INDEX
Corfield is New AHS Chairman
2000 AHS Book Awards
There's Still Time......
An Invitation to Visit America's Best Gardens
Corfield is New AHS Chairman 
James L. Corfield, who has worked
in the commercial horticulture industry for more than 30 years,
is the new chairman of the American Horticultural Society's
Board of Directors. Corfield officially took office at the
Society's annual meeting in March, succeeding Katy Moss Warner,
director of horticultural and environmental initiatives at Walt
Disney World Company. Warner remains on the Board as immediate
past chairman.
Currently Corfield is the interim
program director of the Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center (OPGC)
in Columbus, Ohio, a joint venture involving Ohio State
University, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
and commercial horticulture industry supporters. The OPGC's
mission is to collect and maintain a wide range of herbaceous
ornamental plant germplasm-the genetic building blocks for
future plant breeding programs. Corfield's challenge is to
supervise the development of the center and coordinate its
programs with those of existing facilities in the USDA's
National Plant Germplasm System.
Corfield holds bachelor and
master's degrees in horticulture and marketing from Michigan
State University at East Lansing. Since 1997, he has served as a
private consultant on marketing and management issues to various
commercial horticultural companies. Prior to that, he was
president of S&G Seeds, Inc., a breeder and wholesale
distributor of annual flower seeds. He has also held management
positions with Vaughan's Seed Company, Jiffy Products of
America, and Ball Seed Company. "Jim's operational and financial
expertise will complement the strides AHS has made in recent
years to be strongly positioned to serve as a resource to our
nation's gardeners as we enter the 21st century," says Linda D.
Hallman, president and chief executive officer of AHS.
2000 AHS Book Awards
Five exemplary books celebrating
diverse gardening interests-plant exploration, horticultural
history, botanical art, ornamental grasses, and trough
gardening-are winners of the American Horticultural Society's
2000 Annual Book Award. This is the fourth year of AHS's annual
book award program, which was initiated in 1997 as part of the
celebrations for the Society's 75th anniversary.
The award-winning books were
selected by a five-person committee co-chaired this year by
Suzanne Bales, contributing editor of Family Circle magazine,
and Thomas Cooper, editor of Horticulture magazine. The other
committee members were Stephen P. Bender, senior writer for
Southern Living magazine; Susan Eubank, senior librarian at the
Helen Fowler Library of the Denver Botanic Gardens; and Marco
Polo Stufano, director of horticulture at Wave Hill garden in
New York City.
All horticultural books issued in
1999 by North American publishers and authors were considered
for the award. Books are judged not just on content and writing
style, but on overall quality including illustration, design,
and production. For this reason, awards are presented to the
publishers rather than the authors. A prime objective of the
award program is to encourage American publishers to issue books
that are as well written and technically perfect as possible,
yet also innovative in content and appearance.
A gold seal embossed with the
Society's name and a leaf symbol distinguishes gardening books
that receive the AHS Annual Book Award. Look for these books in
your local bookstore or order them through Amazon.com by
clicking below.
The Color
Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes,
Restios, Cat-tails, and Selected Bamboos by Rick Darke.
Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. 1999. Publisher's price: $49.95.
AHS price: $34.97. This beautifully illustrated book combines
the best features of an encyclopedic reference with sound,
practical advice on how to use grasses in the landscapes. "The
encyclopedic treatment of grasses is authoritative and up to
date,"says Thomas Cooper, "yet the book also includes a strong
focus on garden use of grasses, accompanied by stunning
photographs that illustrate the design concepts being
described."
Buy this Book
Creating
and Planting Garden Troughs by Joyce Fingerut and Rex
Murfitt. B.B. Mackey Books, Wayne, Pennsylvania. 1999.
Publisher's price: $21. AHS price: $21. "This is a much needed
practical guide to the construction, planting, and maintenance
of hypertufa troughs," says Marco Polo Stufano. Written in a
down-to-earth style, the book also details the history of
gardening in troughs and describes a wide variety of plants that
can be combined creatively in them.
Buy this Book
The Explorer's Garden: Rare
and Unusual
Perennials by Daniel J. Hinkley. Timber Press, Portland,
Oregon. 1999. Publisher's price: $39.95. AHS price: $27.97.
Heronswood Nursery owner Dan Hinkley's personal account of
seeking out promising new garden plants was praised for its
beautiful photographs, passionate writing style, and
authoritative horticultural information. "This book evokes the
great 19th-century English accounts of plant exploration," says
Thomas Cooper. "Hinkley goes to a lot of effort to provide
information on where in North America these exciting new plants
will grow," says Stephen Bender.
Buy this Book
The
Pressed Plant: The Art of Botanical Specimens, Nature Prints,
and Sun Pictures by Andrea DiNoto and David Winter;
photography by John Berens. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York,
New York. 1999. Publisher's price: $29.95. AHS price: $20.97.
This book covers the history of the collection of botanical
specimens and provides instructions on how to preserve plants
for scientific or artistic use. "It's a fascinating account of
the role plant hunters and botanists have played in documenting
natural history, woven together by exquisite images of pressed
plants," says Thomas Cooper. "The photographs jump out because
the book is beautifully designed and printed on high-quality
paper,"adds Stephen Bender.
Buy this Book
Washington's Gardens at Mount
Vernon: Landscape of the Inner Man
by Mac Griswold; photography by Roger Foley. Houghton Mifflin
Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 1999. Publisher's price: $40.
AHS price: $30. Illustrated with contemporary photographs and
reproductions of original garden plans and period artwork, this
book documents George Washington's development of the gardens at
Mount Vernon. "Everybody's heard about the great gardener Thomas
Jefferson was," says Stephen Bender. "This book offers new
insights into the gardening interests of one of our most
enigmatic presidents."
Buy this Book
There's Still Time......
To make plans to attend AHS's 8th
Annual National Youth Garden Symposium in Lake Buena Vista,
Florida. This year's symposium-titled "Celebrating Children's
Gardens in the New Millennium: Design is the Key"-runs from June
8 to 10, with optional pre-conferences beginning June 7.
New features at this year's
symposium include an expanded Youth Garden Expo showcasing the
best resources, products, and field trips available for those
involved with children's gardening.
A "Garden of Ideas" poster
session will provide a forum for established children's gardens
throughout the nation to share their innovative and creative
designs and programs. For more information about the Youth
Garden Symposium, call (800) 777-7931 and ask for a brochure.
We hope to see you there!
An Invitation to Visit America's Best Gardens
If you're starting to think about
summer vacation plans, now's the time to order the 2000 edition
of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Directory.
This annual guide lists hundreds
of private gardens throughout the United States that open their
gates to visitors on specified days each summer under the
auspices of the Garden Conservancy, a non profit organization
dedicated to celebrating and preserving America's exceptional
private gardens.
Garden listings in the directory
are arranged by state and each listing includes detailed
directions for getting to individual gardens. In addition to the
private gardens participating in the Open Days program, nearby
public gardens that may be of interest to visitors are also
listed in the directory.
River Farm, the headquarters of
the American Horticultural Society, is included among these
recommended public gardens. The directory, which costs $14.95
($10.95 for Conservancy members), is available by writing to the
Garden Conservancy at P.O. Box 219, Cold Spring, NY 10516 or
calling (914) 265-5384. You can also order the directory or find
out more about the Conservancy by visiting their web site at
www.GardenConservancy.org.
