Publications - AHS TAG - September/October 2007 Book Reviews

American Horticultural Society
The American Gardener
September/October 2007 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 September/October 2007 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.

Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns
Sue Olsen. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2007. 444 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $59.95. Buy This Book

Ferns are the consummate shade plants, but many gardeners still believe “if you have seen one, you have seen them all.” Though these ancient and captivating plants are but variations on a theme, the variation is beguiling and seemingly limitless. Nowhere is this made more apparent than in Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns.
With concise yet descriptive prose and more than 700 color photographs, fern maven Sue Olsen establishes just how variable and exquisitely beautiful ferns are. Olsen ranks among America’s most respected fern experts; in addition to her many years of experience as a gardener, she is the owner of Foliage Gardens fern nursery in Bellevue, Washington. Her in-depth understanding of all aspects of fern identification and cultivation becomes evident in this essential reference.
Olsen opens with a gallery of provocative fern portraits taken through the seasons. Brief introductory chapters cover history, cultivation, and propagation in ample detail. The bulk of the book is devoted to encyclopedic profiles of nearly 1,000 species—true ferns as well as fern allies such as Selaginella (spikemosses), Lycopodium (clubmosses), and Equisetum (horsetails). Though several garden-worthy tropical ferns are profiled, the book primarily addresses temperate species.
Each entry highlights botanical and common names, etymology of the specific epithet, whether the fronds are deciduous or evergreen, height, and hardiness zones. The nomenclature is up-to-date—no small feat in a field where names change as quickly as the weather. Entry text includes a full description of rhizome, frond, and sori; range and habitat; and culture, which covers garden conditions and anecdotal comments based on the author’s experience with each species. The majority of the photographs are sharp and diagnostic. Useful appendices include lists of award-winning ferns, favorite ferns by hardiness zone, and ferns for special situations, as well as societies, gardens, and nurseries devoted to these plants.
This encyclopedia is an indispensable addition to the bookshelf of every gardener, from the obsessed pteridophile to neophytes with a new-found fancy for fronds.

C. Colston Burrell is a fanatical frondsman, garden designer, and co-author of Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide (Timber Press, 2006).

Grow Organic
Doug Oster and Jessica Walliser. St. Lynn’s Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2007. 224 pages. Publisher’s price, softcover: $18.95. Buy This Book

The Elements of Organic Gardening
HRH The Prince of Wales with Stephanie Donaldson. Kales Press, Carlsbad, California, 2007. 176 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $39.95. Buy This Book

At first glance, the two books couldn’t be more different. Grow Organic is a hard working paperback, printed on recycled paper, with charts, sidebars, and plenty of subheads that organize information into manageable chunks; The Elements of Organic Gardening is a glamorous hardcover book laced with photographs of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla) in the gardens at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, Clarence House in London, and Birkhall in Scotland. However, once you start reading them, the books are surprisingly similar in their essence. Both are based on personal experience, and both provide vital information on how to manage a garden organically.

Additionally, the authors of both books are eminently qualified to stand as experts. As well as writing garden columns, authoring books, and lecturing to garden clubs across the country, Oster and Walliser co-host a weekly radio program called “The Organic Gardeners” in Pittsburgh. Prince Charles has been a major force in making organic farming mainstream in Britain, and his estate at Highgrove is a well-known flagship for the organic movement. His co-author Stephanie Donaldson, a devoted organic gardener for more than 30 years, has written 19 gardening books and serves as gardening editor of the British Country Living magazine.

In Grow Organic, the authors cover the basic principles, explaining everything from soil management to strategies for controlling pests and diseases. They also share personal anecdotes and lessons they have learned in their years of gardening organically. The writing style is lively and the information is clearly presented and comprehensive.

The chapter on growing an organic lawn is particularly valuable for homeowners who think organic gardening applies to edibles and ornamentals only. Other features include a handy glossary and a “source list for all things organic” with companies and organizations that the authors trust for reliable organic gardening information and products referenced in the text.

Both Prince Charles and Donaldson are passionate about organic gardening, and it shows throughout the pages of The Elements of Organic Gardening. Regarding soil, Donaldson writes, “To organic farmers and gardeners, the soil is not merely a convenient medium in which to grow plants, but the very stuff of life itself.”
The book combines a tour of garden properties belonging to Prince Charles with a description of how they are managed organically. An explanation of the science behind the techniques is followed by suggestions for how a homeowner can scale down the estate procedures to suit a more typical suburban landscape. For example, a small tractor is used weekly to turn the compost heaps at Highgrove, so the book suggests homeowners consider purchasing a rotating compost bin designed for small gardens.

Both are excellent books with plenty of sound, practical information. Grow Organic is an ideal reference book and easy-to-understand guide on organic gardening. For those with a desire to get an insider’s view of Prince Charles’s properties as well as to learn about the science and practice of organic husbandry on both an estate and in a home garden, The Elements of Organic Gardening won’t disappoint.

A resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, Catriona Tudor Erler is the author of eight garden books, and has contributed to many more.

Mini Review

If you’ve ever experienced the frustration of prying a stubborn dandelion from the ground, only to have five more pop up in its place, you might want to read The Teeth of the Lion: The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion (McDonald & Woodward Publishing Co., 2006, $14.95 Buy This Book ). Anita Sanchez, a senior environmental educator at the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, will give you new appreciation for one of America’s most popular and pervasive weeds.

“No other plant in the world has been linked with such a wildly diverse assortment of cultures and times,” Sanchez writes. She takes an in-depth look at the humble dandelion’s biology, nutritional content, and its establishment in America, and even includes a few recipes for cooking with dandelion. Readers may be surprised to learn that at one time the dandelion had a favorable reputation. Sanchez tells the compelling story of how in less than 400 years, the plant evolved from a valued crop and garden ornamental to despised weed. For gardeners who don’t appreciate the dandelion, Sanchez concludes with tips on how to eradicate it from the garden.

Courtney Capstack, Editorial Intern

If you have made something with your own hands, you know that little can top that sense of accomplishment. At least, that’s how I felt when, as a teenager, I knitted and proudly wore my first scarf. I get that same feeling whenever I manage to successfully pull off a complicated recipe—even better if I’ve thrown in some of my own modifications. And needless to say, I derive a lot of satisfaction from gardening since there are ample opportunities for getting creative, whether you are building a pond, laying out paths, designing a potager, or even constructing a whole greenhouse. For gardeners with a “do-it-yourself” urge, here are several books that will give you ideas and help guide you through the process of implementing them.

Down & Dirty by Ellen Zachos (Storey Publishing, 2007, $19.95 Buy This Book)
describes more than 40 “fun and funky” projects and activities designed for novice gardeners, including children. One of the more imaginative projects is making a “dinosaur garden” with ferns, mosses, and cycads for kids to “populate the land that time forgot with an army of T-rexes, velociraptors, and pterosaurs.” The book also includes more grown-up activities such as some garden photography basics, and instructions for building a containerized water garden and using cold frames. Many large color photographs help to illustrate steps and plants the book describes.

I particularly enjoy projects that recycle materials into something completely different than their original purpose—several of which appear in Easy Garden Projects to Make, Build, and Grow (Yankee Books, 2006, $17.95 Buy This Book), edited by Barbara Pleasant and the editors of Yankee Magazine. For example, one suggestion uses wooden pallets that are “usually free for the asking at lumberyards or home improvement stores” to make a sturdy compost bin. A sidebar explains how to make a compost aerator out of a coat hanger and a broom handle. Along with projects that employ household items or readily available supplies, the book also has a chapter on growing plants that can be used as resources, such as bamboo for trellises and fencing or gourds for birdhouses and craft projects.

The Way We Garden Now (Clarkson Potter, 2007, $29.95 Buy This Book) by Katherine Whiteside contains 41 practical projects that “any ordinary person with normal skill levels” can tackle. The projects range from simple, such as creating a compost pile and adding garden elements to attract birds, to more involved ones such as constructing a patio and installing a deer fence. As a “hands-on gardener with a healthy disregard for fancy tools, an aversion to overspending, and no time to recover from extreme exhaustion,” Whiteside realistically describes the scope of each project and provides easy-to-follow instructions. Each project includes a bulleted list of needed tools and materials as well as droll watercolor illustrations and instructional line drawings.

For those who enjoy breaking out the power tools and an occasional bag of quick-set concrete, there’s Grounds for Improvement (Lark Books, 2007, $17.95 Buy This Book). Written by Dean Hill and Jackie Taylor, hosts of a DIY Network show by the same name, the book offers 40 hardscaping projects that will “help you make your dreams and ideas for your outdoor living spaces come true.” So if you have been dreaming of building patios, decks, water features, walkways, walls, or even a putting green, the concise instructions, step-by-step color photographs, and schematics provided in this book will walk you through each project. Useful tips on everything from operating a jackhammer to preventing warping of deck planks are sprinkled throughout the chapters, followed by an appendix of very basic planting tips for flowers, trees, and shrubs, and a handy metric conversion table.

If you’ve ever contemplated adding a greenhouse to your property but didn’t know where to start, How to Build Your Own Greenhouse by Roger Marshall (Storey Publishing, 2006, $24.95 Buy This Book ) will point you in the right direction. Pausing for a quick look at historical glasshouses, the book jumps right into an overview of various options available today. “Only by considering every aspect of owning a greenhouse,” Marshall writes, “can you determine what type and structural style it should be, as well as what glazing material to use and whether the greenhouse should have heating, plumbing, supplemental lighting, and misting or automatic venting systems.” Subsequent chapters demystify each of these elements, followed by a section with plans “geared for handy, do-it-yourself gardeners” or that can serve as models for a contractor.