|
American
Horticultural Society
The American Gardener
July/August 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 July/August 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.
BOOK REVIEWS
Recommendations for Your Gardening
Library
GARDENER’S BOOKS
Summer Reading
BOOK REVIEWS
Recommendations for Your Gardening Library
 Garden
Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs.
Whitney Cranshaw. Princeton Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2004. 656 pages.
Publisher’s price, softcover: $20.37.
Buy This Book
Insects are ever present in our gardens and yards. When we
find them, we want to know what they are, whether they are potentially
damaging to our homes and gardens, and what steps—if any—we should take to
control them. Whitney Cranshaw’s new book, Garden Insects of North Americas,
has now made this process much easier for gardeners.
Cranshaw has produced an impressive garden reference that
doubles as a field guide. Wherever you live in North America, your insects are
included here. This text is well researched and covers 1,420 species of yard
and garden pests. There is also a substantial section on beneficial insects,
so we can recognize and encourage their presence.
Easy to follow and organized in a systematic fashion, the
book’s chapters are arranged according to the type of plant damage and which
plant part is affected. Thus, leaf chewers and sapsuckers are given the
largest chapters. Cranshaw also includes a taxonomic discussion of the pests
and detailed information about signs of damage, their favorite plants, life
history, and habits. The more than 1,400 color pictures of insects and their
damage are truly impressive and will be invaluable in helping readers track
down the culprits of their plant injury.
One limitation of this book is that it does not give
specific management information for all insects listed. However, Cranshaw
discusses management for the most common groups of insects, and in some cases
specific insects, such as Japanese beetles. So the odds are that most readers
will find the information they need to tackle their insect pest problems.
Control techniques are presented in an integrated pest management approach
that incorporates cultural, biological, mechanical, and chemical mechanisms.
This wonderful reference will certainly become a classic
alongside works such as Cynthia Wescott’s The Gardener’s Bug Book. Whether you
are a professional or a home gardening enthusiast, this is an indispensable
reference.
Jeffrey Hahn
A professor of entomology with the University of Minnesota Extension Service,
Jeffrey Hahn specializes in insects commonly found in urban homes and gardens.
 The
Passion for Gardening.
Ken Druse. Clarkson N. Potter Press, New York, New York. 2003, 256 pages.
Publisher’s price, hardcover: $34.
Buy This Book
As an unabashed how-to kind of person, I was initially a bit reluctant to
review what I thought would be a pretty coffee table book. But once I started
reading The Passion for Gardening by Ken Druse, I was almost immediately
charmed by the author’s relaxed, personal writing style. Perhaps it was
Druse’s analogy comparing the making of a garden to creating a sand castle on
the beach, or his description of a garden is a living work of art—always
changing, an act in progress that is never finished.
This is a “why to” rather than a “how to” book, yet some
“how to” couldn’t help but come through, as gardeners are always ready to
share their wisdom. In the section “You Can Take It With You,” Druse offers
practical advice on how to effectively transplant trees, shrubs, and
perennials. And, in another section, he describes how he converted lawn to
garden by smothering the turf with mulch-covered cardboard in a variant on the
classic “lasagna” gardening technique.
The plainspoken anecdotes and opinions throughout the book reminded me that
gardeners have a lot in common. I related strongly to Druse’s discomfort when
asked about his favorite plant—he compares it to asking a parent which child
they favor. When Druse discussed a pair of old cycads that he’s had since he
lived in his first college apartment in 1975, it made me think of a now portly
jade plant that I started from a single leaf cutting in my college plant
propagation class in 1978.
Druse’s personal writing style comes through most strongly in a section titled
“Junior Partner,” where he invites readers into his own garden of nine years
by way of a diary of his visions for the garden. I found myself sharing both
his excitement and reservations, and mourning with him over the tolls nature
had taken along the way.
As with Druse’s other acclaimed garden books, the text is
paired with equally rich photographs taken by the author and Adam Levine.
Among the more than 250 images, the most memorable for me include the cacti
chorus, the moss stairway, and the spectacular views of the garden at
Chanticleer.
This inspiring garden book, which received the American
Horticultural Society’s 2004 Book Award, reminds us all that our gardens will
become our own as we develop our own personal style and taste for individual
plants and design schemes. We are never too young or too old to garden.
There’s no question that Druse chose the perfect title for a book in which he
shares and promotes his unabashed passion for gardening.
B. Rosie Lerner
An avid writer and gardener, B. Rosie Lerner is the consumer horticulture
Extension Specialist at Purdue University’s Department of Horticulture and
Landscape Architecture.
 Uncommon
Fruits for Every Garden.
Lee Reich, Timber Press, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004. 308 pages. Publisher’s
price, hardcover: $16.97.
Buy This Book
Tired of the same-old same-old? Need some fresh new flavors to jazz up your
low-fat, high-fiber diet? Check out Lee Reich’s Uncommon Fruits for Every
Garden, an expanded sequel to his highly regarded Uncommon Fruits Worthy of
Attention, published in 1991.
Reich presents 23 fruits that have, for one reason or
another, been largely overlooked and underplanted by American gardeners. His
criteria for inclusion are “that a fruit be able to tolerate winter cold, be
uncommon, and—most importantly—be good for fresh eating.” Many of the fruits
covered are also valued for cooking.
Reliable cultural information on uncommon fruits can be difficult to come by,
and having it in a single source is very handy. Reich’s prose is flavored with
humor and anecdotes—good reading as you plan your own backyard orchard. His
advice and opinions are based on years of growing experience.
Each chapter covers one fruit, including a brief botanical
history. A concise description of both the overall plant and its fruit
provides both landscape and culinary attributes; after all, this book is
intended primarily for backyard gardeners, and the ornamental quality of an
edible plant is a distinct asset. Practical cultivation information—site
considerations, spacing, fertilizing, pruning, etc.—are clearly presented,
followed by propagation methods, harvesting, and use. This information
enhanced in several appendices.
The subjects include North American natives such as
Juneberry (Amelanchier spp.), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), persimmon (Diospyros
virginiana), and lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) more often
observed in the wild than in cultivation. Reich suggests that readers
reconsider them as a source of good eating, suitable for cultivating in
backyard gardens.
Some of the “uncommon fruits” are, or were, actually quite
familiar in other cultures. Ancient Greeks and Romans grew the Cornelian
cherry (Cornus mas) for its fruit, and medlars (Mespilus germanica)—which
resemble small russeted apples—were popular in Europe during the Middle Ages.
About jujube (Ziziphus jujuba), Reich says, “If this book were written in
China, this chapter would be omitted. The Chinese have been eating jujubes for
more than four thousand years." And reflecting on lingonberries (Vaccinium
vitis-idaea) he says, “Merely utter the word ‘lingonberry’ to someone
Scandinavian and watch for a smile on their lips and a dreamy look in their
eye."
Perhaps the most exotic entry—certainly the least familiar
to me—is shipova (5Sorbopyrus auricularis), an intergeneric hybrid of the
European pear and a species of Sorbus, probably S. aria, the common whitebeam.
Reich states that “although shipova fruit is pear-like in flavor and
appearance, its whitebeam parent has not necessarily been an idle onlooker in
developing that flavor.” My curiosity is sufficiently tweaked. I guess I’ll
have to grow it myself! Fortunately, Reich has included an appendix of
mail-order sources for each fruit.
For those gardeners who, like me, are always searching for
something a bit out of the ordinary for both their gardens and their tummies,
this book is a gem.
Rita Pelczar
Formerly associate editor of The American Gardener, Rita Pelczar writes and
gardens in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.
Revised Southern
Living Garden Book
 The newly
revised edition of the Southern Living Garden Book (Oxmoor
House, Birmingham, Alabama, 2004. 720 pages. Publisher’s price,
softcover: $27.17), edited by Southern Living’s senior writer Steve
Bender, is a comprehensive garden encyclopedia for those living in
all 17 states in the South. This useful reference breaks down
southern growing regions into five discrete climate zones and offers
information on more than 7,000 plants, which are augmented by 1,300
color photographs, 1,200 color illustrations and plenty of vital
information on origin, habit and culture.
Within its pages readers will also find a lengthy
how-to dictionary of techniques and a wealth of tips from some of
the South’s most renowned gardening experts. A large section called
“Resource Directory” provides listings of botanical gardens in the
South to visit, mail-order sources for plants, a glossary of
gardening terms, and a useful discussion on “Solving the Mystery of
Botanical Names.” Some of this book’s more substantial additions
include 2,000 new plant listings as well as USDA Hardiness Zone and
AHS Heat Zone designations. This is a vital reference for all
gardeners in the American South.
Buy This Book |
GARDENER’S
BOOKS
Summer Reading
The lazy days of summer are here, and if you’re a
gardener who misses plants and getting soil under your nails while you’re
vacationing at the beach or in a cabin in the woods, just take along one of
the books listed here. The staff of The American Gardener has selected them
based on overall interest, entertainment value, and ease of reading.
garden literature anthologies
 Fine
bedtime reading, The Garden of Reading, subtitled “An Anthology of 20th
Century Short Fiction about Gardens and Gardeners,” edited by Michele
Slung (The Overlook Press, Woodstock, New York, 2004. $24.95), is a bouquet of
many and varied stories. In each one—“Blue Poppies,” “The Lawnmower Man,” “A
Curtain of Green,” “The Fig Tree”—the way people interface with the natural
world is the starting point, the setting, or the crisis of tales by authors
such as Colette, Eudora Welty, Steven King, James Thurber, and Barbara Pym.
Buy This Book
 In American Garden
Writing: An Anthology, edited by Bonnie Marranca (Taylor Trade Publishing,
New York, 2003, $13.27), gardeners will find American garden history served up
in thick, delicious slices. Each entry is meaty, but short. From George
Washington (“The more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better I
am pleased with them”) to J.I. Rodale (“One of these fine days the public is
going to wake up and…pay…for high quality products such as those raised by
organic methods.”), this collection allows us to see how we came to garden as
we do.
Buy This Book
Carole Ottesen, Associate Editor
garden experience
 Urban
professionals Kimberly Schaye and Christopher Losee made a dramatic life
change in 1996 when they decided to chuck the city noise, lights, and bustle
of New York City for the not-so-simple life as greenmarket farmers in the
Hudson Valley. In Stronger Than Dirt (Three Rivers Press, New York,
2003. $11.20), they chronicle the ups and downs of starting and running their
new business. Despite the laborious hurdles the authors had to cross, reading
the book made me want to buy a nice big plot of land and start a small working
farm full of cool specialty herbs, vegetables, and flowers.
The narrative shifts from Losee’s to Schaye’s voice
throughout the book, and both offer incisive, often humorous stories that
follow their path towards becoming successful farmers. One of the more amusing
features is Schaye’s top 10 list of everything that went wrong with their
first day at market, including number 10: “This whole thing looks about as
professional as a ten-year-old’s lemonade stand.” The market tables turned
shortly afterwards, though, when they found success and started to earn
sufficient profits.
This inspiring, funny, and well-written book is just right
for a good afternoon read in the summer—filling, yet not overindulgent.
Buy This Book
Jessie Keith, Editorial Intern
plant history and lore
 In
addition to authoring the Declaration of Independence and serving as the third
United States president, Thomas Jefferson was also a seasoned gardener. In
Jefferson’s Garden (Stackpole Books, Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, 2004.
$15.37), Peter Loewer highlights some of the ornamental plants Jefferson was
known to have grown or probably encountered on his Virginia estate, creating
an informative and very readable book that will especially appeal to gardeners
interested in history.
The bulk of the book is compromised of 60 plant profiles,
each a little descriptive gem full of history and folklore. Among the featured
plants are ones you’d expect, such as hollyhocks and lilacs—and more unusual
ones such as Venus flytrap and balsam apple (Momordica balsamina).
Interesting tidbits of information abound in these pages.
For instance, seeds were so highly regarded at one time that unscrupulous
politicians were known to send them to potential voters to gain favors. Loewer
informs us that Jefferson considered poison ivy an ornamental plant, and John
Bartram even sold it in his Philadelphia nursery.
These anecdotes and Loewer’s conversational tone make
Jefferson’s Garden a great summer read.
Buy This Book
Mary Yee, Managing Editor and Designer
|
