Wildflowers: Seasonal Splendors of the North American West

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Wildflowers is a photographic essay of great charm and beauty that
features breathtaking shots of flowers and of the land that sustains
them.

Trained as a biologist, Graham Osborne is a professional photographer
who specializes in large-format landscape, wildlife, and outdoor
photography. In 1993 he published British Columbia: A Wild and Fragile
Beauty, and his images have appeared in many publications.

Stephen Hume is a poet and columnist for the Vancouver Sun. His lyrical
introduction compares the fragility of the wildflowers—many of them
currently endangered—with the fragility of our world and its peoples,
all “part of the complex interlocking of species that creates the full
community of life on this small planet.”

Like Hume, Osborne is a poet, both in the seeing eye and in the many
captions he contributes for his awesomely beautiful shots:
raspberry-colored foxgloves “make a forest of vivid exclamation
marks”; “ice plants huddle together in mats, an ingenious adaptation
to a harsh seaside environment”; brilliant red chuparosa and yellow
brittlebush “stain” the arid landscape.

Rarely have I seen better landscape photography featuring wildflowers.
This book uplifts the heart while rejoicing the eyes.