Publications - AHS TAG - March/April 2004 Book Reviews

American Horticultural Society
The American Gardener
March/April 2004 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 March/April 2004 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.

Plant Discoveries: A Botanist’s Voyage Through Plant Exploration. Sandra Knapp. Firefly Books, Toronto, 2003. 336 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $42.
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In telling the tale of human endeavor to better understand the natural world, particularly the botanical world, Sandra Knapp focuses on 20 families of plants commonly found in gardens the world over to illuminate the history of botany as a science and the history of botanical art in its own right. Using her knowledge of botany and the vast resources of the Natural History Museum in London, she demonstrates how the science of botany and the art of botanical illustration mutually benefited and altered each other over the last three centuries.

The book is divided into 20 main sections, and each section, while not exhaustive, does provide a balance of art and science. For instance, the section on the aster family details its floral structure, illuminates the mathematical intricacy of sunflowers, and traces the origins and history of the chrysanthemum, all alongside paintings that portray much of what the author discusses. The 300-plus plates are beautiful enough to make this book suitable for coffee table browsing, yet it is substantive enough to interest both avid home gardeners and accomplished botanists.

Each section is followed by a two- or three-page “proof-sheet” of the sketches, drawings or paintings used, including a small image of the piece, name of the original artist, original dimensions and a short historical note. Appendices include brief biographical entries on the artists presented (as well as others referenced in the text), a select bibliography for those seeking more information, a section on nomenclature and a thorough index.

Oddly, it appears the very same book was published by Scriptum Editions, London under the title Potted Histories: an Artistic Voyage Through Plant Exploration, also by Sandra Knapp, which is actually referred to twice during the preface. Regardless, this is a solid, substantive, classy book. Highly recommended.
—Liam Kennedy

Liam Kennedy is a Research/Instruction Librarian at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

Rock Garden: Design and Construction.
Jane McGary, ed. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003. 316 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $20.97.
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The contributors list for this book, which reads like a Who’s Who of rock gardening gurus, is almost enough reason to make space on your bookshelf for this new volume on the nuts and bolts of creating a rock garden. Individual chapters were written by more than 40 members of the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) who have risen to the top of their respective garden niches.

Though its pages are graced with more than 100 color images—many showcasing exquisitely conceived and executed rock gardens—this is by no means a mere coffee table book, but rather a treatise that covers every aspect of rock gardening, from siting and construction to plant selection, culture, and ongoing maintenance. This book shatters the myth that you have to be an expert plantsman to create a rock garden, and left me believing that anyone, no matter where they live—from Alaska and Canada’s Far North to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast—can have a rock garden as long as they provide the proper conditions and care.

One of the sections I found most useful was the Appendix, “Ingredients for Rock Garden Soils,” which lists each ingredient, its characteristics and sources. The glossary is adequate, and the annotated bibliography a good jumping-off point for those inspired to graduate to the next level on their journey toward becoming a “Rockhead.”

I was disappointed, however, by the lack of a plant source listing, which would have been helpful for both beginning and novice rock gardeners. Of course, all one need do is join NARGS to receive the quarterly journal—a great companion to this highly recommended book—and you’ll soon know where to procure almost every type of plant. You will also enjoy the camaraderie of other rock gardeners, which is unequalled in the gardening world.
—Barry Glick

Barry Glick is a NARGS member who grows more than 10,000 different plants at his West Virginia nursery and botanic garden, Sunshine Farm & Gardens (http://www.sunfarm.com ).

So You Want to Start a Nursery.
Tony Avent. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003. 340 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $17.47.
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Tony Avent could have written this book just for me. I’m the gardener that he describes right off, the one who thinks: “I love plants and have some spare land, so I think I’ll start a nursery. Plus, I’ll recoup some of the money I spend on plants.” Definitely me. I daydream incessantly about developing the perfect nursery.

This book shattered all my illusions, but it let me down gently because of Avent’s ability to explain even the gruesomely mundane details of running a nursery with the humor that comes from loving his work. The author is the owner of Plant Delights Nursery near Raleigh, North Carolina, and he obviously learned the hard way. If I were truly thinking about starting a nursery, this book would be an indispensable starting point, and if I were already operating one, this book would make me closely re-examine my business practices, reduce costs, and increase profits.

What I particularly appreciate is that Avent does the necessary math. Included are the formulas for calculating all costs, from producing cuttings to each step of taking a mail order. He is exact enough that I can no longer, in good conscience, gripe about a $9 perennial—since he clearly and specifically defends its direct, indirect , and overhead costs and 20 percent markup. Indeed, nursery owners have such an incredible “row to hoe” that I ended up thinking they are underpricing that $9 plant.
Even though Avent makes it interesting, writing a business manual must have been slow, even tedious, work, and Avent is to be commended for the sacrifice. It will spare every nursery owner (or dreamer) from the hundreds of headaches they are likely to encounter on the road to success.
—Rommy Lopat

Rommy Lopat is an Illinois free-lance writer, and editor of the Web site http://www.weedpatch.com.

For years, gardeners have been relying on the Taylor’s Guide plant reference series. Now all that valuable plant information has been distilled into a single volume, Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2003, $45), by renowned garden book editor Frances Tenenbaum. Brief descriptions of more than 1,000 annuals, herbaceous perennials, grasses, vines, and woody plants are arranged alphabetically by genus and illustrated with 1,200 color photographs. Appendices include a section on plant propagation, a glossary of gardening terms, and a common name index for cross reference. Buy This Book

Plant References

Plant references, which are tightly focused treatises on a particular genus or group of plants, vary widely in presentation, from those packed with taxonomic data and identification keys, to gorgeous coffee table pictorials. Here are a few of the most recently published monographs and other plant references that may be of interest to gardeners and plant collectors.

There are nearly 3,000 species within the 56 genera of the bromeliad family, but in Bromeliads for the Contemporary Garden (Timber Press, 2003), Andrew Steens concentrates on the 200 from 28 genera that are generally available in the horticultural trade. For these he includes good descriptions and plenty of high quality photographs. In addition, there are the chapters on cultivation, propagation, and care in the landscape or greenhouse, also accompanied by illustrative photographs. Buy This Book

Cyclamen by Christopher Grey-Wilson (Timber Press, 2003) is an update of the 1997 classic, and includes some significant changes in the classification of the (now) 22 species of cyclamen based on analytical laboratory tests as well as conventional fieldwork and exploration. New images have been added, as well as a discussion of cultivated forms in commerce. There are also detailed notes on cultivation and propagation on a practical level.
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A reissue of an out-of-print classic by the curator of ferns at the New York Botanical Garden, Ferns for American Gardens by John T. Mickel (Timber Press, 2003), is both comprehensive and accessible. With detailed descriptions of more than 400 ferns and 350 photographs, this book offers enough to satisfy any fern collector, but there is plenty of practical advice for gardeners who just want to grow ferns, too. This book was chosen as one of 75 great American gardening books by the American Horticultural Society during its 75th anniversary in 1997. Buy This Book

A new, 10th anniversary edition of the classic monograph Primula, by John Richards (Timber Press, 2003), brings to the form all the latest tools of modern botany. Chapters include both the evolutionary history of the genus and the history of its cultivation as well as its unique botany. A separate chapter covers the essentials necessary for success as a gardener. The bulk of the book, however, is devoted a detailed synopsis, complete with a center signature of color photography. Buy This Book

An exhaustive treatment of the plant family that includes such varied plants as comfrey, forget-me-nots, and heliotrope, with more than 100 striking color photos from all corners of the globe, Pulmonarias and the Borage Family by Masha Bennett (Timber Press, 2003) is a testament to the author’s research travels. Appendices include a full list of genera and synonyms, a glossary and bibliography, and an index of common names in English. Though the source listing is mostly European, this is still an excellent plant enthusiast’s book. Buy This Book