The Rural Voice, 2004-12, Page 44Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
A lot of gardeners tend to pull out
the gardening books over the winter.
If you can't get out there and dig then
you might as well think, plan and
dream about it.
I decided to take a peek on-line to
see what was new on a few book
lists. Browsing on-line is a bit like
getting lost in a massive department
store. Yes there are signs to guide
you but, my goodness, there are some
turns you wish you just hadn't made.
I got to a site and clicked on
garden plants and tools. Up came a
selection of new books. The Big Book
of Buds Volume 2 caught my eye and
I clicked on it for a better view. I
have to tell you that for the past few
years I have helped out a Hensall
group with their plant sale. It is a
fundraiser for a great community
cause. My biggest challenge is
identifying wee plants that are dug up
as soon as the snow has melted off
and exposed them. Some are a bit
difficult to recognize but we get them
named. I think a great project would
be a book with coloured pictures of
young plants beside that of the adult
plant. First leaves are never like
mature leaves and some young leaves
are just downright deceptive.
So I had this in mind when I
clicked on the Buds book. I was more
than a little disappointed to find out
that Buds was all about marijuana.
The sub heading was: More
marijuana varieties from the world's
greatest seed breeders. So I guess my
idea for an identification book of wee
plants is still possible. But for the rest
of my book search Buds was listed
on the side of my computer screen as
if to entice me to buy it.
I decided to do a search for books
about a broader issue and typed in the
40 THE RURAL VOICE
Gardening
Reading for the winter
key word environment. Among 10
pages of book titles only a handful
were concerned with the natural
environment. The rest covered such
broad topics as business and law
environment, International law and
the environment, spiritually fulfilling
environment, sustainable work
environment, creating a safe
environment for school age children
and eliminating allergies in your
environment.
So I settled on checking out our
local book store and had much better
luck and I had a chance to take a
good look at the books themselves.
Knowing what is out there is now
the big challenge. New gardeners are
catching onto clues as to what plants
will do best in their gardens and look
for these clues in their books. Steve
Whysall has written 100 Best Plants
for the Ontario Garden, The
Botanical Bones of Great Gardening.
Lots of valuable information and a
layout that features a quick guide on
each plant similar to what you would
see on a plant tag: mature size,
growing conditions, flowering time
and most importantly what climate
zone.
In a more detailed writeup,
Whysall covers the where and how to
plant as well as suggestions for
companion plants. And yes there are
Latin tags. There are coloured plates
of each plant grouped in the centre of
the book making it more economical
to produce and the savings are passed
on to you. The book retails for about
$20
If you are looking for an all-
encompassing encyclopedia of plants
then the people at DK Books have
that covered. The original version
covered the United States and, not to
miss a good market, this volume is
directed at Canada. A -Z Encyclopedia
of Garden Plants by Christopher
Brickell and Trevor Cole features
coloured pictures and a full inventory
of plants for your garden, that
includes trees, shrubs, vines,
perennials, bulbs, and annuals.
Complete descriptions make it easy
to plot out new plants and determine
just what will grow in your garden
before investing in the actual plants.
It retails for a hefty $95 but is well
worth the investment.
If you are looking for something
more simple and Tess expensive, look
up Great Canadian Plant Guide.
3000 Plants Recommended. Edited
by Trevor Cole and published by DK
Books it offers a smaller, narrower
list of plants.
Describing these books as lists of
plants just does not do them justice.
There is a wealth of information
offered from soil conditions to
sections on troubleshooting when
things go wrong. How much
information do you want at your
fingertips is the question. I always
look first to make sure the book I
choose is developed with Canadian
gardeners in mind. The English and
American books are beautiful and 1
must admit my practicality can be
swept away with a few beautiful
shots of desirable gardens. Which is
probably why I am a sucker for
British garden magazines.
There are two more books that
should be in your library. The first is
How to get your Lawn and Garden
off Drugs, A Basic Guide to
Pesticide -Free Gardening in North
America. Written by Carole Rubin
with foreword by Robert Bateman, it
is a handy little book that covers
everything from pesticide myths and
how pesticides work, to the ABCs of
soil preparation and how to choose
appropriate pest -resistant lawn
grasses.
There is an interesting section on
why organic potion -based pesticides
are still not the answer. I learn
something new every day.
The people at Reader's Digest are
pretty clever. Among the hundreds of
new titles they produce each year I
think there is at least one gardener's
problem -solver produced too. Some
are written by one author and others
by a list of contributors. My first
problem -solver book was actually a
two -volume set put together by the
American Garden Guild and
published by Doubleday. It is pages
upon pages of questions sorted into
sections but not the easiest book to
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