herbs in my quick everyday meals. I wish the book would have given more practical recipes, although I did enjoy reading it and looking at the lovely photopraphs.

Cooking with herbs is one of my favorite books for inspiration when my meals become boring.It is the kind of cookbook that you sit and read from cover to cover and the recipes that I have tried work. More than that it gives me the courage to be adventurous.