Nature’s Garden
When winter’s snow covers the ground and the garden is resting, you’ll often find me flipping through the pages of a gardening book. Through the years I’ve accumulated quite a collection of books about nature and gardening.
Some volumes I’ve had since I was a youngster. Others were given to me by friends.
I’ve picked through my share of used book stores and library sales.
And each year there are new books galore to choose from.
I am deliberate, rather than impulsive, in selecting and acquiring gardening books.
Because of that, one might think that I use them all equally, but I find that not to be the case.
In fact, there are some books I pull out so frequently they typically live in a stack next to my desk rather than actually on the bookshelf-most of them having to do with native plants, since native plants are of special interest to me.
Since I’m often asked about native plants, I thought I’d use a cold winter’s day to share with you the key books I rely on for information about native wildflowers, shrubs and trees.
William Cullina is the nursery manager and propagator for the New England Wildflower Society, one of North America’s most well-known plant conservation organizations. Two of his books, Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada and Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines, have been invaluable to me since the day I brought them home.
Cullina’s observations, experience and humor make good, informative reading. Propagation and cultural information, plant lists for various sites and uses, and plant and seed source lists are also very useful.
One of the most well-known and influential individuals in American horticulture is Michael Dirr. He has a variety of excellent books to his name, but one I especially like is Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs. Not all of the plants in this book are native to the U.S., but the illustrative photographs and clear, to-the-point descriptions are excellent. At the back of the book are plant lists highlighting an extensive range of design and cultural characteristics (such as flowering, fruit, fall color, growth habits, and pruning times) of trees, shrubs, needle evergreens and vines.
When I want detailed descriptions of native trees, I turn to Native Trees for North American Landscapes by Guy Sternberg with Jim Wilson. Sternberg is a landscape architect and arborist.
Wilson is a horticulturalist and former co-host of the Victory Garden. More than 650 species and varieties of trees are covered in this book. The authors discuss native and adaptive ranges, flowers and fruit, best seasons, culture, problems and pests, and much more to help anyone make good tree choices.
Last year, I purchased Native Plants of the Northeast by Donald Leopold, who is a distinguished environmental and forestry professor at State University of New York, Syracuse. His volume is more inclusive than the others I mentioned, covering ferns, grasses, wildflowers, vines, shrubs and trees.
As a result it is less detailed, nonetheless, the plant descriptions are concise, but meaty, and the photos good.
Particularly handy are the extensive lists of plants for different growing conditions and uses.
As I peruse this year’s new garden catalogs, trying to make selections as to what native plants I want to add to my landscape this year, I’ll have my favorite books right next to me for reference.
Hopefully, I’ll make good choices that I’ll be able to write about in the month’s ahead.
In the meantime, until the snow melts, I’ll conserve my energy and enjoy a little armchair gardening.
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Susan Brimo-Cox gardens, observes nature and writes in Ohiopyle.
Readers can send questions or comments to her at naturesgarden@brimo-cox.com.
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