The Sunset western climate zone map, a significant feature introduced in the 1964 edition, was compiled by the Sunset staff to take account not only of temperature variations throughout the West, but of altitude, rainfall, and ocean influences (including fog banks). New to this edition are zone maps for Alaska and Hawaii. The introduction to this section is essential reading for all new gardeners in the West. All too often, new homeowners here attempt to reproduce gardens they knew in the eastern states or in Europe, ignoring the severe effect on favorite plants of the rainless summers and high temperatures they are likely to experience.

Throughout the decades of its publication, this book has responded well to changes in garden styles, gardening ethics, and the increasing variety of available plants. The 1995 edition included more ornamental grasses and plants that need little water; this sensible emphasis on adapting the garden to the climate continues in this edition, with the inclusion of more desert plants and Mediterranean natives. Many entries have been expanded to include more selections in genera, such as Kniphofia, that are becoming better known.

There is a substantial “Selection Guide” listing and illustrating plants by important characteristics such as flower color, habit, disease resistance, fragrance, and soil requirements. A “Practical Gardening Dictionary” concisely explains techniques such as planting, irrigating, controlling pests organically, and much more. There is also a resource directory, a glossary, and a guide to plant names and their pronunciations. Science and garden wisdom refined through the many years of the book’s hugely successful existence are succinctly presented and flexibly bound in a sturdy soft cover. It is known in the West as the “gardener’s bible,” a reputation earned through the diligent gathering and testing of information by devoted editors. One of them, Joe Williamson, who worked on every edition, including this one, died before it went to print. The book, which is dedicated to Williamson, is a worthy memorial that every western gardener should own. —George Waters

George Waters of Berkeley, California, is the former editor of Pacific Horticulture.

A Man's Garden. Warren Schultz. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts, 2001. 160 pages. Publisher's price, hardcover: $40. Buy this Book

A Man’s Garden is as much about why men garden as how they garden. In his typically warm, lighthearted style, Schultz, features editor for Garden Design and former editor-in-chief of National Gardening, presents an insightful study of men and their muses, exploring the varied sources of gardening inspiration that influence individual tastes and approaches to color, design, plant selection, and barbeque pits.

The book itself consists of 15 engaging profiles of men whose personalities and gardening visions are almost as colorful as their gardens. Their individual stories are an astonishing array of idle puttering, backhoes, careful propagation, compulsion, meditation, and whimsy. Yet some common elements do stand out. A number of the men we visit attribute their interest in gardening to their own fathers or life on the family farm. And many of the gardeners are admitted “collectors.” Perhaps the boyhood passion for collecting baseball cards has simply been transferred to trees, shrubs, and other plants.

Consider Ralph Velez: A former New Yorker transplanted to California, Velez has managed to amass a collection of 370 species of palm on 9,000 square feet of garden space; his 483 specimens represent the third largest palm collection in the country. Or South Carolina’s Pearl Fryar, a one-time coin collector who left his spare change behind to clip, snip, and prune his way through 500 trees and shrubs, thereby creating an imaginative landscape in his backyard that rivals the nation’s finest topiary displays. For many, “a man’s garden” evokes images of rototillers, tomato cages, and bean poles. Schultz brushes off this stereotype with portraits of gardeners who seek out vegetables for their unique color as diligently as any rosarian, or whose fruit tree allées are set alongside boxwood hedges and perennial borders.

Many of the gardeners are also artists, transforming inner voices into tangible landscapes, whether creating mystical mosaics in paving for Eastern-inspired meditational spaces, rendering Andy Warhol-style pop art in topiary, or transplanting Corinthian columns and sculptural features into a constructed landscape that echoes of Pompeii.

The profiles of Felder Rushing and Bob Kourik, well-known horticultural professionals and landscaping gurus, introduce us to men whose inner voices have led them to create some of the most winsome and unique landscapes imaginable. It is a safe bet that Vita Sackville-West never heard of constructed archeology, bottle trees, used-tire art, bathtub shrines, and front-yard fire pits.

Our cast of characters includes doctors, lawyers, and scientists. There are also two model train enthusiasts, a robber baron who invested more than $100,000 on his passion, an innkeeper with a dazzling cottage garden amid a Colorado desert, and an Olympic ice-skating gold medalist. For Schultz, the Y-chromosome provides endless possibilities. Perhaps the only downside to the book comes with the end of each vignette, where it is almost sad to leave one gardener and head on to the next. And yet A Man’s Garden also leaves us with one clear image: It is personality that makes each garden come alive; and the more unique the personality, the more unique the garden. —Joseph M. Keyser

Joseph M. Keyser is the education specialist for the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection in Maryland; he also writes the “Green Man” gardening column for the Gazette newspapers.

With Paintbrush & Shovel: Preserving Virginia's Wildflowers. Nancy Kober and Donna M. E. Ware, botanical consultant. Watercolors by Bessie Niemeyer Marshall. University Press of Virginia in association with the Petersburg Garden Club, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2000. 280 pages. Publisher's price, hardcover: $42.95. Buy this Book


It was the era of the Great Depression. People were out of work; times were tough—hardly circumstances one might consider ripe for the development of a nature preserve. Enter the federal government, which supplied jobs to many through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Among these public jobs were a handful that were created specifically for unemployed female heads of households.

The establishment of Lee Park Wildflower and Bird Sanctuary in Petersburg, Virginia, in the mid-1930s was one of these projects. The project employed women in non-traditional capacities; their mission: to establish a sanctuary to preserve native flowers and birds in a region where many species existed at the northernmost limit of their range. Rich in both botanical and social history, Kober’s account links this unusual endeavor and its twin effort—the collection, illustration, and preservation of the Lee Park Herbarium—in this very readable and well-researched volume. Kober evokes a strong sense of life in that time and place, complete with its racial discrimination and lack of opportunity for women. But as she points out, “It was also a time when social change was shaking up the usual order, even in conservative states like Virginia.”

A year into the project, it was decided—by whom, it is not clear—to develop an herbarium documenting plants within the sanctuary. Heading this effort was a passionate horticulturist and widowed mother of five, Donald Claiborne Holden. Yes, Donald was her name, and it was she who decided that the herbarium should include watercolor illustrations. Holden turned to Bessie Niemeyer Marshall, an accomplished gardener and artist. The wife of an Episcopal minister who was disabled by Parkinson’s disease and mother of nine children, Marshall welcomed the commission to paint the plants of the sanctuary. The job took her three years.

The book is divided into two parts: In Part I, Kober employs old photographs, quotations, anecdotes, and retrospective insights to acquaint us with the times, the people involved in the project, and the history of the sanctuary. Part II includes reproductions of Marshall’s watercolors arranged by the habitats in which they grew at the park. From a simple spray of whorled tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata) to the intricate rendering of hazelnut (Corylus americana), these detailed watercolors are delightful. Marshall’s careful use of color reveals the subtleties of each plant; you can almost feel the different textures of leaves, flowers, and stems.

Today, much of the original sanctuary has been sold for development, but the Petersburg Garden Club is working through private and public partnerships to restore the remaining 395 acres of Lee Park and repair the herbarium and the paintings. This book is an important part of that effort, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys fine artwork, wildflowers, and well-researched tales. For gardeners in Virginia, especially those who like their history, this book is a must.—Rita Pelczar

Rita Pelczar is associate editor of The American Gardener.

Gardener's Books


There are many more new books on the market than we have time or space to review, but here are a few that recently caught our eye. Through a partnership with amazon.com, AHS members can order these and other books at a discount by linking to amazon.com.

A Book of Blue Flowers. Robert Geneve. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2000. 328 pages. Publisher's price, hardcover: $34.95. Buy this Book

This book provides information on basic care, propagation, and landscape use of more than 150 genera of flowers whose colors range from aquamarine to violet blue. Numerous species and cultivars are identified and many photographs are included. If blue is the color you seek in garden flowers, this book has plenty of ideas for you.

Organic Gardening for the 21st Century: A complete Guide to Growing Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs and Flowers. John Fedore. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Pleasantville, New York, 2000. 288 pages. Publisher's price, hardcover: $30.
Buy this Book

Abundant illustrations and full-color photographs enhance this guide to creating a natural, nourishing, and attractive home garden. Topics covered include sustainability, green manures, heirloom varieties, edible landscaping, and preserving fresh produce and herbs. An illustrated A-to-Z directory includes growing and harvesting information on 250 varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

100 Vegetables and Where They Came From. William Woys Weaver. Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2000. 320 pages. Publisher's price, hardcover: $18.95. Buy this Book


The fascinating stories of vegetables from around the world is presented in this book that combines history, culinary tips, and personal anecdotes. It is organized alphabetically by the common name of the vegetable; a drawing by Signe Sundberg-Hall illustrates each. Unusual vegetables from near and far are covered, from the Petaluma Gold Rush bean of the United States to Togo’s Gbobnome eggplant collards.

Gardening in the Desert: A Guide to Plant Selection and Care. Mary F. Irish. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona, 2000. 175 pages each. Publisher's price, softcover: $17.95 each. Buy this Book


AS A PRACTICAL introduction to desert gardening, this book encourages readers new to gardening in a desert climate to stop struggling to adapt plants to the environment. Instead, the author suggests taking advantage of the many exciting plants that are native to the desert Southwest, including trees, shrubs, perennials, desert palms, vines, annuals, cacti, agaves and other succulents—all of which thrive in this harsh climate. She also provides tips on planting, watering, pruning, and propagation.

Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul: 101 Stories to Sow Seeds of Love, Hope and Laughter. Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Cynthia Brian, Cindy Buck, Marion Owen, Pat Stone, and Carol Sturgulewski. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida, 2000. 381 pages. Publisher's price, softcover: $12.95. Buy this Book


The 101 stories are written by 97 different writers from a wide range of backgrounds including a poet, a CEO, an environmentalist, an inner-city high school student, a public relations specialist, and a correctional school administrator. Some of the authors are familiar: Erma Bombeck, James A. Michener, Charles Kuralt; others authors are not, but all share a common interest in gardening.