It seems every year around this time, bookstore shelves swell with gardening tomes. Most go back whence they came after I drain my latte cup. But a select few stand out. Here are my picks for books that should actually make it out of the store. Drink up!
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| Click photo for a slideshow of gardening books worth reading |
This little book by Barbara W. Ellis seems to have a Napoleon complex - tiny in size with such a boastful title - so I was skeptical of its claims.
The guide opens with a Q&A section that addresses soil, general crop care and organic pest and disease control. Then, from artichokes to zucchini, details on sowing, caring for, watering, harvesting and troubleshooting problems are provided.
In the end, Ellis' self-assured claims passed my test: Her book answered the one question whose answer has eluded me (and lots of my gardening colleagues) for a long time. A healthy-looking tomato that is rotted inside, I've learned, is suffering from blossom end rot, even though its end isn't rotted. Who knew?
I love making lists. Let me correct that: I NEED to make lists. Without them, I feel so disorganized and my life begins to spiral downward. I'm so compulsive about it that when I accomplish something that isn't on my list, I write it down just so I can cross it out.
Naturally, I have a list of things to do before I die. I created it about five years ago, and judging by the length of it (and it keeps getting longer) I'd better live a very long life. Here's a look at my progress:
See the Harlem Globetrotters
Visit Hawaii
Line dance and eat barbecue Austin, Texas
See the Grand Ole Opry
Become a Master Gardener
See David Byrne in concert
Move to a bigger house
It's not much, I know, but I'm working on it. I still have to write that novel, visit France, England and Italy (again), see the Mayan ruins, and rent a Winnebago and take Route 66 across the country, among other things.
Now here's a shameful confession: Until I read this book, I didn't consider visiting any historical gardens. Read it and your list might grow longer, too.
"1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die" (Barron's, $34.99)
General Editor: Rae Spencer-Jones
Eye candy for anyone awed by natural beauty, this stocky volume is arranged geographically from west to east and north to south. Most of the 1,001 gardens featured include a colorful photo, a few paragraphs of description and a fact box with at-a- glance details about the designer, owner, garden style, size, location and climate.
Every imaginable style is covered, from traditional (Monet's Giverny in France, on my list, by the way) to tropical (Jim Thompson Garden in Bangkok) and from the tranquil (Japan's Daichi-ji) to the surreal (Las Pozas in the Mexican jungle.)
In addition to Old Westbury Gardens, the John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden in Mill Neck ("forces a change of pace - certainly no bad thing in the fast-paced world of today") and Longhouse Reserve in East Hampton ("Visitors ... quickly discover an array of planting textures and colors offset by an inspiring collection of artwork") are local treasures given succinct coverage that includes historical background and beautiful photography.
Simply flipping through these pages will have you planning ways to incorporate various styles into your own garden, and maybe even making a few vacation plans.
Today we're going to talk about a subject dear to the hearts of many Long Islanders, especially those fortunate enough to live in a place like Anne Halpin, author of "Seascape Gardening," (Storey Publishing, $19.95), does.
Halpin is a Hampton Bays resident who has written a dozen gardening books, including "Homescaping: The Year-Round Flower Gardener" and "Annuals, Perennials and Bulbs."
Roger Foley, whose photos enliven the pages of the book, is a prominent garden photographer based in Arlington, Va.
What could be more beautiful than the view from a cottage overlooking the crashing waves of the ocean? How about a mass of stunning blossoms spilling over the rocky ledge between you and the Atlantic? As anyone who lives seaside knows, it isn't as easy as it looks.
A glance at the USDA plant hardiness zone map confirms that coastal areas - including those on Long Island - experience temperatures 10 degrees warmer than those inland in the same region. But strong winds, salty air and sandy soil more than counter any benefit gained from the warmer climate. Regardless, as the magnificent photography featured in this book attests, a glorious garden can be had.
Halpin lists plants with high and moderate salt tolerance and points to others that can survive flooding. Once plants are selected, the seascape gardener needs to select the ideal planting location (not on dunes, but behind them, for instance). Next, the ground should be stabilized with ground cover or grasses.
Beachfront gardening is unique and complex, but Halpin guides her fellow Long Islanders, offering planting and design advice, maintenance suggestions, solutions to the biggest challenges and profiles of more than 100 plants, trees and shrubs that are suitable for oceanfront landscapes.
Here's a particularly interesting excerpt from the book:
"When choosing plants for your seaside garden, it is essential that you have a very clear understanding of the environmental conditions they will face in your garden or in their particular spot in your garden. Seashore conditions vary significantly from one property to another. The closer you are to the beach, the greater the variation can be. At the beach, growing conditions just a thousand feet apart can be totally different from one another."
Vincent A. Simeone, director of Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay, has has written a trio of books. His third, "Great Flowering Landscape Trees" (Ball Publishing, $24.95), is a real gem.
Born in Islip, Simeone, 39, has lived in Oyster Bay 14 years. His passion for trees began when he was a student at SUNY Farmingdale in 1986. "The first class I took was on trees and shrubs," he explains, "and it immediately just appealed to me."
After a short introduction, Simeone embarks on an alphabetical journey through the world of deciduous flowering trees. Each concise description presents characteristics - such as bark texture, foliage color, flowers and fruit - of notable varieties and is complemented with beautiful close-up photography by Bruce Curtis. Readers intent on adding year-round interest to their gardens are likely to find a wealth of useful information in the pages of this fabulous reference, which also offers some rare and unusual choices for the home landscape.
"I don't want my books to be coffee table books," Simeone told me. "I want to offer pertinent information for homeowners and professionals alike." Indeed, all three of his books are nuts-and-bolts, hands-on guides, chock-full of practical details -- right up my alley.
"There are a lot of mistakes people make, like putting trees in the wrong spot," he says. "Gardening requires a lot of planning to be successful. It takes hard work. The worst thing you could do is have a mishmash of plants that aren't planted properly because eventually you'll just have to move them."
Borrowing from the old adage on carpentry, Simeone sums up his philosophy this way: "Do research twice and plant once.
Amen.
TITLE: "The Glory of Gardens: 2,000 Years of Writings on Garden Design"
EDITOR: Scott J. Tilden
PUBLISHER/PRICE: Abrams, $50
Featuring original writings by more than 100 prominent gardening enthusiasts - spanning 2,000 years and myriad cultures - so that readers may literally "learn from the masters," this is one great coffee table book. It would make for a nice holiday gift, too.
Author's credentials: Tilden is the editor of several books on architecture, including "American Synagogues" and "Architecture for Art." For four years, he visited libraries at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, Yale and the New York Botanical Garden to research and compile the historic entries in this compendium.
Excerpt: "Advice to those about to build a water garden - DON'T. Not that the water garden is not a joy and a glory; but that it is cruelly hard to keep in order and control unless you are a master of millions and broad ample acres of pool and pond. Water, like fire, is a good servant, perhaps, but is painfully liable to develop into a master." - Reginald J. Farrar, "Don't Build a Water Garden" (1908)
If you're weary from the sight of rows of arborvitae, and bored from the mundane garden designs suggested by "experts" at garden superstores, why not heed the eloquent wisdom of garden ghosts gone by? Ancient designers, philosophers, scientists and poets coach you from the past with their musings - many translated from their native tongues - on their Western, Islamic, Japanese and Chinese gardens. Many of the writings have an intimate feel, as they were journal entries or letters to loved ones; others, written in essay form, are more formal, but nonetheless fascinating as cultural attitudes are evident throughout.
Brilliantly laced with color photographs, the personal accounts are categorized into chapters on principles, plan, structure, unity and variety, color, plant selection, hard surfaces and water. The reader will be drawn into the elegant style of the writers and the practical advice they offer. Applying the knowledge gleaned from these pages is sure to make one's home stand out.
Here's a book that makes me totally envious. That is, I wish I'd written it. It's so clever and amusing.
Keep warm, enjoy and have a blessed Thanksgiving.
TITLE: "Radical Prunings: A Novel of Officious Advice From the Contessa of Compost"
BY: Bonnie Thomas Abbott
PUBLISHER / PRICE: Emmis Books / $14.95
Purpose: Disguised as installments of a published column, the entries in "Radical Prunings" bring readers on a journey that is at once erudite, comical and poignant. In addition to valuable tidbits of gardening advice, we're also treated to juicy gossip about the columnist's family and staff, and somewhere along the way forget we're reading fiction.
Author's credentials: Bonnie Thomas Abbott was reared on an organic hobby farm in a family that valued all things literate. Her work has appeared in "Mirth of a Nation," "101 Damnations," and "Seattle Weekly."
Excerpt: "Readers, I'm having Miss Vong separate your letters into two piles: one for real gardening questions and one for lawn-care questions. I shall read your lawn-care letters after I retire from my career as an astronaut."
Effectiveness: Make no mistake -- "Radical Prunings" is not a garden resource book. It's a unique novel, told in the voice of fictional gardening expert Mertensia Corydalis in a question-and-answer format. But pearls of horticultural wisdom do surface -- if accidentally -- as the fictitious columnist answers readers' questions in her pretentious Miss Manners-esque style. Her Q&A newsletter often reveals more thorns about her personal life than about the roses on which she is queried, resulting in a humorous -- and often touching -- insight into the columnist's inner sanctum.
Readers get more information about Mertensia's failed marriage, ex-husband, daughter and employees than about their floricultural concerns, as details of her life slowly unravel over the course of two years' worth of columns. And early on, they're warned not to bother her with loathsome questions about topics that are beneath her, especially those regarding lawn care.
Gardening enthusiasts will nod their heads in solidarity as they read Mertensia's witty takes on everything from invasive zebra grass ("if you are not careful… it soon will be thumbing its nose at you from your neighbor's yard") to growing redwood trees ("Plant it and jump back. In four or five hundred years, you will really have something there.")
Of all the gardening books I've read and reviewed, there's one that stands out whenever I'm asked for a recommendation. I've consulted with it many times myself, and always keep it handy. You should, too.
Here's a review I wrote for Newsday exactly one year ago.
"The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques" (Timber Press, $34.95)
This newly published, updated and expanded edition of the popular 1998 guide details essential practices of perennial care, such as deadheading, pinching, cutting back, thinning, disbudding and deadleafing, all of which are explained and illustrated.
Author's credentials: DiSabato-Aust is a designer, professional speaker, landscape entrepreneur and horticultural author based in Columbus, Ohio.
Excerpt: "The amount of maintenance a garden requires depends precisely on how the garden was designed or planned. The chosen setting, style, size and shape of the garden as well as the plant selection, arrangement and spacing all intertwine to determine the type of care needed."
Effectiveness: This book is an excellent resource for planting and maintaining perennial gardens. With detailed instructions on design, bed preparation, planting and staggering bloom times, and in-depth tutorials on every type of pruning, "The Well-Tended Perennial Garden," will serve novice and experienced gardeners alike.
Readers can grab design ideas straight from the author's gardens, as more than 200 photos are included for inspiration. Also included is an appendix on ornamental grasses, a perennial garden planting and maintenance schedule (as well as a maintenance journal), and an index of plant names.
The pièce de résistance is an A-to-Z encyclopedia of perennial species, their bloom times and maintenance needs, which, alone, makes this the one book you should keep handy to consult throughout the year.
