Open Book Interview: Teresa J. Speight
Teresa J. Speight (she/her) is the Urban Garden and Container Garden Chair, District 1, for National Garden Clubs, Inc., and the founder and president of the Jabali Amani Garden Collective, a garden club for Minority women who enjoy gardening. Through her blog and podcast, Cottage in the Court, she offers a unique perspective on connecting with the earth, as well as curated garden experiences for small groups. Teri also offers one-on-one garden coaching, specializing in earth-friendly practices. She is the co-author of The Urban Garden.
Black Flora is the first book to feature profiles of contemporary Black experts innovating in the world of flowers. Author and longtime gardener, Teresa Speight, offers a beautiful intersection of flowers and community. This book is a homecoming, one that unearths the floral legacies of the past and present, while providing a source of inspiration for younger generations of plant-lovers seeking examples of successful Black floral artists and entrepreneurs.
Soil by Camille Dungy
Recipes for Respect: African American Meals and Meaning by Rafia Zafar
Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
The Flower Hunter by Lucy Hunter
On my living room couch in the company of my plants.
Where do I start. I have always written my thoughts on my blog and have always sought out books on gardening by everyday people who look like me. It was like a needle in a haystack. Even when I joined Garden Writers there was really no representation except for my friend Abra Lee. I have always wanted to be a part of change and uplift those in this industry and more. I started writing a novel, however when one of my Garden Writer Associates mentioned she wanted to see if I was interested in writing a book about Black flower farmers, I jumped at this opportunity, and it morphed into a broader conversation about florists, floral designers, and flower farmers. We are not a monolith, and I am grateful to have written this book to uplift others who might be answering the call of flowers. I am grateful to Timber Press for noticing this book and helping us continue this conversation which is long overdue.
Informative, readable, inspirational.
I am not a perfect person, so my writing is from my heart. Waiting to write the words at the perfect time often leads to me not writing. I am at a point in my life where I need to speak on behalf of myself and other African Americans truthfully, even if my voice shakes. If it makes room for us to get noticed and opportunities become more available, then it is worth it. I would like to have equitable opportunities to share my voice as well as the unheard voices of other African Americans in horticulture. While we may not be perfect, representation is real and appreciated.
Jamaica Kincaid.
Eggplant Stacks made by me.
Anything by Teddy Swims.
Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice.
What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace –– feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit.
In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us.
Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.
Paula Sutton raises the bar on what is possible as a woman of color living her dreams.
Nancy Drew Mysteries, Encyclopedia Britannica, all my Dad’s gardening books, Moby Dick.
Gardeners’ World, Central Texas Gardener, Epic Gardening.
A novel about saving the land.
Sagittarius – totally correct!
The Color Purple.
Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice by Toni Tipton Martin.
Emily Bryce from The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen. I would want to take Emily to see beautiful gardens all over England so she could add to the gardens she tended in Devonshire.
To write a New York Times best-selling book on African American Garden Clubs.
Black Flora is the first book to feature profiles of contemporary Black experts innovating in the world of flowers. Author and longtime gardener, Teresa Speight, offers a beautiful intersection of flowers and community. This book is a homecoming, one that unearths the floral legacies of the past and present, while providing a source of inspiration for younger generations of plant-lovers seeking examples of successful Black floral artists and entrepreneurs.
With photos and insights from over 20 growers, florists, and designers from around the US, each with a deep reverence for nature, Black Flora showcases a range of floral expertise. And as visionary horticulturalist and garden historian, Abra Lee, reflects in her foreword, the community represented in Black Flora has an important significance both today, and in garden history.
Both a celebration of now and a vision for the future, Black Flora honors floriculture’s creative vanguard.