Casa Dana Books, 2002 , ISBN-10:097133370X , 10 x 7 in / 250 x 180 mm , 136 pages , 16 full-color pages of photographs , includes index

The selected garden writings of Hortense Miller, the legendary green woman of Laguna Beach, are collected in a beautiful book which reflects the unique charm of this garden in the heart of Laguna. Included are essays on both Hortense Miller's life and her garden. One could have no interest in gardening and still find pleasure in this spontaneous writing, permeated as it is with the charm of a remarkable personality.
      Queen of the world-famous vertical garden planted on the steep eastern slope of Boat Canyon, Hortense Miller, now 93 years old, is one of the treasures of artistic Laguna Beach. Her garden notes, covering the years from 1978 to the present, are as distinctive for their historical allusions as for their scientific precision--one is as likely to learn something about Charlemagne and Cleopatra as about the unexpected gifts of a fire or the essences of vines and ravens. Hortense Miller invites us into her world of plants and animals with spontaneous revelations. Her style is simple, lucid, and elastic--very midwestern in its unpretentiousness--her erudition worn lightly. She is one with her subject, and the overall effect is the feeling of a fresh breeze and the smell of newly-turned earth. Accompanying the text is a biographical essay on Hortense and sixteen pages of beautiful color photographs by Steven Gunther, a landscape photographer well-known for his work in Sunset magazine.

The author's royalties will be donated to the Hortense Miller Garden Fund; the garden itself has been left to the city of Laguna Beach.