The Fern World

One of my favorite fern authors is Francis George Heath (1843-1913). A prolific writer, he was keen on popularizing ferns with a well-honed eye and wit. He wrote at least one book about ferns for children and in all his books, he encourages fern tourism. His favorite destination was his home shire of Devon, located in the west of England with long, wild coasts on both the English and Bristol Channels.

In “The Fern World” (1877), he explains his reasoning behind this push for seeking ferns in situ. “It is too frequently the custom of our botanical writers to describe with painstaking minuteness only the structure and peculiarities of the organs of plants—but tell us nothing of the life of the plants.” He was fond of pointing out contrasts, whether it be to distinguish between the rugged scenery of Devon and the “pretty, and quiet, and pastoral” look of Somerset directly to the east, or between a “Lady Fern” (Athyrium filix-faemina) and the “Male Fern” (Dryopteris filix-mas) included in the same plate. Of the former he comments, “Poets may fairly claim the right to describe the Lady Fern; for this beautiful plant is unquestionably the fairest and most delicately graceful of ferny forms, whether large or small.” He describes the “Male Fern” as so designated “on account of its remarkably erect and robust habit of growth.”

Excerpted from the Spring 2020 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Ferns For American Gardens

As the curator of ferns at the New York Botanical Garden, John Mickel has considerable experience with the cold hardiness of his subjects. He recognizes that his book “Ferns for American Gardens” is “not the last word on hardy fern cultivation, but only a beginning.” Despite being from the East Coast, his many garden worthy selections are vetted for suitability throughout the country, and in his acknowledgements he credits many members of the Hardy Fern Foundation, based in the Seattle area, for their input. A recommended book by local fern expert Sue Olsen.

Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Spring 2020

Hardy Ferns

Reginald Kaye was a 20th century, English nursery owner and an expert at growing everything from orchids to alpine plants. He had both a hosta and a pulmonaria named after him, but he wrote about his favorite plants in “Hardy Ferns,” a book that helped revive something of the popularity ferns enjoyed during the Victorian period. His writing is both pragmatic and lightened by dry humor. A favorite book of local fern expert Sue Olsen.

Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Spring 2020

The Plantfinder’s Guide To Garden Ferns

Martin Rickard’s “The Plantfinder’s Guide to Garden Ferns” includes an extensive list and description of cultivars, an obvious passion of the author and very popular with patrons of the Miller Library, as the book has been checked out over 30 times. This has excellent illustrations, including two-page plates containing several varieties for comparison; the fine foliage clearly highlighted by the lighter background. A favorite book of local fern expert Sue Olsen.

Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Spring 2020

The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power Of Nature

Cleve West was one of the panelists for the October 2020 Northwest Horticultural Society Symposium, Gardening for the Future: Diversity and Ecology in the Urban Landscape. In his presentation, he mentioned several books that have influence his thinking. One of those is “The Well Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature” by Sue Stuart-Smith.

An active gardener, married to a garden designer (Tom Stuart-Smith), the author’s research shows that humans have grown flowers for ornamental purposes for at least 5,000 years, suggesting pleasure was an important factor in evolutionary development. “The cultivated flower’s niche in the ecosystem is therefore a human emotional niche.”

Although English, Stuart-Smith makes reference to the research of Gregory Bratman of the University of Washington, who found that urban dwellers had improved mental health function after a 90-minute walk in a park setting. The benefits were not shared by a control group that walked along a roadway.

Stuart-Smith includes a chapter on “War and Gardening”, highlighting how soldiers found refuge in small plantings in the most horrific of settings (the Miller Library has other books devoted to this topic). A garden is a statement in opposition to the carnage of battle and a means to maintain some level of sanity.

The author, a psychiatrist, devotes parts of this book to a brief biography of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, focusing on his appreciation of flowers, both in the wild and in garden settings. His favorites included gardenias and the poet’s daffodil (Narcissus poeticus), the latter he knew as a wild flower growing in meadows near a favorite holiday home in the Austrian Alps. Yes – Freud did have opinions on the meaning of flowers in dreams. I direct you to pages 144-147 of Stuart-Smith’s book to learn more.

Friends of Freud knew of his love of flowers and these were often gifts on his birthday. Stuart-Smith highlights studies that suggest flowers give longer and deeper satisfaction than any other type of gift. Writing this review, on a gloomy, rainy day, shortly before Valentine’s Day, I can especially anticipate this flower power. Although, chocolate works pretty well, too!

Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Spring 2021

Fern Fever: The Story of Pteridomania

While preparing for a recent class on ferns for the Northwest Horticultural Society, I discovered a delightful book that has been in our collection for several years. Fern Fever: The Story of Pteridomania (2012) by Sarah Whittingham, is an extremely detailed, well-researched and well-documented history of fern collecting and growing. It especially focuses on the widespread and fervent interest these plants generated in Britain during the last half of the 19th century. This book is also a lot of fun!

Prior to the 1830s, ferns were minor players in the herbals and floras of Britain. The invention of the Wardian case was one reason for the change. These structures, much like a large terrarium, kept an even moist atmosphere for humidity-loving plants and provided a barrier to the polluted air of sooty London and other major cities. They quickly became a fashionable accessory for every middle class household.

Another discovery was a plenitude of ferns in the native flora, and that many species were prone to sporting fascinating varieties, ripe for collecting and propagating. Resorts sprang up in areas with rich fern floras, and collecting prize examples was a popular vacation pastime. “Visitors to ferny districts not only picked and bought ferns, but also purchased fern albums and local knick-knacks and curios featuring the plant as a motif…to demonstrate one’s refined taste, in both choice of holiday destination and souvenirs and presents.”

The only downside to this book is its scarcity – the Miller Library copy is for library use only. However, Whittingham also wrote The Victorian Fern Craze (2009), a condensed but equally engaging version of her later work, which is available to borrow.

Excerpted from the February 2020 Leaflet, Volume 7, Issue 2.

Community-scale composting systems: a comprehensive practical guide for closing the food system loop and solving our waste crisis

Community-scale composting systems cover
Author James McSweeney passionately believes that food scraps are resources — not waste — and has spent a career consulting for farmers, businesses and community based non-profits on how to turn organic material into high quality compost. His experience and knowledge has been collected into a text book that details not only the various techniques for making compost at scale, but also all the economic, logistic and business considerations required for success. The book is very well organized with charts, worksheets for planning, diagrams and excellent color photos. McSweeney’s writing is scientific, but also engaging with just enough anecdotal examples and case studies to keep readers interested in what could be a very dry topic. Footnotes document extensive references, while sidebars give focused information such as “Common regulations for food scrap composters.”

In the introduction McSweeney distills the essence of successful composting to the four Cs: cover, contain, complete and carbon. The following chapters explore several business and system models (such as drop-off, school, commercial, community garden) with economic analysis for each system. The biology and chemistry behind the compost process is detailed in another chapter. Proven composting methods, such as windrows and aerated static pile, are explained the following chapters. Finally the text concludes with chapters on site management and marketing the final product.

This book would be useful for anyone on the composting continuum from serious home scale and multi-family, to neighborhood, school and work place, to on-farm, community gardens and demonstration sites to large scale municipal and industrial enterprises.

Excerpted from the February 2020 Leaflet for Scholars Volume 7, Issue 2.

Flora of the Mediterranean with California, Chile, Australia and South Africa

The lands that border the Mediterranean Sea have – for the most part – a similar climate: hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Climatologists have identified four other regions in the world with a similar pattern, including most of California and parts of Australia, Chile, and South Africa.

The floras of these regions encompass intense speciation, so that on approximately 2% of the world’s land mass one finds over 12% of the world’s plant species, many of them endemic. Exploring these floras is a new book, Flora of the Mediterranean by Christopher Gardner and Basak Guner Gardner.

This is a rich photo guide; one could just enjoy the many, stunning close-ups in this large format book (12×10″). However, that would mean missing the extensive detail in the text, such as a description of the Mediterranean climate in Australia that begins: “On occasion the botanist is subjected to such an intense bombardment of new species they have trouble assimilating everything in front of them.”

The chapter on California will feel closer to home, as the Pacific Northwest has a modified, or cool Mediterranean climate, colder and wetter in the winter, with less heat in the summer. This allows us to grow successfully many of the plants from these regions in our gardens.

All images in this book are in situ and a bonus is a short but pithy description of techniques for photographing plants in the wild. While it’s not a lending book, I encourage taking some time with this book, or the authors’ earlier Flora of the Silk Road (2014), in the Miller Library.

Published in the January 2020 Leaflet for Scholars, Volume 7, Issue 1

RetroSuburbia : the downshifter’s guide to a resilient future

RetroSuburbia cover David Holmgren co-created the philosophy of Permaculture while living in Australia in the 1970s. More than just a gardening method, “permaculture could be better described as a design system for resilient living and land use based on universal ethics and ecological design principles.” Holmgren writes RetroSuburbia : the downshifter’s guide to a resilient future from the point of view that the future will become increasingly difficult because of “energy descent” (scarcity) and general global economic depression. However, his tone is optimistic and pragmatic—
he has led a self-reliant life and so can you. Retrosuburbia is a thick manual with a philosophical foundation for those wishing to be environmentally conscientious, resilient and self-reliant. Holmgren distills the rationale of his guide as: “… downshifting away from consumption supported by paid work and debt to a culture of voluntary simplicity and permaculture productivity.”

The book is divided into three fields: built, biological, and behavioral. Each discussion point draws from 12 permaculture design principles. such as “integrate rather than segregate” and “use and value diversity.” These principles have a corresponding icon that is included every time the principle is invoked.

One chapter in the Build section is “Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer,” which explains house retrofitting methods to reduce reliance on gas and electric heaters and air conditioners. Common sense measures to reduce drafts and improve insulation are mentioned. Holmgren also details more creative techniques such as building attached greenhouses on the sunward side for passive solar winter gains. In the summer, the greenhouse would grow vines like beans or tomatoes to block the sun from over-heating the main house. Growing deciduous trees or vines on the west side of the house also moderates summertime indoor temperatures. And like fathers everywhere, Holmgren reminds us to put a sweater on if we’re cold in the winter.

The chapter “Building and Maintaining Soil Fertility” is in the Biological Field section. The introduction to soil management for food production is general and discusses how suburban soil fertility is different than conventional agriculture and how modern practices like city composting programs make it relatively easier for home farmers to improve backyard soils. Holmgren highly recommends professional soil testing and gives an example from his own garden of how soil minerals can get out of balance with direct negative impacts on trees and crops. The rest of the chapter discusses various fertility generating techniques in general terms and when they might be appropriate to use. No details or instructions are given, but the heavily foot-noted text gives numerous suggestions for further reading.

The Behavior Field section covers topics such as “Transport and Travel,” “Creating Your Own Livelihood,” and “Financial Planning and Security.” Each chapter encourages a re-framing of how to spend time and money. One suggestion in the financial planning chapter is to invest in small, local business that will directly contribute to community resilience, like a wind farm or urban farm. There is also discussion of which trade-able goods might be worth stockpiling and the relative pros and cons of having cash on hand. Holmgren questions the wisdom of borrowing to pay for a university education that leaves graduates deep in debt, but without skills of self-reliance.

The book will be instructive for people concerned about the climate crisis, those wanting to be self-sufficient and even those on a path to FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). There are no suggestions to head for the hills and retreat from society, but instead Holmgren instructs readers how to retrofit urban and suburban developments to support growing food and meeting life’s necessities while transitioning away from conventional modes of employment and consumption.

Published in the January 2020 Leaflet, Volume 7, Issue 1

Field Guide to the Grasses of Oregon and Washington

[Field Guide to the Grasses of Oregon and Washington] cover

Field Guide to the Grasses of Oregon and Washington is the work of five authors over a period of 15 years, but it will likely remain a standard for a much longer period. Covering the whole of both states, this guide presents 343 of our species (out of some 10,000 worldwide), including invasive species, naturalized ornamentals, and even some agricultural crops that show up as “waifs” along roadsides. All are in the plant family Poaceae. Excluded are sedges, rushes, or any of the numerous plants that have “grass” in their common name – such as beargrass or eelgrass – found in other families. Also omitted are bamboos; while some have established locally, none are known to sexually reproduce in our climate.

The keys are a daunting 75 pages long, but the authors provide helpful descriptions by genus throughout, along with some diagrams of closely-allied species. The encyclopedic bulk of the book includes detailed descriptions, range maps, and – the best feature – especially intricate photographs showing many close-ups parts for each species.

While written for an expert, the introduction addresses the needs of the beginner, too, with helpful hints on getting started and not being discouraged. Clearly, the authors love their subjects. “We hope you come to enjoy grasses as much as we do. Besides their ecological and economic importance, grasses themselves are fascinating.”

Published in the December 2019 Leaflet for Scholars, Volume 6 Issue 12.