In his new book, The Northwest Garden Manifesto, scientist and gardener John J. Albers teams up with photographer, David E. Perry to create a comprehensive and visually stunning guide to encourage and enable each of us to consider the local ecosystem in our own gardens, by following these key principes:
1. Protect, conserve and create healthy soil
2. Maintain healthy plants and create a sustainable landscape
3. Conserve water and other natural resources
4. Protect water and air quality
5. Protect and enhance wildlife habitat
6. Conserve energy
7. Use sustainable methods and materials.
John J. Albers is a research professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. He has published over 400 scientific articles. Dr. Albers is also an educator for the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association, an ecoPRO-certified sustainable landscape professional, and a former Washington State University/Kitsap County Master Gardener. He created Albers Vista Gardens in Kitsap County (www.albersvistagardens.org), which encompasses more than four acres and contains about 1200 different plant species and cultivars. He has regularly given tours and presentations at his garden. His presentations focus on sustainable landscape practices and growing exceptional plants for Northwest gardens. He has published the book Gardening for Sustainability: Albers Vista Gardens of Kitsap and more recently The Northwest Garden Manifesto: Create, Restore and Maintain a Sustainable Yard. Contact Dr. Albers directly at info@albersvistagardens.org or 124 NE 31st Street, Bremerton, WA 98310-2150.
David E. Perry is an inspirational photographer, a willing teacher and a captivating storyteller with a keen knack for observation and a distinct twinkle in his eye who brings the unique insights and skills garnered in his thirty plus years of worldwide, on-location photo assignments for major corporations, ad agencies, magazines and book publishers to each new project he encounters. As the inquisitive son of a zoologist, David grew up in the field with his dad, trapping and preserving specimens for museums, exploring literally dozens of bat caves and studying the complex interplay between life forms and their ecologies. He began documenting his impressions of the living world around him with cameras at a very early age. His reverence for gardens, flowers and the gardeners who tend them is apparent in the pictures he makes and his playful, sometimes irreverent manner of speaking about them keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. Onstage he is a spirited, dynamic speaker who makes his presentation topics memorable and relevant to audiences through the ample use of clever graphics, breathtaking imagery, playful humor, and by never, ever talking down to them. David has been photographing assignments for books, magazines, scores of Fortune 500 annual reports and national ad campaigns for more than three decades. His work has been featured on the cover of Fine Gardening magazine six times in the past few years, including two cover stories in a row during 2017. He also wrote and photographed their first ever feature on garden photography. His work also been featured many times in Sunset magazine and books, This Old House magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Flower magazine, Leaf magazine, Garden Design, Pacific Horticulture, Northwest Horticulture and Cut Flower Quarterly.
