Transatlantic Plantsman

Books round up… give a book this holiday!

I’ve reviewed almost a dozen books this year and as the holiday fast approaches, our friends at amazon can still get you a present for a friend or loved one (or a treat for yourself) before the 24th. You can order from amazon as late as the 22nd (UK and US) for delivery on the 24th.

And don't forget: A book - it's not just for Christmas.

These are the books I reviewed, with an extract from each review. Click on the titles to go to the review page. And don’t forget my own books, click straight through to amazon from the panels on the left.

These two books, along with my RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials, were the books which won awards for 2007.

New Gardening – Gardening in a Changing Climate by Matthew Wilson
“This invaluable book… reveals a different approach for a new age, explaining - and showing with some excellent photography - how to re-invent gardening for our new world.”

Garden People by Ursula Buchan
“I started off reading the elegant and accessible text then the pictures become more seductive… then it was back and forth between words and pictures as a fascinating portrait of post war British horticulture unfolds.”

These are some of the other top books for the year.

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart
“This is a great read, which is all the more impressive considering the wealth of research behind that flowing style.”

Winter-flowering Shrubs by Michael W. Buffin
“The book is so full of good plants and good advice – and some good pictures too – that I’m sure most gardeners will find they want to grow so many of these winter shrubs that drastic changes in their gardens will prove necessary.”

The Winter Garden by Val Bourne
“This is an inspiring book – and one which makes those of us who’ve been looking out at snow in November this year simply want to move!”

Oriental Vegetables by Joy Larkcom
“A triumph of diligent research and practical experience and all expressed in her trademark style in which a vast wealth of information is made easily readable.”

Heucheras and Heucherellas by Dan Heims and Graham Ware & Heuchera, Tiarella and Heucherella by Charles and Martha Oliver
Reviewed together here.
“So… which is best? Ideally, you need both! But if you need as many descriptions as possible, go for Heims/Ware. If you’re interested in tiarellas, go for the Olivers’.”

Delphiniums by David and Shirley Bassett
“This is an excellent book, which will impress and inform anyone interested in delphiniums.”

Who Does Your Garden Grow? by Alex Pankhurst
“This is both a valuable historical record and an absorbing read.”

Hollies for Gardeners by Christopher Bailes
“Thorough treatment of both European and American hollies… Accessible writing style… Great photography… Makes you want to grow more hollies.”

Snowdrops: A Monograph of the Cultivated Galanthus by John Grimshaw
“This is the ultimate snowdrop book. There’s so much good information and so many good pictures that it’s worth every cent or every penny.”

This is a great selection of mostly British books which will be of interest to both British and American readers.

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart – book review

You know how sometimes you think you’ve done something but all you’ve done is thought about doing it? Well, I wrote this review long ago and was convinced that I’d posted it here. But now I find that it’s been sitting around in a more-or-less finished form all that time! Anyway… sorry folks, sorry Amy. Here it is.

Weddings, birthdays, at the party or in sadder times we say it with flowers. From the creation of new cut flower varieties to delivery to the door, Flower Confidential takes us through the whole breeding, growing and selling process that brings cut flowers from an idea in a breeder’s mind to the vase on your table. A friend said that sounded dull. Not if Amy Stewart’s at the controls.

Her sparky style, her humor and her reliance on conversations with people in the trade, make for a lively read. By getting to know these plant breeders, flower growers, people at markets and stores – and rummaging around in the statistics - she’s able to reveal what really goes on; the book is packed with intriguing facts and stories.

Did you know that Americans buy four billion stems a year (and that’s a conservative estimate)? And there’s the story of the “blue” rose, produced by a subsidiary of a Japanese liquor company, that’s really violet. There are the legal battles over the ‘Star Gazer’ lily, and it turns out that Ecuador, which produces some of the finest flowers in the world, has almost no flower shops. Her account of a Valentine’s Day in a city flower shop is a reminder that the emotions that come with giving flowers to a loved one will only blossom if the system that brings them to the door on that hectic day is effortlessly efficient.

This is a great read, which is all the more impressive considering the wealth of research behind that flowing style.

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart is published by Algonquin Books.

You can order it in North America here.
You can order it in Britain here.

New Gardening - Book review

This new book from the Royal Horticultural Society is quite difficult to review. It may seem to deal with just one important subject but the title, New Gardening, is a portmanteau for an extraordinarily diverse range of techniques and ideas.

The entirely reasonable premise is that we cannot continue to garden the way we once did (and how many would like to) with lush, regularly irrigated borders around broad sweeping regularly irrigated and regularly shaved lawns; spraying chemicals, piling on the fertilizer, ignoring the consequences.

So Matthew Wilson, Curator of the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Harlow Carr in Yorkshire, has brought together a range of both familiar and new techniques: composting, use of grit and gravel, permeable membranes, water and wildlife, attracting insects, mulching, choosing plants, new ideas on pruning and planting... all with one aim, as the subtitle puts it: “How to garden in a changing climate”.

There’s a huge range of excellent practical pictures, including useful step-by-step series on projects like tree planting the right way and how to make a green roof. There are planting ideas with a drier climate in mind. And while espousing and explaining this new approach he never forgets that the point is to create a garden in which to relax and enjoy the plants and their seasons. And while initially written for British gardeners North American gardeners will also find plenty of useful ideas and advice.

This invaluable book, which recently won the 2007 Practical Book of the Year Award from the British Garden Writers’ Guild, reveals a different approach for a new age, explaining - and showing with some excellent photography - how to re-invent gardening for our new world.

RHS New Gardening by Matthew Wilson is published by Mitchell Beazley.

You can buy New Gardening at a discounted price in Britain here.

You can buy New Gardening at a discounted price in North America here.

Garden People – Book review

This is a unique book. Based on fifty years of wonderful photography by British gardening legend Valerie Finnis, it records the people (and the plants) of a vibrant period of horticultural history. Ursula Buchan tells the story while Brent Elliott, Librarian and Archivist at the Royal Horticultural Society, provides crisp biographies of the people. The book was the worthy winner of the 2007 Enthusiasts’ Book of the Year Award from the British Garden Writers’ Guild.

Valerie was one of the great plantspeople of her era and a fine and influential photographer. She knew everyone, everyone made the pilgrimage to her garden: E. B. Anderson, Ken Aslett, Margery Fish, Harold Hillier, Will Ingwersen, Maurice Mason, Cedric Morris, Roald Dahl, Miriam Rothschild, Vita Sackville-West, George Sherriff, Patrick Synge, George Taylor, Graham Stuart Thomas… and so many more. If some of these names are unfamiliar, the book will reveal why they should not be.

I started off reading the elegant and accessible text then the pictures become more seductive… then it was back and forth between words and pictures as a fascinating portrait of post war British horticulture unfolds.

I spoke to Valerie on the ‘phone about the history of her mother’s famous ‘Constance Finnis’ poppies not long before she died. “Ah, Rice…” she said (her usual greeting). “Are you in America?” And then she gave me the proper history of the famous poppies.

I remember visiting her in her garden and having my snapshot taken for her huge leather bound albums in which I, and everyone who visited, was also required – required, mind you, not requested – to record an impression of my visit.

Valerie Finnis was an extraordinary woman who knew and photographed the great gardeners or post war Britain – and the great plants too.

Her friend Ursula Buchan, together with photographer Howard Sooley who worked with Valerie to choose thee pictures, have created an insistently fascinating book which is also an invaluable record of Valerie’s work and times.

Garden People by Ursula Buchan is published by Thames and Hudson.

You can buy Garden People at a discounted price in Britain here.

You can buy Garden People at a discounted price in North America here.

Winter-flowering Shrubs - book review

Shrubs are the most fundamental flowering plants of the winter garden and with so many also carrying a powerful fragrance, they bring double value to the colder months. So advice on those to choose for the most effective winter display and advice on how to get the best out of them is invaluable.

Arranged alphabetically, but with each entry written in an accessible discursive style, the book strikes a good balance between being authoritative and selective. Highlighting the differences, for example, between the various winter mahonias in terms of habit and flowering time helps us choose exactly the right one for our own situation. And it’s good to see some rare, but easy-to-grow plants, like the variegated Persian ironwood Parrotia persica ‘Lamplighter’, included.

The sections on cultivation that accompany each plant help ensure that you know how to encourage each plant to give its best and, unusually for a book by a British writer, good advice for American gardeners is included all the way through.

The index, I have to say, is not very satisfactory – only plants are included (no gardens or people) and there no cultivars listed, only species. But the book is so full of good plants and good advice – and some good pictures too – that I’m sure most gardeners will find they want to grow so many of these winter shrubs that drastic changes in their gardens will prove necessary.

Winter-flowering Shrubs by Michael W. Buffin is published by Timber Press.

You can buy Winter-flowering Shrubs in Britain here

You can buy Winter-flowering Shrubs in North America here

The Winter Garden - Book review

Of course, winter means different things to different people in different areas. Just look at the picture see what the winter garden is like here in Pennsylvania (I’ve just been out snow blowing this morning). But in milder areas of the US and in Britain, of course, there’s a wealth of often forgotten plants  to enliven the season.

In Val Bourne’s attractive and very readable book, two elements are emphasised: stepping back and taking in the broader picture and also looking in very close at the detail. So textured paths and surfaces, striking fences and simple sculptures along with evergreen hedges, high and low, and shapely evergreen perennials are always interesting, and especially when rimed with frost or dusted (or weighed down) with snow.

Then at the other extreme there’s the delightful detail in tree bark, coloured shrubs stems, snowdrops, garrya catkins, spidery and of course fragrant witch hazel flowers, arum foliage, seed heads and berries hanging on from autumn and so much more. At times, perhaps, she borrows from a little too far ahead into spring (pulmonarias? Anemone blanda?) but this is an inspiring book – and one which makes those of us who’ve been looking out at snow in November this year simply want to move! It's -10C/14F this morning, so not many plants in flower. Hence the need for structure, as Val points out.

The Winter Garden by Val Bourne is published by Cassell Illustrated.

Order The Winter Garden in Britain from here.

Order The Winter Garden in North America here.

Oriental Vegetables - Book review

In the run up to the holiday season I’m going to take a quick look at some new and recent books that will make great gifts. I’m not going to waste your time on books that are below average, I’ll only be telling you about those that are really good.

First off: Oriental Vegetables – The Complete Guide for the Gardening Cook by Joy Larkcom.

This thoroughly revised paperback edition of her classic book is a triumph of diligent research and practical experience and all expressed in her trademark style in which a vast wealth of information is made easily readable.

One of the reasons that many of these tasty and easy-to-grow vegetables are in every supermarket and on every plate is because Joy went to China to study them, grew them herself in Europe (zone 8) then popularised a Western way to produce them easily in the garden. She explains the distinctions, recommends varieties, and describes how to grow and harvest them. These wonderful flavours (the book includes plenty of recipes) – not to mention the ornamental value of so many – should be in every garden and every kitchen. No colour pictures, but vast quantities of wisdom and comprehensive lists of seed suppliers in both Britain and North America. Great value.

Joy Larkcom is the recipient of the British Garden Writers’ Guild Liftetime Achievement Award.

Buy Oriental Vegetables in Britain

Pre-order Oriental Vegetables in North America for delivery in February 2008

British Garden Writers' Guild Awards

I intended to tell you about the other British Garden Writers Guild award winners sooner but my more or less failed internet connection here in England has prevented me from doing so till now. The situation was exacerbated by my fury at the ISP which charges 10p (=20c) per minute for the phone call to discuss the correction of a problem which is entirely of their own creation – and which they repeatedly fail to correct!

Anyway… Be that as it may… When I finally got to a proper connection, first I posted an update on my own award (well, you would, wouldn’t you…?). Now, the other awards…

There follows the full list of winners. I hope to review the two other winning books before the holidays… I’m sure you’ve heard enough about my own book. If not, check out the judges’ enthusiastic remarks.

You can also see who actually judged the awards here

And you can see the Garden Writers' Guild’s own report here

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ken Muir

BROADCASTING AWARDS
TV Broadcast of the Year
Grow Your Own Veg produced by Juliet Glaves for BBC Birmingham (for BBC2)

Radio Broadcast of the Year
Gardens of Faith by Natural History Unit Radio at BBC Bristol (for Radio 4), produced by Mary Colwel

MULTIMEDIA AWARDS
Electronic Media Award
www.bbc.co.uk/gardening edited by Camilla Phelps

New Writer Award
Louise Zass-Bangham for her article Is all wood good? in Garden Design Journal

Environmental Award
John Walker for his article Time to power down? in Organic Gardening

PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
Photographer of the Year
Andrew Lawson

Features Photographer of the Year
Michelle Garrett for images in the article Mosses & liverworts by Jacky Hobbs in Homes & Gardens

Single Image of the Year
Jonathan Buckley for his image entitled Orchid

BOOK AWARDS
Reference Book of the Year
RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials by Graham Rice, Editor-in-Chief published by Dorling Kindersley

Enthusiasts' Book of the Year
Garden People: Valerie Finnis & The Golden Age of Gardening by Ursula Buchan, published by Thames & Hudson (Jacket Illustrated above)

Practical Book of the Year
RHS New Gardening by Matthew Wilson, published by Mitchell Beazley

CONSUMER PRESS AWARDS
Newspaper of the Year
The Daily Telegraph, Kylie O’Brien, Editor Telegraph Gardening

Magazine of the Year
Gardens Illustrated, edited by Juliet Roberts

Journalist of the Year
Jane Moore for articles in Gardeners’ World Magazine

Practical Journalist of the Year
Andi Clevely for his article To dig or not to dig? in The Garden

TRADE & TECHNICAL PRESS AWARD
Trade Journalist of the Year
Graham Clarke for his article Developments in tougher turf in Horticulture Week

Update on my book award

Here’s what the judges said about the Encyclopedia of Perennials,which has just won the Laurent-Perrier Reference Book of the Year award from the British garden  Writers Guild.:
“The judges felt that on publication the winner had immediately become the standard reference book on perennials for gardeners. Put together with a great attention to detail, the quality of illustration is exceedingly high. This is supported with an extensive and detailed text that balances the need for including and describing many thousands of good new cultivars without excluding those older ones still worthy of cultivation. The coverage of many large groups such as Hosta and Geranium is impressive, but equal importance has been paid to hundreds of smaller genera also. At only £25, this is one of the best-value books on the market this year.”

The picture shows me receiving my award from David Hesketh of sponsor Laurent-Perrier. Sadly, a bottle of their superb champagne did not come as part of the award.

British readers can buy the book here.

North American readers can buy the American edition here

And I promise not to mention this award again - well... probably not... maybe... depends... But next time I'll tell you about the other excellent award winners.

Yippee!! (Blowing own trumpet time…)

I’m just back from the British Garden Writers’ Guild annual awards… Five hundred writers and photographers having a lovely lunch and celebrating the best horticultural work of the last year. And celebrations are certainly in order here! My Royal Horticultural Society’s Encyclopedia of Perennials won the Laurent-Perrier Reference Book of the Year award. (There’s no overall “best book” award.) That's my sixth award for writing about plants and gardens. Yippee!

Thank you Dorling Kindersley for commissioning the book, thank you to the RHS for supporting it so wholeheartedly, and thank you to all the contributors who helped make the book such a success.

British readers can buy the book here.

North American readers can buy the American edition here