It’s a piece that took eight years to write and compile, said its creator Lucille Martin of Piney Creek Greenhouses in Martinsburg. The book takes readers through an entire year of flower gardening and isn’t “just about cut flowers,” she said.

“Eight years ago, I was looking for gardening magazines and I was a little frustrated,” Martin said. “I wanted the creative end of gardening.”

After spending some time looking, Martin decided to make one herself.

“It was a long, thought out process,” Martin said. “There’s a lot of inspiration and creativity in my book.”

Courtesy photo

Martin’s family at Piney Creek Greenhouses has been in the flower gardening business for about 30 years and the cut flower and floral business for about eight, she said.

They supply weddings and markets, including the Ligonier Country Market every weekend beginning in May, where they take four or five 80- to 95-pound buckets of flowers and sell out within hours.

“We make custom bouquets, which are a big hit,” Martin said. “It’s the experience more than anything.”

The book talks about planting, growing and harvesting times; weed control; flower care; arrangement design; irrigation; propagation; gardening tools; vases and containers, as well as “poetry for spice.”

Martin said the book is 438 pages long so it’s “pretty extensive.”

Courtesy photo

For the project, Martin worked with nine photographers, including Julie Rosillo, who is based in Altoona.

Rosillo said she’s been going to Piney Creek for years “because it’s so beautiful there.”

“I approached (Martin) and said I was a photographer and if she ever needed help, to let me know,” Rosillo said. “She jumped at the chance.”

Rosillo took photos of Martin’s floral arrangements, which Martin loved.

“She said, ‘You’re hired! I want you to help me with my book,'” Rosillo said. “I went every other week and would help her with whatever she was working on that day.”

Lucille Martin’s family at Piney Creek Greenhouses has been in the flower gardening business for about 30 years and the cut flower and floral business for about eight, she said. Courtesy photo

For Rosillo, it was a “really fun and unique experience” because she was used to taking photos of people.

“I would love the opportunity to do more work like this because this was such a fun, different project to work on,” Rosillo said. “Flowers have their own personality.”

It also enabled her “to work with someone so talented at what they do” like Martin.

“Working with Lucille has been amazing,” Rosillo said. “She’s so kind, she has so much heart in what she does. Her design with flowers is just incredible.”

Martin said she got where she is through “a lot of trial and error” and a couple classes “for pointers.”

“I did have a florist come out and work with me a little bit,” Martin said. “My first arrangements just weren’t to brag about at all.”

While the greenhouses are run by the family, Martin said she does most of the cut flower business, although “the children help a lot.”

Buying locally grown flowers, whether from greenhouses or roadside stands has “really exploded” over the years, Martin said.

“I really think people are supporting local more,” Martin said. “We can grow some flowers that are really hard to ship. You can’t really ship a cosmos really well, and they’re in design work.”

It’s also more cost-efficient and convenient to stop at a roadside stand or greenhouse for flowers than to order online.

“If they need flowers for the week, they can pick out what they want, design it and we put it together for them,” Martin said.

With her book, readers could learn how to do that themselves.

“The book is really to encourage and help people to grow,” Martin said. “Every flower has a different recommendation. We don’t treat them all the same.”

It’s geared toward “the cut flower world” and can be used by someone looking to start a small business in florals or just a hobby gardener looking to improve their home plot.

“Just looking through it, it takes me through a garden stroll,” Martin said.

In addition to Piney Creek Greenhouses, the book will be sold at Traditions Restaurant & Bakery’s gift shop.

“It fights right in with what we have here,” said Trevor Zimmerman, restaurant manager. “It definitely helps that she’s local. It’s good to help out local businesses.”

The restaurant recently had customers participating in a “greenhouse hop” that stopped in for lunch, which Zimmerman said showed they have some of the same clientele.

“There is some crossover there, from our customers and those who would be buying from greenhouses, who have a green thumb,” Zimmerman said. “Our customers would definitely be interested in that.”

Rosillo said she got to “peek at” what Martin called her “sloppy copy” of the book.

“It’s more beautiful than I could have ever imagined,” Rosillo said. “It’s been a dream of hers for a very long time to share her work with people.”

A gardener herself, Rosillo said she “can’t wait” to see her own copy of Martin’s book.

“She’s my inspiration, my garden hero,” Rosillo said. “I want my yard to look like hers.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.

“Lucille’s Floristry and Flower Garden”

Length: 438 pages

Availability: Online at inbloomsfloral.com; locally at Piney Creek Greenhouse and Traditions Restaurant & Bakery; preorders online or call 814-832-0092

Price: $64.99

Includes: Instructions on how to plant, grow, harvest and arrange different varieties of flowers, deal with weeds, as well as poetry.