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2000 AHS Book Awards
Five exemplary books celebrating diverse gardening interests-plant exploration, horticultural history, botanical art, ornamental grasses, and trough gardening-are winners of the American Horticultural Society's 2000 Annual Book Award. This is the fourth year of AHS's annual book award program, which was initiated in 1997 as part of the celebrations for the Society's 75th anniversary. The award-winning books were selected by a five-person committee co-chaired this year by Suzanne Bales, contributing editor of Family Circle magazine, and Thomas Cooper, editor of Horticulture magazine. The other committee members were Stephen P. Bender, senior writer for Southern Living magazine; Susan Eubank, senior librarian at the Helen Fowler Library of the Denver Botanic Gardens; and Marco Polo Stufano, director of horticulture at Wave Hill garden in New York City. All horticultural books issued in 1999 by North American publishers and authors were considered for the award. Books are judged not just on content and writing style, but on overall quality including illustration, design, and production. For this reason, awards are presented to the publishers rather than the authors. A prime objective of the award program is to encourage American publishers to issue books that are as well written and technically perfect as possible, yet also innovative in content and appearance. A gold seal embossed with the Society's name and a leaf symbol distinguishes gardening books that receive the AHS Annual Book Award. Look for these books in your local bookstore or order them through Amazon.com by clicking below. The 2000 winners: The Color
Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes,
The Explorer's Garden:
Rare and Unusual
Washington's Gardens
at Mount Vernon: Landscape of the Inner Man
7931 East
Boulevard Drive - Alexandria VA 22308 |
Restios, Cat-tails, and Selected Bamboos by Rick Darke.
Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. 1999. Publisher's price:
$49.95. AHS price: $34.97. This beautifully illustrated book
combines the best features of an encyclopedic reference with
sound, practical advice on how to use grasses in the
landscapes. "The encyclopedic treatment of grasses is
authoritative and up to date,"says Thomas Cooper, "yet the
book also includes a strong focus on garden use of grasses,
accompanied by stunning photographs that illustrate the
design concepts being described."
Creating
and Planting Garden Troughs by Joyce Fingerut and Rex
Murfitt. B.B. Mackey Books, Wayne, Pennsylvania. 1999.
Publisher's price: $21. AHS price: $21. "This is a much
needed practical guide to the construction, planting, and
maintenance of hypertufa troughs," says Marco Polo
Stufano.
Written in a down-to-earth style, the book also details the
history of gardening in troughs and describes a wide variety
of plants that can be combined creatively in them. 
Perennials by Daniel J. Hinkley. Timber Press, Portland,
Oregon. 1999. Publisher's price: $39.95. AHS price: $27.97.
Heronswood Nursery owner Dan Hinkley's personal account of
seeking out promising new garden plants was praised for its
beautiful photographs, passionate writing style, and
authoritative horticultural information. "This book evokes
the great 19th-century English accounts of plant
exploration," says Thomas Cooper. "Hinkley goes to a lot of
effort to provide information on where in North America
these exciting new plants will grow," says Stephen Bender.
The
Pressed Plant: The Art of Botanical Specimens, Nature
Prints, and Sun Pictures by Andrea DiNoto and David
Winter; photography by John Berens. Stewart, Tabori & Chang,
New York, New York. 1999. Publisher's price: $29.95. AHS
price: $20.97. This book covers the history of the
collection of botanical specimens and provides instructions
on how to preserve plants for scientific or artistic use.
"It's a fascinating account of the role plant hunters and
botanists have played in documenting natural history, woven
together by exquisite images of pressed plants," says Thomas
Cooper. "The photographs jump out because the book is
beautifully designed and printed on high-quality paper,"adds
Stephen Bender.
by Mac Griswold; photography by Roger Foley.
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 1999.
Publisher's price: $40. AHS price: $30. Illustrated with
contemporary photographs and reproductions of original
garden plans and period artwork, this book documents George
Washington's development of the gardens at Mount Vernon.
"Everybody's heard about the great gardener Thomas Jefferson
was," says Stephen Bender. "This book offers new insights
into the gardening interests of one of our most enigmatic
presidents."
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