Grasses, Sedges, Rushes: An Identification Guide

[Grasses, Sedges, Rushes] cover

Lauren Brown wrote the classic Grasses: An Identification Guide for the American northeast in 1979. Illustrated with her exquisite and effective line drawings, this book filled a void by providing a field guide to this abundant group of plants typically overlooked in general wild flower guides.

In 2020, the second edition, titled Grasses, Sedges, Rushes: An Identification Guide was released with a secondary author, Ted Elliman. What’s new? The title now more accurately reflects the inclusion (also in the first edition) of other grass-like plants. Each entry now has a photograph, but wisely the line drawings have been preserved and together they enhance the chances for positive identification.

Why am I recommending a book that does not cover the Pacific Northwest? Primarily because this is an excellent introduction to grasses anywhere, and well worth reading for an understanding of the North American ecology and human history with these plants. The western edge of this new edition’s coverage also includes the lands of the former tall grass prairie and some of these species have ranges extending into our region. This book also includes established invasive grasses that are found throughout the country.

“To identify grasses with technical manuals or internet sources requires a fair amount of botanical knowledge, considerable patience, and sometimes a dose of luck. Even Charles Darwin was elated when he first identified a grass.” Brown and Elliman understand the challenges for the beginning grasses enthusiast. Once you have mastered the basics using this gentle guide, I recommend moving on to Field Guide to the Grasses of Oregon and Washington for a more detailed study of the grasses found in our region.

Published in Leaflet for Scholars, Volume 8, Issue 6, June 2021.

New Woman Ecologies

[New Woman Ecologies] cover

The New Woman movement grew out of the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its aim was to give women new opportunities, especially to do paid work, outside their role of nurturing mother at the hearth. New Woman Ecologies shows how the New Woman and the growing green efforts meshed with each other.

Each chapter presents a different episode in this meshing, using mainly texts written at the time. Carroll moves from two London women starting their own market garden in rural Kent through to women’s participation in the Land Army, a government-run farm work project during World War I.

The final chapter focuses on the revival of herb growing after World War I. Maud Grieve’s Modern Herbal of 1931 is one text among those which “transformed public perception of local herbs from ‘almost inert’ weeds to potent partners in both domestic and commercial gardens” (p.152). Grieve’s plant entries include medicinal as well as the usual plant and growing information. She also notes connections between plants and other living things, notably people. Her long entry on English lavender asserts its superiority to French lavender not only due to its medicinal qualities but also because it is local and therefore fresher. She also notes its positive effect on the grower. In England the herbal revival was scotched in 1941 by the Pharmacy and Medicines Act, which grew out of fear that giving medicinal information on plants to the masses was dangerous, particularly to pharmacists. The act described the use of herbs as medicine as fairy-tale thinking. Its largely successful goal was to put herb growers, who were mainly women, out of business. The act was repealed in 1968.

All the efforts described in New Woman Ecologies were frustrated in one way or another, but the reader gains helpful background information on one corner of the history of the feminist and ecological movements.

Published in Leaflet for Scholars, Volume 8, Issue 6, June 2021.

The Garden Jungle

[The Garden Jungle] cover

I have read many books on organic gardening over the years, but never one with a focus on invertebrates. With The Garden Jungle I credit author Dave Goulson for opening my heart to earwigs. Goulson is a British professor of biology, bumble bee expert, keen gardener and advocate for sustainable agriculture. I try to be tolerant of the herbivore insects such as aphids because they feed many species of birds and beneficial insects such as beetles and hover flies. However, I didn’t know earwigs were omnivores and would feast on aphids as well as on dahlia petals. According to Goulson, earwigs don’t seek out ears to sleep in, so we shouldn’t worry.

Each chapter starts delightfully with a short recipe for treats such as mulberry muffins or homesteading classics like sauerkraut, cider and goat cheese. The book maintains a positive tone as Goulson celebrates all the creatures we encounter in our gardens, while detailing highly destructive practices committed by the horticulture and agriculture industries. He makes the case that the most egregious practice to be avoided at all costs is spraying pesticides. Another destructive habit is including peat moss in potting soil both because it destroys peat bog habitat, and also because of the massive amount of sequestered carbon dioxide released upon harvest. For each decidedly Earth-unfriendly horticultural practice described Goulson instructs readers on alternatives to achieve the same outcomes.

Goulson weaves in insights from his research, background on natural history and stories of wildlife encounters in his Sussex garden to relate why we should cherish moths, worms, and even the parasitic cuckoo bee. All are members of the garden jungle ecosystem. Once gardeners tolerate or maybe even love the creatures in their gardens, Goulson is sure that the planet can be saved.

Published in the Leaflet, volume 8, issue 6, June 2021.

Iwígara

The earliest gardeners in North America were not European settlers but the peoples of the indigenous nations, especially in our region. “All native peoples of the West Coast engaged in some form of complex and sophisticated ‘gardening’ of their homelands.”

This observation is by Enrique Salmón, the author of a new book on American Indian ethnobotanical traditions. The book’s title tells part of the story. “Iwígara” (i-WEE-jah-rah) is the concept that humans are no greater than other forms of life in the natural world, including both plants and animals.

Ethnobotany, the study of the use of plants by human cultures, is an important way to understand different civilizations. Sadly, much of the existing literature can bog down in academic minutiae. Not so with “Iwígara” and Salmón’s excellent story-telling! This is a lively and thoroughly readable account of eighty plants significant to the indigenous nations of North America, told using delightful legends and the common practices that have bonded peoples and the plants of their local landscape.

Salmón is an accomplished scientist and an active collaborator with others in his field and he used that network to help determine the plants to include. He also brings a more personal viewpoint. As a member of the Rarámuri (rah-RAH-mer-ree) nation of northwestern Mexico, he learned the plant traditions from his mother, grandmother and other family members “who were living libraries of indigenous plant knowledge that has been collected, revised, and tested for millennia.”

An example is the entry on cedar. “Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest tell a story about a good man who gave unceasingly to his community.” After his death, “the Creator, so impressed with the life this man had led, decided that a great useful tree would grow from the man’s burial site.” According to this legend, this was the first western red cedar (Thuja plicata).

Indeed, this is a useful tree to many regional cultures for buildings, canoes, tools, clothing, and medicines. Throughout “Iwígara,” well-chosen photographs, both old and new, enhance the stories. “Cedar” is highlighted by an impressive 1914 photograph of Kwakiutl cedar mask dancers.

Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Summer 2021

Flora of Oregon, Volume 2: Dicots A-F

The second volume of “Flora of Oregon” continues the excellent work of volume 1, released in 2015, by focusing on the families of dicots from A to F. The third and final volume, in preparation, will be about the remaining dicot families.

While the keys and botanical descriptions are the core of this work, like the previous volume there are some excellent additions. An introductory essay discusses the many considerations and importance of native plant gardens. An appendix provides a long list of native plants adaptable to gardens and their cultural needs. Maps show the most suitable regions within Oregon for each species, and these recommendations could easily be extrapolated to Washington.

Another essay – “Insects as Plant Taxonomists” – deeply dives into the interrelations between plant families and insect families, and how they have evolved together. The authors hope “to inspire curiosity and enlightenment about the many different insect activities that can be observed while outdoors.” A final essay introduces the process for creating herbarium specimens and their importance to taxonomists.

Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Fearless Gardening: Be Bold, Break the Rules, Grow What You Love

“Gardening is not a straight line. There are many detours along the way, and thankfully, you never actually arrive at the finish.” This is a motto of Loree Bohl, a Portland gardener and author of “Fearless Gardening.”

Bohl’s garden typifies this thinking with many, quite non-traditional plants for a Pacific Northwest garden. She is not afraid to try new things and regards the failures as lessons to be learned, and perhaps to be tried again. It might work this time!

Among her favorite plants are Agave, Yucca, and Opuntia. She is another big advocate for using pots: on the ground, amongst the garden plantings, and hanging off walls or the rafters of a covered, outdoor seating area.

She credits her inspiration in part to two noteworthy and innovative West Coast, women gardeners of the past: Ruth Bancroft, who lived to be 109, and Ganna Walska, who lived to be 96. Each crafted gardens very unlike their neighbors, starting at an age when many would be beyond new projects. They are models of how the creative energy of gardening can lead to a long and happy life.

Bohl also profiles several Washington and Oregon gardens that have stretched the plant palette. These include the McMenamins Anderson School garden in Bothell, the Point Defiance Zoo garden in Tacoma, and the Amazon Spheres in Seattle.

Her own garden is another fine example. I was part of a tour led by the Northwest Horticultural Society in 2017 to Portland area gardens that included hers. In an essay titled “Successful Gardeners Kill Plants and So Will You,” she describes how the day before we arrived, despite it being late July, a large, established Grevillea victoriae ‘Murray Queen’ suddenly died. She was horrified, but what could she do. For us visitors, committed gardeners all, it was an excellent lesson and opportunity to commiserate.

Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Oregon Big Tree & Shrub Measurements

The world champion Douglas-fir in height is found in Coos County, Oregon. But what if your interest lies in smaller trees? For example, the tallest vine maple (Acer circinatum) in the country is 46’ high and found in Clatsop County, Oregon. This detail, along with many, many others can be found in “Oregon: Big Tree & Shrub Measurements” by Jack Black.

At first glance, this book may seem like a curiosity, one person’s obsession with finding, measuring, and photographing (typically with a convenient human standing nearby for scale) the largest and tallest of the Oregon flora. However, the charts and especially the photographs gave me strong admiration of the diversity of woody plants in both wild and managed settings.

The roughly 200 species considered are almost evenly divided between natives and introduced species. Short vignettes give the back story for some of the more remarkable examples. Although Black compiled and published this book, his endnotes document the work of many individuals and organizations in finding, measuring, and recording these special trees. It represents a real labor of love by all involved. A new, larger edition was published in 2021.

Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Windcliff: A Story of People, Plants, and Gardens

Dan Hinkley newest book, “Windcliff: A Story of People, Plants, and Gardens,” is largely about that garden, his residence of the last 20 years with his husband, Robert Jones. As hinted at in the sub-title, the book is also a memoir about Hinkley’s youth in a small, Michigan town and the world-wide network of friends and colleagues he has developed through horticulture and plant exploration.

Windcliff is divided into several broad areas based on the types of plantings, and Hinkley uses these areas as a structure for the book. Both endpapers show a helpful plan of the property to help you keep track. Within each chapter, a series of essays explore specific plantings, design challenges and solutions, and an intimate view into the various successes and failures, often with correlations to the author’s personal life.

My impression of the book is shaped by a handful of visits I’ve made to Windcliff, with my most vivid memories being of the bluff. Not surprisingly, this is the centerpiece of the book. A large open space with vast views is very different from the garden at Heronswood where Hinkley and Jones lived previously. The design challenges were equally immense, but they pulled it off magnificently.

The photography of Claire Takacs well captures the feeling of the bluff and its plantings, while the writing explains the why and how those plantings in that space were achieved. I found the essays on the large grasses, the agapanthus, and other South African natives especially engaging.

While the bluff was an unqualified success, the meadow near the entry drive was not. As gardeners, the most fun is to read about another’s failures, especially by an eminent plantsperson such as Hinkley. In brief, he discovered that his deepest affinity is with woody plants, and so an arboretum of trees and shrubs, many found on his plant exploration trips, are gradually taking over the meadow.

Other setbacks, such as a neighbor’s large, ugly house on the property line, will also resonate with readers, but so will the re-discovery of the joys of a vegetable garden. Gardeners without vast acreage will find value in the extensive section on potted plants placed near the house. After reading that chapter, I will definitely try Eucomis in a container this year.

The area around the house is where the visions of Hinkley and architect Jones intersect. The give-and-take will amuse and inform couples that have a similar dynamic. Throughout the writing, Hinkley’s wry sense of humor and deep sensibilities of the emotional importance of gardens is very clear. “There are more approaches, more tricks to the trade, undoubtedly as many as there are good gardeners. Yet the yearning for beauty, whatever that may be, is the same. It is not intentional nor is it fully accidental. There is no endpoint or possession.”

Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Complete Container Herb Gardening: Design and Grow Beautiful, Bountiful Herb-Filled Pots

If your garden doesn’t have much space for growing herbs, a container garden might be the answer. I recommend a new book on this topic by western Washington writer, Sue Goetz.

I approached her “Complete Container Herb Gardening” in two ways. First, it is a very basic but detailed guide to using pots to host a significant part of your garden, or even the whole thing. “Growing in any type of container affords the opportunity to plant a garden almost anywhere.” This includes inside a home, on a balcony, or in a small corner of a yard devoted mostly to boisterous activities by children and pets. Hanging baskets or vertical planting walls provide other options.

The second focus of my reading was on the herb plants she recommends. Defining herbs broadly, she include all plants with essential oils and other parts for use in cooking, cleaning, body care, and many treatments for well-being.

Goetz is a teacher at heart, and her lesson plan for this book is well thought out. In addition to how to choose a container, she provides detailed projects that teach how to design, combine, and maintain your plantings. By using various herbs, these plant combinations have benefits beyond their beauty. Even if your goal was only for pretty flowers, you may realize that these primarily foliage plants are also very ornamental, and suddenly you, too, are an herb gardener.

Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Douglas Fir: The Story of the West’s Most Remarkable Tree

There are many rare and unusual trees and shrubs in the Washington Park Arboretum. Standing aside (and sometimes out-competing) these wonderful exotics is the native matrix of trees, especially tall conifers. Perhaps the most iconic of these is the Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). “Douglas Fir: The Story of the West’s Most Remarkable Tree” is a comprehensive new book by Stephen Arno and Carl Fiedler about this tree native from northern British Columbia to the high mountains of Mexico.

There two distinct varieties of the Douglas-fir. The coastal tree (P. m. var. menziesii) that we are familiar with in Seattle and is found along the coast south to the California Bay Area. The inland variety (P. m. var. glauca) has an even wider distribution east of the coastal ranges and into the Rocky Mountains. The ecological success of both varieties highlights their adaptability, supported by an extra set of chromosomes when compared to most of the other West Coast conifers. In simple terms, this means the “Douglas-fir is nature’s all-purpose tree.”

This malleable nature has caused more than its share of nomenclature issues. Is it a fir? A pine? A spruce? The answer is none of the above. The genera Pseudotsuga translates as “false hemlock” – a rather unfortunate compromise. Even the common name has varied, although the Seventh International Botanical Congress in 1950 settled on “Douglas-fir” and that form is used throughout this book (although the hyphen is oddly missing from the book’s title).

The coast Douglas-fir is one of the tallest plant species in the world. Its loftiest example (at 327’) currently ranks number three behind the height champions of the Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens at 380.3’) and Eucalyptus regnans (329.7’) of southeastern Australia. An especially engaging part of this book discusses the credible possibility of historical Douglas-fir specimens, taken down for lumber one hundred or more years ago, that likely exceeded 400’ in height.

While Euro-Americans quickly recognized the value of Douglas-fir wood for building, the indigenous people throughout the tree’s vast range were the first to use its timber this way, but they had many other uses, too. All parts of the tree are valuable and were used for preserving and flavoring food, for medicine, for crafting tools, in sacred ceremonies, and most importantly, providing heat. “Both varieties of Douglas-fir historically fulfilled myriad roles for native peoples and were the overwhelming choice for one critical daily need: fuel for their fires.”

Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin