Thomas Leo Ogren

Bio: Tom Ogren, San Luis Obispo, California

In 2021 Tom started to publish books on Amazon Kindle. Braggin' Rights, 1847 is the first of his new Kindle novels. He wrote Braggin' Rights during the Covid lock down of 2020, aiming to write a fun, exciting, fast-moving historical novel.

His 2nd Kindle novel is, Cowboys Don't Shoot Magpies, the story of two young kids, suddenly orphaned, lost and alone in the wild west of the 1860's.

All of his books reflect the author's deep interests in ecology, wildlife, nature, gardening, birding, camping, fishing, the environment, boxing, botany, prospecting, travel, civil rights, women's rights, and human rights. In 2022 it is his aim to publish a half a dozen or more new books on Amazon. Next in line is some non-fiction, The Highway Naturalist, where readers can go exploring with me.

Thomas Leo Ogren has an MS in Agriculture/Horticulture from Cal Poly University. All his graduate work was on plant flowering systems and allergies. He taught horticulture and landscape gardening for 20 years and had his own radio show, "Tom Ogren's Wild World of Plants," on Public Radio in Minnesota. He has owned two nurseries and also dairy farmed for 8 years.

Tom's writing has been published in magazines such as Landscape Architecture, Women's Day, Earth Island Journal, Alternative Medicine, New Scientist, American Rose, California Landscaping, Pacific Horticulture, Pacific Coast Nurseryman, Wild Ones Journal, Smart Money, The Utne Reader, Der Spiegel, Second Wind, Garden Design, and Garden Gate. His research and writing has been called bold, innovative, important, and revolutionary.

Allergy-Free Gardening was his 3rd published book, and Safe Sex in the Garden his 4th. Both of these books have been reviewed worldwide in hundreds of publications, from the London Times in England to the Jerusalem Post, in Israel.

The Chelsea Garden show in England did an award-winning exhibit based on his research. Tom has twice been a guest on the Bay Area TV show, Henry's Garden, and has appeared numerous times on HGTV's "Smart Solutions." His work has been the focus of TV documentaries made by Toronto's City TV, and by The Discovery Channel. His work was featured on the CBS Evening News and he was also interviewed on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and on NPR's All Things Considered.

The Garden Writers of America nominated Allergy-Free Gardening as "The Most Important New Garden Book of the Year."

Ten Speed Press published Tom's next book, Safe Sex in the Garden, in March of 2003. In spring of 2004 Time Warner Books published his book on Lawns.

Tom has been researching landscape plants and allergies for over twenty years. The Canadian and American Lung Associations, New Zealand Arborist Association, local asthma coalitions, and the USDA Urban Foresters now use his research on allergies. Tom can be reached through his own website at

http://www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Ten Speed Press and Random House Publishers will be publishing my newest book, The Allergy Fighting Garden, on 2/17/15. This is the result of many years of further research into allergies and landscape plants. I've been busy since I last posted on here, a decade ago. I've done allergy-plant research and given talks all over New Zealand, the UK, on the Isle of Guernsey, in Israel, and from coast to coast across Canada. I even managed to get asked to write an op ed piece for the New York Times....please see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06ogren.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar

I recently contributed a chapter on allergy/asthma prevention through smarter landscaping, for a new public health textbook on nature and human health, to be published by Oxford University Press.

I've also been working with the California Department of Public Health, helping to draft a new 7 Year Plan to combat asthma. My contributions all deal with urban forestry and allergy prevention.

I've also become part of a new nonprofit group that is advocating for the rights of people with allergies. Do check them out: www.safegardening.org

I'd also invite you to drop in on my own website, one I've had now (with no advertisements or pop ups ever) for almost 20 years now. It's a good way to contact me via email, and I do answer all email from readers. Please see: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Thanks!