Biography
For the first seven years
of her life, Sharon Lovejoy was introduced to the wonders of nature
by her Quaker Grandmother Lovejoy, a botanist and an educator.
As an adult, Sharon's passion for the natural world guided her
to become a naturalist, a watercolor illustrator, and an award
winning garden and nature writer.
As a graduate with Distinction in the Field of Art from San Diego State University, Sharon successfully combined her training in art with her love of botany and natural science. She worked as a docent naturalist for the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History and for the Smithsonian Institution in the lagoons of Baja, California. In 1982, she founded Heart's Ease Herb Shop & Gardens in Cambria, California, where she shared her love and knowledge of nature with visitors for the next 15 years.
Sharon's home, business, and display gardens first captured national attention on the cover of the August 1990 issue of Country Living magazine. Since then, her home and garden creations have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and Sharon has been a guest on countless radio and television shows from coast to coast.
In 1991, Interweave Press published her first book Sunflower Houses: Garden Discoveries for Children of All Agesa recollection of the influence from her Grandmother Lovejoy and the inspiration that has introduced tens of thousands of children to the wonders of nature through gardening.
Since the first issue in 1993, Sharon has written and illustrated the regular feature column "Heart's Ease" for Country Living GARDENER magazine. Her column has won four international awards from Garden Writers Association in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2004, and a First Place Award from Maine Media Women in 2002.
Her other books include: The Little Green Island with a Little Red House (Down East Books, 2005), Country Living Gardener: A Blessing of Toads-A Gardener's Guide to Living with Nature (Hearst Books, 2004); Trowel & Error: Over 700 Shortcuts, Tips & Remedies for the Gardener (Workman, 2003); A Day in the Garden (Galison, 2003), an illustrated journal; Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden (Workman, 2001), a reissue of the original Sunflower Houses; Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children (Workman, 1999); and Hollyhock Days: Garden Discoveries for the Young at Heart (Interweave Press, 1994).
In addition to her own books, Sharon contributed to The New Book of Knowledge encyclopedia (Scholastic, 2006), My Mother's Garden: A Literary Companion (Chamberlain Bros. Penguin, 2005), The Butterfly Gardener's Guide (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2003), The Herb Tea Book (Interweave Press, 1998), Potpourri and Fragrant Crafts (Reader's Digest, 1996) Growing Fruits and Vegetables Organically (Rodale Press, 1994), and Herb Drying Handbook (Sterling/Altamont Press, 1993). Her work has also appeared in Fine Gardening, The American Horticulturist, The Herbarist, The Herb Companion, Northern New England Journey, Edible Gardens (American Express Publishing), Woman's Day, Family Life, Country America, Ranger Rick, People, Places and Plants, and Land's End catalog.
Her other awards include a 2005 National Outdoor Book Award in the Children's Book category for The Little Green Island with a Little Red House, a 2005 Garden Writers Association Award of Achievement in the Writing-Book category for Country Living Gardener: A Blessing of Toads, a 2004 Garden Writers Association Garden Globe Award of Achievement in the Illustration-Book category for Trowel & Error, 1st Place in the Feature Story category in the Maine Media Women 2002 Communication Contest for her story "The Alewives of Damariscotta Mills" (Northern New England Journey), and a co-runner up for the 2000 Herald Award from the American Nursery & Landscape Association for Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots.
Sharon has been a consultant for the Reader's Digest Association and a children's garden design consultant at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in San Francisco, the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in El Cajo, California, and for EDAW, one of the world's leading landscape architectural firms, at the Red Butte Botanical Gardens in Salt Lake City and the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. In 1996, she was chosen to design the Children's Gardening Pavilion for the highly respected Cincinnati Flower and Garden Show. She currently serves on the National Children and Youth Garden Advisory Panel of the American Horticultural Society.
As a recognized gardening expert, Sharon has lectured throughout the United States for over twenty years at conferences, educational symposia, museums, botanic gardens, arboreta, public and private educational institutions, and for professional trade associations and gardening organizations.
In 1995, Sharon served as President of the International Herb Association. Her other professional affiliations include Garden Writers Association, The Authors Guild, Inc., Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, Maine Media Women, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and American Horticultural Society.
For her contributions to education, Sharon received the Key to the City of Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Gold Leaf Award from the Santa Clara Department of Education at the Kindergarten Forum in Saratoga, California. Her writings have been reprinted in educational publications in English and Spanish.