Archives: Book Reviews

Why do forests capture our imagination? And why are so many fairytales, at least in the Northern European tradition, rooted in forests? Sara Maitland’s Gossip from the Forest is a fascinating and freewheeling exploration of how people shape the natural world, which shapes the tales we tell, which in turn shape us.

Maitland opens with the original meaning of the word ‘gossip’ (“one who has contracted a spiritual relationship to another, or a familiar acquaintance or friend”). As a feminist writer, she is reclaiming a term she believes has been trivialized to dismiss the power of women’s communication. (The American edition of the book has truncated the title to From the Forest, which is a shame.)

The chapters run from March through February, and in each Maitland visits a different forest in England or Scotland, and ends with a unique retelling of a familiar fairytale. There is much to ponder and to absorb. The descriptions of coppicing and pollarding were surprising to me, and I had to overcome my reflexive distaste for human interventions in the growth of forest trees. In a deciduous forest setting, these practices can be beneficial not only to humans (who need wood for fuel, building, and other uses) but to the trees as well. She notes that coppicing extends the lifespan of oaks, for example. Pollarding, which is done higher up on the tree, makes the thin branches accessible to humans but not to browsing deer and other mammals.

Another observation that intrigued me was the venerated position beech trees hold in British culture (see Richard Mabey’s book Beechcombings, or the widespread use of beeches in private estates to “posh up the landscape,” to quote the book) compared to the birch, which the author prefers for its aesthetic and useful qualities. Beech is thought of as native, but is widespread across Europe; in Britain it mainly grows in the southern half of the country. She recalls her father’s saying that “tyranny is like a beech tree; it looks very fine but nothing grows under it.”

This is a book with a wide reach. Maitland touches on the history of the powerful and the powerless as evidenced in policies like enclosure (ending public rights and access to land which was once held in common), and on the cultural and psychological underpinnings of tales in which common folk are skilled and wise while kings are fools and landed gentry are consumed by greed. Her walks through the forest evoke the mystery of the natural world and the stories we tell to understand our place in it. Adam Lee, Maitland’s son (who took the photographs which accompany the text), provides a useful image which summarizes the essence of the book: fairytales, forests, and people are interdependent, like mycorrhizae and tree roots.

Two Seattle area garden designers discovered they have a shared passion for leaves. The result of this synergy is “Fine Foliage,” a rare garden design book in which almost no flowers are allowed. Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz fill their book with a gallery of plant combinations highlighting leaf color, patterns, size, and shapes in both intimate and large-scale settings.

For each example there is a memorable name (like “Down the Rabbit Hole” or “Deer Be Damned!”), a summary of combined cultural needs, and a “Meet the Players” highlight of the selected plants. Most useful is the “Why This Works” paragraph that highlights the design principles behind each combination and stressing the importance of foliage first in any planting plan. Readers of “The Bulletin” will be interested to see that three of the designs for shady locations were created by Rizaniño “Riz” Reyes, a gardener on the University of Washington Botanic Gardens staff.

Excerpted from the Summer 2013 Arboretum Bulletin.

“Slow Flowers” is something of a sequel to “The 50 Mile Bouquet,” Debra Prinzing’s previous book (co-created with photographer David Perry) about local and sustainable cut flower vendors. In this book, she uses the produce (flowers, leaves, seedpods, cones, and other plant material) from those vendors, plus cuttings from her own yard and those of friends to create a calendar full of arrangements, one for each week of the year.

The process for creating each week’s offering is carefully recorded, both in narrative and with an ingredient list complete with sources and a count of each stem. I found the detailed descriptions of the vases, some quite historical, particularly interesting. Tips on design, finding materials, assembling your bouquet–without the use of environmentally unfriendly florist foam–and preserving it when done are sprinkled throughout the book, and in a helpful reference section at the end.

What I like best about this book is the author’s teacher-like approach to everything. No detail is missed, but each is gently mixed with encouragement, practicality, and a sense of fun that makes you want to participate, too.

Excerpted from the Summer 2013 Arboretum Bulletin.

Most vegetable gardening books have a long, encyclopedic listing of favorite crops with a relatively short introduction to general cultural. In “Cool Season Gardener,” Bill Thorness takes a very different approach–the A-Z listing is confined to a short chapter near the end of the book. While these few pages do contain some excellent recommendations for the late summer-to-spring garden, the heart of this book focuses on the practices of vegetable growing, especially for the cooler months.

To do this, the author invites you to change some of your basic concepts, including dividing the year into only four seasons. “Wanting to tend my garden continually throughout the year in our mild climate has made me chop up our seasons into a few ‘miniseasons’ so I can more easily plan and plant.” Spring stretches into three parts from mid-February to mid-July. Summer is a short two-month season. Fall, in two parts (early and late), extends until Thanksgiving, while winter fills the dark months until early spring.

This is an interesting way to revamp the calendar, but more importantly it gives structure to the planting and harvesting schedule. Sadly, it also emphasizes that short summers are a fact of maritime Pacific Northwest life. But don’t despair; the goal of this book is to help you make a success of those long, cool seasons.

Much of this is accomplished with techniques. One whole chapter discusses simple steps for extending the growing season. The next chapter (the longest in the book) covers advanced practices–to a depth of detail not found in other veggie books. Once you’ve absorbed the theory, the appendix gives you the specifics for numerous building projects. This makes it the perfect book for a handy-with-construction gardener–or perhaps the partnership of a handyperson and a gardener.

Unlike some do-it-yourself books, Thorness keeps everything upbeat and sprinkled with practicality and humor–and always with options depending on your skills and resources. “My brain agitates crazily like an old washing machine when I walk through the secondhand stores. Sometimes I take home a box of treasures; other times I leave with just ideas.” You will leave with a treasure of ideas from this book.

Excerpted from the Summer 2013 Arboretum Bulletin.

Jack Nisbet’s first book about David Douglas (“The Collector” from 2009) was a very popular, journal-like life chronology of the intrepid plant explorer. The enthusiastic response led the author to realize “…I had only begun to touch the dynamic worlds he [Douglas] saw. So I went back on the trail, revisiting places he had described, checking on species of flora and fauna he had collected, following any lead that might reveal additional facets of his career and character.”

The result is a new book, “David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work.” Instead of a year-by-year account, this is a delightful collection of essays that explores themes as they played out over Douglas’s entire, all-too-short career. Several chapters explore the different groups of people he worked or lived amongst including Native Americans, fur traders, sea farers, and members of the scientific community in England and North America. He did his best to fit in with all and this may explain much of his success as a collector–his eager personality encouraged others to share their knowledge or provide help with explorations.

This new book also incorporates observations from current day researchers that are influenced by Douglas almost two centuries later. For example, he was very enamored with the Garry Oak (Quercus garryana) and the communities it formed in the Pacific Northwest. Present day biologist Peter Dunwiddie has tried to understand why these communities are so rare today. While Dunwiddie concludes there are several factors, the most important is “…the way Native Americans throughout the region systematically set fire to these open oak woodlands,” a practice that did not continue after the early 19th century.

Excerpted from the Summer 2013 Arboretum Bulletin.

“It’s a Jungle Out There!” is a collection of essays by Cass Turnbull from the time of the founding of Plant Amnesty. It give some perspective and appreciation for the success of her efforts in educating the public and professionals on proper tree and shrub care. While not available to borrow, this book is worth looking at for its history and, especially, the charming diagrams.

Excerpted from the Spring 2013 Arboretum Bulletin.