Cottonwood and the River of Time

Cottonwood and the River of Time by Reinhard Stettler explores an unlikely topic, cottonwood trees and their kin including poplars and aspens. A retired University of Washington professor of forestry, the author writes an engaging natural history beginning with a single tree, an old matriarch near the Snoqualmie River. While eventually global in scope, many of the examples continue to be set in the Pacific Northwest.

While many of the titles from the middle chapters may look a bit dull, e.g., “Natural Hybridization” and “Adaptation and Its Limits”, the writing is quite engaging and aimed at a general audience. The book concludes with cultural history of poplars–the importance of poplars in agriculture, forestry, and landscapes.

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 Arboretum Bulletin.

A stroll through the first 50 years of the Seattle Japanese Garden

A stroll through the first 50 years of the Seattle Japanese Garden is a PowerPoint presentation with slides and narration, focused on the founding of the garden–with many historical photographs–and significant changes up to the present. This documentary on CD has a limited availability, but can be viewed with headsets at the Miller Library.

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 Arboretum Bulletin.

Thru the lens: 50 years of the Japanese Garden

Thru the lens cover Thru the lens: 50 years of the Japanese Garden is a nearly hour-long documentary on DVD that explores both the history and current activities in the garden. Several docents, gardeners, and supporters are interviewed. I found the in-depth presentation of the tea ceremony particularly interesting. This documentary has a limited availability, but can be viewed with headsets at the Miller Library.

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 Arboretum Bulletin.

The Gardener’s Color Palette

Gardener's color palette cover The Gardener’s Color Palette at first glance is a pretty book, but I was prepared to dismiss it as having little information of consequence. However, like with most books, it is important to read the author’s introduction. Tom Fischer’s second sentence summarizes his intent: “Flowers are nature’s most direct and accessible route to enjoying the pure pleasures of color.”

As an experienced gardener, I was already familiar with almost all of the one hundred flowers (mostly herbaceous perennials) profiled. I know their size, habits, foliage, texture, and even fragrance, or lack of one. And color, of course. Or so I thought. Fischer, and the superb photographs of Clive Nichols, invites you to isolate color from all other qualities.

This is best done on the beginning page of each of the ten color groups, with thumbnail style, tight close-ups of the full view examples that follow. Here, the shape of the flower is gone; all that is left is the color. It’s quite a change in perspective.

The text gives a brief but insightful and often witty description of each plant, but the most valuable advice is for suggested companions, complimentary color ranges, or little gems like this entry on joe-pye weeds: “Their pinks and purples have a slightly dusty quality, which isn’t necessarily a drawback; in fact, a hot fuchsia joe-pye weed would be terrifying–what on earth would you do with it?”

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 Arboretum Bulletin.

The Secret World of Slugs and Snails

Secret world of slugs cover David George Gordon wrote a delightful booklet (48 pages) in 1994 titled Field Guide to the Slug. After chuckling over the concept, I found there was a lot of information packed in those few pages.

The Secret World of Slugs and Snails greatly expands the earlier work by not only including snails, but also the natural and cultural histories–yes, including cooking suggestions and even shell collecting–of these incredible creatures. For the even more adventurous, there is a short essay on keeping slugs as pets. For example, banana slugs have a good temperament for this (the author has a pair named Chiquita and Dole) but they will overheat in the typical household.

The final chapter is where most gardeners might begin: “Sharing Our Gardens: Coexisting with Slugs and Snails” but unlike in most gardening books, slugs and snails are not portrayed as an indisputable enemy. Yes, there are suggestions on how to both discourage and eliminate them, but the gardener is urged to have a heart and not apply salt as “…salting causes undue pain for the slug.”

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 Arboretum Bulletin.

The Conscientious Gardener: Cultivating a Garden Ethic

book jacket Sarah Reichard, the late Director of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, is also the author of an important book for gardeners: The Conscientious Gardener: Cultivating a Garden Ethic. In reviewing this book, I must make a full disclosure–Sarah is also my new boss and someone I’ve known and worked with for many years.

Reichard rightfully challenges gardeners to think outside of our individual gardens and see our role in the bigger system of both human endeavors and the natural world, and to see both the good and bad we can do. But she knows that being “good” isn’t easy! And being a long-time teacher, she uses a skillful blend of storytelling, humor, and breaking things down to easy steps to make her message understood but not overwhelming.

For example, in her chapter “Aliens among Us”, Reichard begins with the story of her concerns about introducing invasive plant species during a seed collecting trip early in her career. The scarcity of existing research led her to become a leader in the study of what makes plants invasive and the establishment and advocacy of guidelines for plant introductions in horticulture.

Recounting all this could be pretty heavy going, but she keeps it succinct and lightened with side boxes such as the role of the automobile (“Driving the Daisy”) in seed dispersion. Then, she both encourages, “Gardeners, take action!”, and tells how to do it, “Read on to plan your attack!” Like all chapters, this one ends with a set of Guidelines, very practical and doable steps each of us can take.

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 Arboretum Bulletin, by Brian Thompson.

Professor and UW Botanic Gardens director Sarah Reichard has her finger on the pulse of the planet in this erudite and accessible book. For those who have become complacent and fixed in their gardening ways, or for those just emerging as gardeners, there is much to learn in this handsome, information-rich volume. Are native plants always the preferred choice in our gardens? Do we really need soil amendments? Are we putting things on our lawns and landscapes that pollute nearby waters? What about those worms making compost in our worm bins: might they be invasive? Readers will discover that doing the right thing in our gardens is not only simpler than one might imagine, but deeply rewarding both personally and globally.

If you have been a persistent (but always polite!) thorn in the side of less conscientious (or simply unaware) gardeners and businesses who are purveyors of ivy and loosestrife, spreaders of weed-and-feed, and sprayers of pesticides, you will feel vindicated! If you have never spoken out before, you will feel inspired to do so! Reichard’s clearheaded call to action is well worth heeding.

Reviewed by Plant Answer Line librarian Rebecca Alexander, April 2011.

Urban Agriculture

book jacket Though I personally am cheered by the sight of a P-Patch, a front garden, or a tiny apartment balcony resplendent with edible plants, there is still resistance to seeing raised beds replete with tomatoes and lettuce overtake a lawn or other underutilized space. Activist and arborist David Tracey’s Urban Agriculture: Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution opens with an account of conflict over creating a community garden in his native Vancouver, B.C. Despite this negative note, the book is an antidote to despair. Tracey’s informal and humorous style diminishes the sense of helplessness we feel in the face of corporate control over our food supply, and its attendant environmental devastation and cost to human health. Tracey does not provide detailed directions on how to grow various vegetables from seed, or how to make your own compost; his purpose is to inspire and empower the reader to begin or continue the worthwhile work of growing food (as opposed to “fuud,” the term he coins for the products of Big Ag). You may not think you are engaged in agricultural pursuits but by the author’s definition, anyone who grows edible plants is a farmer.

The book is explicitly organized from the smallest to largest scale of edible cultivation (sprouts on the kitchen counter to full-scale farming). There are some unusual inclusions here, such as sections on aquaponics (in case you want to grow fish and greens together!) and school farms, the self-sufficiency model of Cuba’s urban farming project, and a checklist of questions to ask politicians before the next election (ask where she or he stands on the use of public space to grow food by raising the concept of usufruct, the legal right to use and enjoy the fruits or profits of something belonging to another). There are numerous quotable lines in this book, such as: “It takes food to grow a village,” and “The seed knows what to do.” The library also has his previous book, Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto.

Radical Gardening

book “The law condemns the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But lets the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose.”

-Anonymous Victorian author, 1854

This epigraph opens the first chapter (“The Garden in the [City] Machine”) in George McKay’s Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism & Rebellion in the Garden, and refers to the conflict between between affluent private landowners and poor villagers over access to open space which was once shared by all. Don’t be put off by the crude cover art: McKay offers thoughtful discussion based on his extensive research into the role of public and community gardens, the politics of the organic movement and its offshoots (biodynamics and permaculture), gardens of peace and war, and the many ways in which gardens and open space have figured into politics, society, and culture. McKay enjoys wordplay (remember that ‘radical’ is rooted!), coining the term ‘horticounterculture’ to describe gardening-related movements which represent activism and resistance, as well as utopian (or dystopian) visions.

Of local note: McKay cites Professor Linda Chalker-Scott’s debunking the pseudo-scientific underpinnings of biodynamics (a philosophy of agriculture developed by Rudolf Steiner, whose views held some appeal for National Socialists). Seattle is also noted briefly in a list of cities with an active community garden movement.

Grow It, Cook it with Kids

book jacket Parents of enthusiastic young gardeners, and farmers’ market shoppers alike will love this useful guide to home-growing and cooking. It features easy, photo-illustrated recipes grouped by their main ingredients, so that chocolate zucchini cake is right next to zucchini salad and stir fry, allowing cooks to choose a recipe based on what they have on hand. Better yet, each chapter begins with step-by-step instructions for growing children’s favorites like herbs, peas, beans, and berries.

Bug Zoo

book jacket Does someone you know want an earwiggery? How about a wormery or a dragonfly den? If you know a child who loves bugs, this illustrated handbook of bug habitats will teach him or her how to capture, observe, and learn from these tiny animals respectfully, with an understanding of their delicate biology.