“Greening Cities, Growing Communities” is a case study of community gardens in Seattle. Written by landscape architects, this book is an excellent tool for supporters of community gardens in making their case in language understandable to urban planners and policy makers. For those of us already convinced, the breadth of activities at the profiled gardens will be surprising, and you could use this book as a unique travel guide to the Emerald City.
Excerpted from the Fall 2010 Arboretum Bulletin.
“The Climate Conscious Gardener” is the latest in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Guides for a Greener Planet. While most of the contributing authors live in the Northeast, one of the five chapters, “Turning Your Landscape into a Carbon Sink,” was written by Arboretum Foundation staff member Niall Dunne. To give an objective perspective, I’ll quote from a review in HortIdeas (published by Greg and Pat Williams in Gravel Switch, Kentucky — so no regional bias here): “Dunne’s chapter alone is worth getting the book…with valuable information on numerous techniques for sequestering carbon in backyard gardens. Wouldn’t it be great if amateurs throughout the U.S. could keep a really huge amount of carbon out of the atmosphere?”
Linda Chalker-Scott debunks many gardening practices that don’t work in “The Informed Gardener Blooms Again,” a sequel to her excellent “The Informed Gardener” from 2008. The format is very similar to the first book, built around a series of short chapters with Sherlock Holmesian titles (“The Myth of the Magic Bullet”, “The Myth of Nitrogen-nabbing Wood Chips”) that analyze horticultural fads and home remedies from an applied, scientific perspective. After a thorough discussion of the research, a helpful summary (“The Bottom Line”) follows, along with references to support her conclusions.
Enjoy it. These final two words of the sub-title to Valerie Easton’s new book, “The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden” are the key to her message. Other low maintenance manuals treat the garden as a bothersome necessity to having a house; here the emphasis in on the joy of the garden, without it taking over your life.
From Oregon, Timber Press editor-in-chief Tom Fischer has created his own book, “Perennial Companions,” that demonstrates 100 design combinations using herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. I found it best to look at the right hand, full page photographs first (almost like a flip book), then stopping at my favorites to read the interpretive material on the matching left hand page.
Bill Terry, from the Sunshine coast of British Columbia, has filled a small book (“Blue Heaven”) with an ode of praise to Meconopsis grandis, the Himalayan Blue Poppy. His cultural advice will encourage the favored few living in a climate that will nurture this hard-to-please jewel (along with some more easily managed companions like candelabra primulas and other poppies), but anyone can enjoy this display of plant passion at its highest level.
For an encyclopedic approach to vegetable gardening, consider the Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles. Like most Sunset books, this encompasses the entire west in its scope, so ignore the entry on macadamia nuts, but with the fine tuning that the Sunset zones allow, you can zero in on what will grow for you, including fruits, nuts, berries, and herbs.
The genus Allium covers onions, garlic, leeks, chives and others. Their pungent odor comes from sulfur compounds they contain. Dr. Eric Block is a professor at New York State University at Albany, and has spent over 35 years studying the chemistry of alliums. His book covers an enormous range of information on the genus Allium. The “Lore” portions are fascinating, with references to archaeology, literature, painting, folk medicine, cultivation, and more. The “Science: parts are – well – scientific. For those who would like to explore the phytochemistry of alliums and its sulfur components, the long chapter on these topics is comprehensive.
Love Albrecht Howard’s first book fills a gap in our collection. To my knowledge, it is the only recent book on running a garden design business that is written for plant lovers who may not have formal horticultural or business training, but who do have a fair amount of common sense and are willing to get their hands (and feet!) dirty learning. The author certainly approves of formal education, recommending that prospective designers take courses, but she knows firsthand that hands-on experience gained through internships, volunteer work, and garden shows, as well as time spent with gardening books and magazines can be even more valuable than coursework. Indeed, fifteen out of twenty chapters focus on day-to-day operations, including best gardening practices, rather than on estimating costs, hiring staff, and other money-related aspects of the business.
The authors, who are members of the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, recognize a fact that is becoming clear in schools across the country: if we are to have school gardens in this era of tightening budgets, increased academic testing and expanding class sizes, parents must step up and offer their time and energy to establish and maintain them. My own personal experience with this process as a volunteer in the garden at my neighborhood elementary school indicates that while a few parents at each school might have the necessary time and energy to devote to this, it is rare to find anyone at all with the practical knowledge, patience and understanding that are necessary to make such a garden flourish. That’s why this book is so important and useful. Not only does it empower parents and teachers to get something growing, it educates them about the planning, funding, building, maintenance, use, and enjoyment of such a garden. Valuable topics include dealing with vandalism, training students in basic garden tasks, preparing for garden lessons, scheduling class activities in the garden, and planning for summer watering. This book is a must-have for any gardening library.