Publications - AHS TAG - May/June 2008 Book Reviews

American Horticultural Society
The American Gardener
May/June 2008 Recommended Garden Books

Because the AHS Horticultural Book Service was discontinued as of June 30, 2000 no further phone or mail orders are filled. However, AHS members are still be able to order books at a discount by linking to Amazon.com through the Society's Web site. Through this partnership with Amazon.com, AHS members can receive better discounts on most titles, faster delivery, greater inventory, and improved access to hard-to-find books. The books listed here have not been critically evaluated; they have been chosen for description based on unusual subject matter or substantive content.

The following books are our current recommended garden books from the May/June 2008 issue of The American Gardener. To read the review just click on the book title. You can then order the book directly from Amazon.com by clicking on "Buy this book!" that follows each review.

Viburnums
Michael A. Dirr. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2007. 264 pages. Publisher’s price, hardcover: $39.95. Buy This Book

Simply put, Michael Dirr is regarded as the guru of trees and shrubs both in the United States and abroad. For decades his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants - now in its 5th edition - has been the “bible” for college students, avid gardeners, or professionals who wanted an encyclopedic reference for species and cultivars of trees, shrubs, and woody vines. Dirr has now authored Viburnums, a complete and informative monograph on one of the most used and beloved genera of garden shrubs, written in a concise and incredibly well researched format.

Viburnum is a vast genus, ranging from the very hardy, deciduous species of the northeastern woods such as Viburnum dentatum and V. acerifolium to the evergreen Asian species such as V. awabuki and V. davidii, which thrive in the warmer climates of the southeast and northwest, respectively. With any genus as complex as this one, there are both nomenclatural and taxonomic issues which need to be distilled and explained. Dirr takes this highly scientific subject and explains it in a way that is clear and comprehensible.

Then, species by species, Dirr covers identification, ornamental uses, and cultural considerations in explicit detail, along with his personal reflections. For many of the popular species such as V. dentatum, V. dilatatum, V. plicatum, V. tinus, as well as the hybrid groups, Dirr describes several historically significant cultivars, as well as the newest selections and hybrids.

The impact Viburnum has had on the world of ornamental horticulture would not have been as significant without the breeding work of the late Donald Egolf at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Dirr makes a point of acknowledging this in a brief chapter that describes one of the most monumental and interesting ornamental breeding programs in the last 100 years.

The text is supported with wonderful photographs, all by Dirr himself. There are close-ups of flowers, foliage, and fruit, as well as great images of viburnums used in the landscape.

I hope that the genre of genus-based books will continue to see more contributions from Dirr on important ornamental shrubs.

Andrew Bunting is a curator at the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Big Book of Garden Designs
Marianne Lipanovich and Tom Wilhite, editors. Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, California, 2008. 192 pages. Publisher’s price, softcover: $19.95. Buy This Book

Professional Planting Design
Scott C. Scarfone. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. 2007. 272 pages. Publisher’s price, softcover: $60. Buy This Book

Though both of these books focus on garden design, their approaches are quite different. Nevertheless, they each belong on the bookshelf of any avid gardener. Big Book of Garden Designs does most of the work for you with garden plans that are easily adaptable to your own specific climate and site. On the other hand, Professional Planting Design tells you how to create from scratch the kind of designs that are found in the Sunset book.

All garden designs start with inspiration and ideas, and Big Book of Garden Designs provide plenty of both. The editors include more than 100 garden plans, from front yard gardens that make big impressions to innovative solutions for those impossible, narrow side yards. Planting designs range from antique rose gardens to a tropical paradise to match a modernistic house. Each plan also includes the dimensions of the garden, a very useful feature often omitted in books of this type.
The designs are accompanied by drawings or photographs and complete plant lists that show the exact location of each tree, shrub, perennial, or annual. Not every plan will fit every garden, obviously, but the ideas easily can be tweaked to better suit various situations.

The great mysteries of successful planting design are unraveled by landscape architect Scott Scarfone in Professional Planting Design: An Architectural and Horticultural Approach for Creating Mixed Bed Plantings. Scarfone sets out the guidelines to allow anyone from an avid amateur gardener to a professional landscape designer or architect to create a living work of art with plants. As James van Sweden notes in the introduction, “After reading the book, you will be able to experiment with nature, and use its myriad of facets to make your own original statement.”

Scarfone tackles the standard principles such as form, scale, and rhythm, but also covers the details that can make a real difference in a standout landscape - leaf shape; bark and twig characteristics; flowers and seed heads; fruits and berries - and how to use plants to take advantage of their best features.

He also urges readers to pay attention to the changing nature of their medium. “Growth cycles vary widely among plant types, from the natural rhythms, such as the opening and closing of flowers, to the emergence of new foliage and the changing of color in the fall as plants prepare themselves for winter dormancy,” he writes. “Designers need to understand the distinctive characteristics of each stage in the life cycle of the plants they are using and how environmental factors will influence and affect those living entities.”

There are sections on bed depth and bed lines, development of successful design themes, and time and color grids that help you plan a garden with four-season interest. The book is filled with scores of illustrations and beautiful photographs that clearly depict the brilliance of suggested combinations.

The Sunset book may be more practical for gardeners who desire quick solutions or a straightforward starting point; Professional Planting Design allows you to tap your inner artist to integrate your favorite plants into your own original designs.

Mini Review

Flower Power

The eye-catching colors, various shapes and sizes, and alluring scents of flowers present endless possibilities in the garden. Once you whip out your shears to gather a few blossoms to bring indoors, it’s a whole new adventure. However, as floral designer and gardener Linda Beutler points out in Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers (Timber Press, 2007, $29.95), Buy This Book “Both garden design and floral design are about creating a dramatic big picture while simultaneously focusing on the intricate details.”
Illustrated with beautiful photographs by Allan Mandell, this book leaves no petal unturned as it delves into the horticultural and aesthetic aspects of getting the most out of a cutting garden. Whether it’s planning, maintenance, harvesting, increasing the life of cut flowers, or ideas for special occasions, Beutler reveals the tricks of the trade and takes a fresh look at this enjoyable and rewarding art. The book also includes a listing of more than 200 plants with tips for their culture and conditioning for use in arrangements.

Associate Editor Viveka Neveln

American gardening certainly has its own distinctive ethos, as compared to European or Japanese gardening, for example. However, identifying the exact essence of American gardening presents a quandary since gardening in the Southwest varies greatly from the Northeast or Midwest. So perhaps, like much else in this country, one thing that characterizes American gardening is its diversity - not only in terms of

environmental parameters but also its variety of styles, traditions, and ideas, many contributed by or borrowed from other countries. Here are some recently published books that cover the climate, soils, and plant palette - not to mention pests and other challenges - American gardeners will e

ncounter in specific regions or states.

Adding to its Gardener’s Companion series for individual states, begun last year, Globe Pequot Press’s latest editions include Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia on the East Coast, Missouri and Michigan in the Midwest, and Montana in the West. Retailing for $14.95, Buy These Books each is written by an expert on gardening in that state who can explain and explore the techniques proven to be effective in each locale. From soil preparation to dealing with drought and from growing vegetables to maintaining a lush lawn, these guides contain the basics needed for success. Black-and-white line drawings and plentiful sidebars with pithy tips supplement the text.

Similarly, Cool Springs Press’s Month-By-Month™ series, published since 1998, now offers several new editions covering various southwestern, intermountain west, and mid-western states. This year they also have released a revised edition for the Mid-Atlantic region. Ranging in price from $19.95 to $24.95, Buy These Books these books provide a roadmap for “what to do each month to have a beautiful garden all year.”

Additionally, Cool Springs Press has a new series on vegetable gardening in various states with 17 editions focusing on mid-western and southern states so far. Priced at $12.95, Buy These Books these books include planting information for vegetables as well as herbs and fruit along with recipes.

Among Lone Pine Publishing’s new spring releases are titles on container gardening and herb gardening for the Midwest and for Washington and Oregon. Tapping into local expertise, these handbooks take the concept of state- or region-based information one step further by honing in on the intricacies of a specific type of gardening. Selling for $19.95, Buy This

Book they include brief sections on design, maintenance, and pests and diseases. The bulk of these books is devoted to a plant directory that lists suitable species and recommended cultivars along with their growing requirements and helpful tips for using them effectively. Color photographs on nearly every page help to bring concepts to life.

In Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West (Johnson Books, 2007, $29.95), Buy This Book Colorado-based author Marcia Tatroe notes that “drought and ongoing water shortages are forcing all of us in this region to rethink long-held garden and landscape conventions.” Rather than limiting options, she argues that this “has become the catalyst for creating a new garden aesthetic - one where gardens speak strongly about where we live and who we are.” Tatroe gives an unvarnished description of the challenges presented by this region’s semi-arid climate and variable soils, while offering innovative solutions for achieving beautiful gardens nonetheless. Vivid color photographs by Charles Mann help to prove Tatroe’s points and provide further inspiration.

One strategy for embracing a region’s unique aesthetic is to use plants native to it. For those in the Pacific Northwest, Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes by Kathleen A. Robson, Alice Richter, and Marianne Filbert (Timber Press, 2008, $49.95) Buy This Book describes more than 500 species from which to choose. While “native” can mean different things to different people, the authors include only species that were found in the region “when the first non-indigenous human explorers collected and catalogued them.” For each plant, the book lists its characteristics, cultivation requirements, and native habitat and range, along with other pertinent information such as propagation tips and uses by indigenous people. Most plants are represented in color photographs and black-and-white line drawings. A final section provides plant lists for special situations such as bogs and beaches.