A book that took me totally by surprise is “Back in the Garden with Dulcy”, a selection of articles by Dulcy Mahar, who for 22 years wrote a gardening column for The Oregonian in Portland. Clearly, I haven’t been paying enough attention to gardening south of the Columbia!
Sadly, Dulcy died in 2011 after a long battle with cancer, but she continued writing up to a few weeks before her death. Fortunately her husband, Ted Mahar, has edited and published a selection of her writings. I am completely charmed by the results.
While Ted is understandably also a fan, I heartedly agree with him when he describes her columns as “…filled with solid advice, warnings, lists, ideas and experiments worth trying, the latest trends, yearnings for a change of season, and more. Whatever the subject, Dulcy’s wit glowed through. Pick a week, and you’d likely find a quotable quote.”
I would add that she had a knack of reaching out to young or inexperienced gardeners, putting them at ease, urging them not to be afraid to just go for it. She also had a love of animals, especially her cats (although one lucky dog, Hector, gets a lot of press, too). One of her Wagnerian felines is posed with her on the front cover, “helping” in the garden.
An example of her advice: “Make a list so that you can get exactly what you need when you hit the nurseries and plant sales. Oh, I could hardly say that with a straight face. I am practically rolling on the floor, and the cats and Hector the dog are looking askance. Of course, it is excellent advice. But can I follow that advice? Hardly.”
Excerpted from the Fall 2014 Arboretum Bulletin.
“The rhododendron landscapes in our modern gardens were first inspired by the sight of rhododendrons growing in the wild.” So begins Mt. Vernon, Washington author Sonja Nelson in “Rhododendrons in the Landscape, ” a book that brings both historical perspective and practical design to using these iconic plants in Pacific Northwest gardens.