Enchanted Plants

Varla A. Ventura is the author of several books, including Enchanted Plants, Among the Mermaids, and The Book of the Bizarre. As a lover of all things strange, Varla’s interests extend into the weirdness and magic of the plant kingdom. With a deep fascination with folklore and medicinal plants, she has been studying herbalism and botany for more than thirty years. Her plant knowledge comes from a combination of experimentation, formal classes in botany, and working in the horticultural industry for fifteen years. She ran a retail nursery in Portland, Oregon, as well as in San Francisco, California, and operated her own landscaping business for more than ten years. She is also the botanical brain behind Rotten Botany, a website dedicated to unusual plants. When not writing, she can be found wandering around the Minnesota woods or tending her poison garden.

“Poetic and verdantly inspired, Enchanted Plants takes the reader on a lushly illustrated journey from cottage garden to marshland, including plants baneful and beneficial, all with their own magic. Guided by fairy folk and Ventura’s own botanical wisdom, this book is an enchanting walk on the path of green magic and folklore.”—Coby Michael, author of The Poison Path Herbal“This gorgeous tome combines the legends and lore with the botanicals that have become synonymous with the stories. You’ll never look at plant life the same way again.”—Jeff Belanger, host of the New England Legends podcast and author of The Fright Before Christmas