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American
Horticultural Society
The American Gardener
May/June 2003 Recommended
Garden Books
Because the AHS Horticultural Book
Service was discontinued as of June 30, 2000 no further phone or mail orders
are filled. However, AHS members are still be able to order books at a
discount by linking to Amazon.com through the Society's Web site. Through this
partnership with Amazon.com, AHS members can receive better discounts on most
titles, faster delivery, greater inventory, and improved access to
hard-to-find books. The books listed here have not been critically evaluated;
they have been chosen for description based on unusual subject matter or
substantive content.
The following
books are our current recommended garden books from the May/June 2003 issue
of The American Gardener. To
read the review just click on the book title. You can then order the book
directly from Amazon.com by clicking on "Buy this book!" that
follows each review.
BOOK REVIEWS
Recommendations for Your Gardening
Library
GARDENER’S BOOKS
Noteworthy New Titles with a Regional
Twist
BOOK REVIEWS
Recommendations for Your Gardening Library
The Gardener’s Palette: Creating Color in the Garden.
 Sydney
Eddison. Photography by Steve Silk. Contemporary Books, New York, 2003.
233 pages.
Publisher’s price, hardcover: $20.97.
Buy This Book
“In a long gardening life, nothing has given me more pleasure than playing
with color schemes in flower beds and containers.”
—Sydney Eddison
Color is the most compelling and
least understood aspect of garden design. It provokes strong emotions, draws
us to certain plants and creates intriguing gardens, yet our color preferences
are as unique as our fingerprints. Many gardeners struggle when it comes to
employing color wisely and effectively. Thankfully, Sydney Eddison comes to
the rescue.
Eddison is an avid gardener with a
painter’s eye and a set designer’s sense of the theatrical. Who better to lead
fellow gardeners through the often daunting labyrinth of color theory and to
instruct in the artful execution of color schemes for the garden. I had heard
Eddison’s excellent lecture on color, so was thrilled when she decided to put
her no-nonsense approach into a book. The Gardener’s Palette does not
disappoint.
The book unfolds with a gentle
discussion of color theory based on the primary and secondary colors of the
color wheel. Using shades, tints, and tones of the six basic hues, Eddison
explains how artists combine colors for dramatic or subtle effect. Borrowing
from nature, master painters such as Monet and Gauguin, and even fabrics,
Eddison offers a wealth of examples of successful color schemes that inspire
garden combinations.
The book is far from theoretical,
however. Each page is filled with practical advice. Using vignettes from her
own garden, Eddison compares complementary and harmonious schemes, hot and
cool colors, and the visual effects they create. She provides sound advice on
how to use popular yet difficult colors such as white and gray, while
reminding us that green is a color, too.
Beautiful photographs by Steve Silk
deftly illuminate the points made by the eloquent yet practical text. If you
want a book to delight your eyes, soothe your soul, and enrich your mind, look
no further than The Gardener’s Palette.
—C. Colston Burrell
Landscape designer and author C. Colston Burrell wrote Perennial
Combinations (Rodale Press, 1999). He owns and operates Native Landscape
Design and Restoration near Charlottesville, Virginia.
 Consider
the Leaf: Foliage in Garden Design.
Judy Glattstein. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003.
327 pages.
Publisher’s price, hardcover: $17.47.
Buy This Book
Except for a few perpetually blooming annuals, flower displays in the garden
are ephemeral. Once the blossoms have faded, what you’ve got left is the
foliage. A well-designed garden focuses as much attention on foliage as it
does on any floral display. In Consider the Leaf: Foliage in Garden Design,
author Judy Glattstein teaches readers how to combine foliage plants so that
the garden will look great whether or not plants are in bloom.
Glattstein outlines principles for combining plants: contrast, balance, color,
and textural variation. Her authoritative prose is embellished with over 110
color photographs, illustrating the dramatic and varied effects that can be
achieved with foliage combinations.
My one complaint as a great user of
indexes is that this one falls short. Plants mentioned in the book are listed
by both their common and botanical names. But if you want to find, for
example, the passage explaining the terminology for describing leaf
shapes—very helpful if you find such descriptions as “hastate with pinnate
venation,” to be incomprehensible—you’ll have to leaf through the book to
locate it. Other gems of information are also buried within the text in
unexpected places. A more detailed index would have been invaluable.
Much of the advice offered in the
book is based on Glattstein’s personal experience or that of her friends,
colleagues, and acquaintances, so it has both the ring of authority and the
charm of anecdote. The book is rich with examples of visually arresting leafy
plant combinations, and information is given about each plant’s growth habit
and overall size; its leaf color, shape, and texture; as well as tidbits on
care. Readers of Consider the Leaf will find themselves well armed with
information and ideas for using foliage as an effective and critical design
element in their garden.
—Catriona Tudor Erler
Catriona Tudor Erler’s most recent garden books are Poolscaping: Gardening
and Landscaping Around Your Swimming Pool and Spa, The Frugal Gardener, and
Complete Home Landscaping. She writes and gardens in Vienna, Virginia.
GARDENER’S BOOKS
Noteworthy New Titles with a Regional Twist
Gardening books that focus on a particular region can home in on the climate,
soil, and indigenous plants of their specific locale with a lot more detail
than most general references. This regional orientation is extremely helpful
to both gardeners and visitors who share an interest in the trials and joys of
gardening and nature in that part of the country. Whether you live in the cool
Northwest or the sultry Southeast there are new books that address your corner
of the world, its natural environment, and gardening possibilities.
Through a partnership
with amazon.com, AHS members can order these and other books at a discount by
linking to amazon.com through the Society’s Web site by selecting "Buy this
Book."
 Our tour of titles begins out West, with
Marty Wingate’s Big Ideas for Northwest Small Gardens (Sasquatch Books,
2003, $15.37). Wingate, a Master Gardener and weekly garden columnist for the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, explains how gardeners can make the most of small
spaces, from front and side yard landscapes to balcony, rooftop, and patio
gardens, all with a distinctly Northwest perspective. The 80 color photographs
by Jacqueline Koch illustrate garden concepts and specific plants.
Buy This Book
 Another
book that West Coast gardeners may want to check out is Dig This:
Landscaping without a Backhoe or a Big Budget for Northern California and
Beyond (Sasquatch Books, 2003, $13.97) by landscape designer and
contractor, Kate Anchordoguy, who offers readers the benefit of 25 years of
landscaping experience in Northern California. In her easy prose, which is
often spiked with humor, she presents a down-to-earth approach to design,
construction, and maintenance. The step-by-step advice is punctuated with lots
of practical tips and helpful line drawings.
Buy This Book
 Midwest
gardeners and naturalists will find Randy Hoffman’s Wisconsin’s Natural
Communities: How to Recognize Them, Where to Find Them (University of
Wisconsin Press, 2002, $17.47), a useful reference to understanding and
appreciating the habitats of indigenous plants, birds and other wildlife. The
ecology of each community is accompanied by detailed maps, and lists of
characteristic species of plants, mosses and lichens, mushrooms, insects,
reptiles, mammals, and birds. Whether you live or plan to travel in Wisconsin,
this volume will enhance your exploration of its natural environment.
Buy This Book
 With
the Pennsylvania Gardeners Guide (Cool Springs Press, 2002, $17.49) by
Liz Ball, Cool Springs Press continues to expand its list of regional
gardening titles. Offering both garden history and current plant selection and
gardening advice, the guide serves as a useful reference. Ball addresses
endangered and threatened native plants as well as invasive non-natives. Also
included are Pennsylvania “Gardens to Visit.”
Buy This Book
 Following a similar format, the
Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Guide (Cool Springs Press, 2002, $17.49) by Jacqueline Heriteau and André and Mark Viette, includes details on growing the best
plants for USDA Hardiness Zones 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Buy This Book
 Our
tour heads southward and back in time, with a book that will appeal to
naturalists and history buffs alike. An Outdoor Guide to Bartram’s Travels
(University of Georgia Press, 2003, $13.97), by Charles D. Spornick, Alan R.
Cattier, and Robert J. Greene reconstructs William Bartram’s journey through
the American South from 1773 to 1777, as he documented the flora, fauna,
cultures, and topography of that then-unexplored part of the world. From the
Carolinas to Florida and west to the Mississippi River, the authors invite
today’s travelers to follow the same route—by car or bicycle, or as Bartram
traveled, by foot, canoe, or horseback. Divided into discreet tours, the guide
offers details on the natural environment as well as manmade modifications
that have changed the southern landscape over the past two centuries.
Buy This Book
 Natural
Gardens of North Carolina (University of North Carolina Press, 2002,
$15.37) by B. W. Wells is the re-release of a classic about North Carolina’s
native plants, their habitats, and communities. Originally published in
1932, it has been updated with new line drawings, color photographs,
botanical nomenclature, and an introduction and afterword.
Wells was a pioneer in the concept of plant
communities and conservation. This volume identifies and discusses the major
natural gardens in North Carolina ranging from the seaside community to the
high mountain boreal forests. It also includes detailed descriptions of the
wildflowers found within the state.
Buy This Book
 Incorporating
indigenous southern wildflowers, ferns, vines, shrubs, and trees into your
garden is the subject of Gardening with Native Plants of Tennessee: The
Spirit of Place (University of Tennessee Press, 2002, $24.47), by Margie
Hunter. In Part I, Hunter discusses Tennessee’s geographic regions, plant
communities, and wildlife. She also covers endangered native plants and
exotic pests. Part II focuses on gardening with Tennessee natives.
Descriptions, cultural information, and natural distribution of plants are
provided in detail. Small but helpful color photographs accompany plant
descriptions. Appendices include organizations, nurseries, botanical
gardens, and plant conferences through which interested readers can obtain
further information.
Buy This Book
 Our
tour proceeds to Texas with Howard Garrett’s Texas Trees (Lone Star
Books, 2002, $20.97). Garrett provides thorough descriptions of native trees
as well as what he considers the best introductions, with details on natural
habitats, preferred sites, planting and maintenance, culture, problems, and
propagation. For each tree he offers personal insight, both positive and
negative. Appendices list trees with various qualities, as well as “Worst
Texas Trees.” Also included are organic remedies and treatments for disease
and pest problems and a glossary.
Buy This Book
 Winding
up our tour is Month-by-Month Gardening in the Desert Southwest (Cool
Springs Press, 2002, $13.99) by Mary Irish. Irish presents basic gardening
practices that will produce successful results in desert landscapes, as well
as chapters that feature annuals; bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers; cacti,
succulents, and other desert perennials, grasses, shrubs, trees, vegetables,
and herbs.
Buy This Book
 A
similar title for an entirely different gardening locale is
Month-by-Month Gardening in Mississippi (Cool Springs Press, 2002,
$13.99) by Bob Polomski, edited by Felder Rushing.
Buy This Book
The above books
represent just a few of the wonderful regional resources available to
gardeners and naturalists. There are certainly many more, both old and new,
that will help your gardening endeavors wherever you live.
—Rita Pelczar,
Associate Editor
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