The Garden
Explored
The
Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes,
Restios, Cat-tails, and Selected Bamboos
Rick Darke. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 1999. 325
pages.
Recommended, but review unavailable on-line (see, current
issue of The American Gardener).
Buy this book!
Growing
Perennials in Cold Climates
Mike Heger and John Whitman. Contemporary Books,
Lincolnwood, Illinois, 1998. 448 pages.
Recommended, but review unavailable on-line (see, current
issue of The American Gardener).
Buy this book!
Growing
Roses in Cold Climates
Jerry Olson and John Whitman. Contemporary Books,
Lincolnwood, Illinois, 1998. 272 pages.
Recommended, but review unavailable on-line (see, current
issue of The American Gardener).
Buy this book!
The Gardener's
Atlas: The Origins, Discovery, and Cultivation of the Most
Popular Garden Plants
John Grimshaw. Firefly Books, Buffalo, New York, 1998. 224
pages.
Recommended, but review unavailable on-line (see, current
issue of The American Gardener).
Buy this book!
The Andersen
Horticultural Library Online
University of Minnesota Libraries, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Annual subscription price: individual: $39.95.
Institutional/commercial: $59.95.
If you purchase a lot of plants through mail-order catalogs,
you may already be familiar with The Andersen Horticultural
Library’s Source List of Plants & Seeds, a published index
which was updated every three years. Following publication of
the 1996 edition, however, the time-sensitive source list has
gone high-tech under the name Plant Information Online,
located at
http://plantinfo.umn.edu. This online service provides
fully updated sources for more than 60,000 plants, listings
for more than 1000 North American seed and plant providers,
and more than 150,000 citations of botanical illustrations and
photographs from 150 current horticultural journals and books.
The site is simple to navigate, and finding sources for your
favorite plants is a snap. Under “Sources for Plants & Seeds,”
you may search for plants by scientific or common name. You
may be as vague or as detailed as you wish but, as with any
search engine, if you are too vague, you’ll have to wade
through a long list of unrelated “hits.” A list of plants
matching your search criteria is retrieved very quickly, and
with a simple click of the mouse button you can pull up a list
of retail and wholesale mail-order nurseries that carry that
plant. The nursery list includes company names, catalog
prices, and the city, state, and country (United States or
Canada) of the nursery. Click again on any nursery in the list
and you’ll be given the full address, phone and fax numbers,
e-mail addresses, and a direct link to nursery Web sites—if
they have them. And if you connect to one of these Web sites,
simply hit the back button on your browser to return to Plant
Information Online; you won’t have to log back on.
Don’t have a particular plant in mind? Go to “Information on
North American Nurseries” to search for nurseries by plant
specialty. A pull-down box allows you to select from broad
categories, such as nurseries specializing in rock garden
plants, houseplants, evergreens, and water plants, or from
nurseries that deal with specific plants, including peonies,
roses, orchids, clematis, and ferns. You can also search for
nurseries by name or by city, state, country, and by whether a
firm is retail or wholesale. Finding a mail-order nursery has
never been easier.
Another nice feature of this service is the Members Mailbox,
where you can e-mail questions to the Web site’s editors.
Questions and answers deemed to be of general interest to
subscribers are posted.
This is an excellent resource for anyone who gardens by mail.
Updated daily, the site is the most comprehensive resource for
plants available by mail-order. So if you’ve ever spent hours
scouring the pages of 25 catalogs trying to remember where you
saw that ‘Tutti Frutti’ rhododendron advertised, subscribe to
Plant Information Online and spend less time with your head in
a catalog and more time with your hands in the garden. If you
prefer to use the printed version of Andersen’s Horticultural
Library’s Source List, don’t despair. The next edition is
tentatively scheduled for publication in the year 2000.
-- Christina M. Scott, Assistant Editor of The American
Gardener.
Visit Andersen's On-Line
The
Gardener's Guide to Growing Daylilies
Diana Grenfell. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 1998. 160
pages
A practical reference for one of the most popular flowering
plants in the garden. The author, a leading authority on the
genus Hemerocallis, provides a wealth of information on
cultivation, propagation, and garden uses, together with
encyclopedic entries describing hundreds of cultivars.
Information on history, botany, and breeding of daylilies
gives the gardener an idea of how a genus of only 30 species
now includes more than 40,000 different selections. Contains
74 color photographs.
Buy this book!
Campanulas:
A Gardener's Guide
Peter Lewis and Margaret Lynch. Timber Press, Portland,
Oregon, 1998. 176 pages.
This revised edition of Lewis and Lynch’s 1992 guide to these
revered garden plants and wildflowers is updated to include
the latest hybrids, cultivars, and name changes. As in the
original, the authors provide anecdotes about the history and
discovery of various bellflowers, as well as tips on
cultivation. Hundreds of encyclopedic entries reveal the
fantastic variety of sizes, shapes, and colors available to
the gardener. Contains 75 color photographs and 20 line
drawings.
Buy this book!
Naturalistic
Gardening: Reflecting the Planting Patterns of Nature
Ann Lovejoy. Sasquatch Books, Seattle, 1998. 160 pages
Award-winning garden writer Ann Lovejoy looks to nature for
inspiring garden designs in this colorful new book, graced
with beautiful photography by Allan Mandell. Lovejoy explains
naturalistic principles in detail and describes how they can
be applied to any garden, whether large or small, urban or
rural. Individual plant portraits are sprinkled through the
text, providing a closer look at some of the more intriguing
plants in a naturalistic setting. Numerous planting schemes
that provide color and foliage year round are also
illustrated. Contains 100 color photographs.
Buy this book!
The Foliage
Garden: Tapestries of Color, Shape, and Texture
Becke Davis. Friedman/Fairfax, New York, 1998. 144 pages
For those who want more out of their gardens than showy
flowers that last only a fraction of the gardening season,
this book shows how to create a garden full of plants with
beautiful leaves. Helpful sidebars focus on topics of special
interest, such as ornamental grasses, bamboos, fragrant
plants, and plants with ornamental bark and berries. The book
also offers a variety of easy-to-follow garden designs that
you can integrate into your own landscape. A resource guide
lists organizations, mail-order nurseries, and books for
further reading to help you create the perfect foliage garden.
Contains more than 100 color photographs.
Buy this book!
The
Garden Tourist 1999
Lois G. Rosenfeld. Garden Tourist Press, New York, 1998.
264 pages
For eight years, The Garden Tourist has directed readers to
North America’s best garden events. As with previous volumes,
the 1999 edition lists nearly 1,000 “best-of-the-best” garden
events in 49 states and nine Canadian provinces. This new
edition has expanded with the addition of a “Guide to
Gardens,” which provides complete information on more than 440
gardens in the United States and Canada. Another new feature
is 10 short articles on what to see and do in selected great
North American garden spots. There is also a section on
selected garden tours and horticultural events around the
world, including Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as a
listing of major flower shows in the United Statesand Canada.
An indispensable guide for the traveling gardener.
Buy this book!
Tools
of the Earth: The Practice and Pleasure of Gardening
Jeff Taylor. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1998. 174
pages
Each of the 24 essays in this delightful book highlights one
commonly used garden tool—from the shovel to the harvest
basket—and explores its meaning, feel, history, and use. In a
witty and often moving style, Taylor explores the subtle
lessons about life, patience, and practicality that working a
garden can teach. A great book for anyone who has ever felt a
special bond with their favorite garden trowel or watering
can, or for anyone who simply loves spending time in the
garden. Illustrated with color photographs by Rich Iwasaki.
Buy this book!
Earth
on her Hands: The American Woman in her Garden
Starr Ockenga. Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, 1998.
240 pages
Writer and photographer Starr Ockenga examines the private
gardens of American women who, she says, are the backbone of
America’s gardening renaissance. Concentrating on the
gardening experiences of 18 fascinating women, the book
becomes, as Ockenga claims, “a remarkable resource of a half
century of everyday gardening across America.” Each profile is
accompanied by a complete garden plan and comprehensive plant
lists and tips on plant culture are given for many of the
featured gardens. Large-format color photographs grace nearly
every page of this delightful book.
Buy this book!
The
Garden Explored
Mia Amato. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1997. 60 pages
This book is not another how-to gardening reference; instead,
it explains why some things work in the garden while others
don’t. Through written explanations and dozens of hands-on
projects, you’ll learn the answers to such questions as “Why
do plants respond better to morning waterings?” and “Why prune
at a certain time of year?” A great book for gardeners who
want to learn about what’s going on beneath the garden surface
and within the plants they grow.
Buy this book!
