How Flowers Shape Our World
Flora Culture combines stories about art, ecology, history, and economics in a manifesto by flower farmer and “thinker,” Christin Geall.
In the very beginning of the book, on page 7, Geall proclaims, “We are dependent upon flowers. Flowers are paramount to the survival of all species, including our own.” That’s a big statement. In 80-plus entries, she lays out the good, as well as the uncomfortable, aspects of this idea. The format is an “abecedarium” (new term for me!), meaning an alphabetical arrangement of ideas. I was intrigued and brought up short by some of the powerful ideas in this book of essays.
Have you heard of “Chromophobia?” I had not. It means a fear of certain colors, such as xanthophobia (fear of yellow), erythrophobia (fear of red), and porphyrophobia (fear of purple). Phobias—for example, fear of heights, enclosed spaces, or leaving the house—can trigger severe panic attacks. It surprised me that color could provoke such reactions. Geall introduces history by quoting Goethe’s Theory of Colors (1810): “savage nations, uneducated people and children have a great predilection for vivid colors.” My key takeaway: Phobias can be specific and surprising, and perceptions of color have long held cultural meaning, though the language we use to describe them changes over time.
I loved the piece on Modernism and Avant-Garde Gardening, by Roberto Burle Marx, and this quote: “A garden should be cohesive and self-contained, if it cannot include the landscape, it had better reflect the environment in which it is born.” Amen to that. I’ve been a fan-girl of his garden designs forever, and have tried to design gardens using his organic shapes and “flowing” spaces. I believe he was doing this before Mein Rhys or Piet Oudolf. I copied down this quote: “From Nature we can accept with humility, its laws and suggestions, always acknowledging it to be the greatest artist of all, with more to teach than one can learn.”
Reader, I hope you are familiar with the term “regenerative.” It is one of the most promising practices in agriculture today, as Geall writes: Regenerative agriculture weaves together ecological and sometimes spiritual ideas that put soil first. I first encountered this farming practice at the Rodale Institute and Farm in Pennsylvania about 20 years ago (with a group of Garden Writers). More recently, on a visit to a regenerative farm operation in the famous Palouse region of eastern Washington. In just two farming years, the property we visited had already shown a positive return on the investment. Before, the inputs (fertilizer and, in particular, fuels) were creating a deficit for farmers, and, besides paying to farm, the soil was being ruined. Now, with regenerative farming, families are actually making a living farming their land. Not a killing, but a living.
This book – this collection of sharp essays – covers so many aspects of flora culture and farming, it is almost overwhelming. Bioprospecting vs plant hunters. Cold chains and auctions. Hegemony and hothouses. Speciation and xeric. It’s worth the read, and merits our contemplation and consideration.
Flora Culture by Christin Geall
Publisher: Rizzoli
Publication Date: April 7, 2026
304 pages
ISBN: 978-0847876136
