Great Garden Reads: Recommendations for Christmas Giving

One of the very good things about this time of year is that we get to catch up on our reading, or at least we make a good attempt to. We also are thinking about what to get for the gardeners in our lives. As any gardener can tell you, most of us love to read about gardening, sigh over photos of gardens and plants; and there's a great crop of recently published books for the plant aficionado in your life. Here are some of my favourites from the past year.

I swear that Allan Armitage could make me enthusiastic about goutweed, he’s such a terrific and encouraging plantsman. His latest offering, Armitage’s Vines and Climbers, is a wonderful book for those who want to embrace the vertical dimension of gardening. Climbing and vining plants are ideal for any garden or gardener, with the trick being to select the right plant for your location. This is the third in a series Armitage has written (previous volumes are on perennials and native plants) and anything he writes is definitely worth having in your garden library.


Those of us who love plants are often as delighted by observing them in their native habitats as we are growing them in our homes or gardens. Newfoundland botanist and writer Todd Boland has put together a beautiful book in Wildflowers of Fogo Island and Change Islands, a book that can serve as a reference for much of Atlantic Canada. Boland is an excellent photographer as well as an entertaining, knowledgeable writer, and his book is much welcomed by those with interest in native flora.

Another writer from Newfoundland brings us the useful and wonderful field guide Edible Plants of Atlantic Canada. Peter J. Scott highlights more than sixty edible plant species found in woods, meadows, and other wildernesses throughout our region. The book is divided into generalized habitats (seaside, disturbed areas, peatlands, forest floor) to help novice collectors know what plants to look for according to the local ecology. Each plant entry includes one or two good photos of the species as well as notes about the edible portions, and there’s a modest recipe section included too. The book is bound in a durable, water-resistant cover, making it ideal to slip into a pack when going on an afternoon’s nature walk.

Lest someone think I’m biased against growing food plants, Incredible Edibles is a great book for the city-dweller with an itching to grow some fresh foods. Sonia Day, a well-known Canadian gardening writer and all around garden enthusiast, follows up on her highly entertaining Middle Aged Spread with this concise, easy-to-follow handbook of growing advice for “43 fun things to grow in the city.” From asparagus peas to zucchini, Day provides recommendations on how to grow vegetables, herbs, and small fruits, whether in containers or in small urban plots, indoors or out. Ideal for the beginner gardener with limited space and time, and also a great way to introduce children to the joys of growing food, the book also includes recipes for using that home-grown produce.

For sheer, soul-drenching colour and escapism, Exotic Gardens of the Eastern Caribbean isn’t quite as good as a trip down south, but it’s a nice alternative. The authors have visited many gardens on selected Caribbean islands—St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Barbados and Grenada—and have profiled a gorgeous range of plantings, from magnificent private residences with garden creations by landscape architects to lush public gardens. Written in both French and English, this coffee-table delight brims with dazzling photographs of the gardens but also includes intriguing tidbits about the inhabitants, gardeners or otherwise, that populate these tranquil island paradises. If you’ve ever visited one of these islands, this is a wonderful keepsake—if you’ve never been, it’s a temptation to go.

One of the most popular types of gardening in recent years has been gardening with succulents, whether hardy varieties for outside gardens or more tender species used in container plantings. Debra Lee Baldwin’s Succulent Container Gardens is a follow-up to her well-received Designing with Succulents, and is useful for gardeners of all experience levels. I have several dish gardens of succulents in my office, and pots of succulents brightening other rooms, so reading this new volume merely further whetted my appetite for the unusual, intriguing world of succulent plants. There’s no weeding to do with containerized plants, and much less work than tending an outdoor garden, so what’s not to like? It leaves us with more time to spend reading more books about plants.

Anyone who is a plant enthusiast knows that they don’t just sit there and grow—there are complicated chemical processes going on behind flowers and foliage. Some plants have truly odd characteristics, and these are highlighted in the delightfully named Bizarre Botanicals. You’ll find no humdrum hostas or proper petunias within these pages—here are carnivorous plants that “catch” insects for food, plants with spores that burst into flame, plants that smell like decomposing flesh so as to lure in pollinators. Some are stunningly beautiful, others very strange in appearance, but all are fascinating. The authors, both botanists and horticulturists, profile more than 75 unique plants, all of which can be grown as houseplants under the right conditions.

For something a little more practical for most of us, check out Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses. Adrian Bloom is a plantsman extraordinaire who has both the connoisseur’s eye and the ability to encourage any gardener of any expertise level. He profiles nearly 400 perennials and ornamental grasses, showing how they can be used in the landscape, and reveals his top twelve plants, most recommended for great performance in the widest range of gardening conditions.

My personal “across-the-pond” horticultural hero is the late Christopher Lloyd, an inspiration to countless gardeners around the world. In The View from Great Dixter, dozens of Lloyd’s friends, students, and colleagues, including his gardener Fergus Garrett, recount anecdotes from lessons learned during their time visiting or working at Lloyd’s family estate of Great Dixter, in southest England. They paint a loving tribute of a gardener, and a garden, the likes of which we will not soon see again. Christo, as his friends called him, had an acerbic and quick wit, and suggested a most excellent way of dealing with forgotten plant names when visiting another’s garden. “Kick it gently with your foot, and then casually ask “What are you calling this nowadays?”

Generally I flinch away from books in the “For Dummies” or “Complete Idiot’s” series, but I really like The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening. The authors don’t presume their readers are idiots, but rather fellow gardeners who just need a little extra in the way of advice and suggestions on how to engage in their favourite avocation all year long. Maybe we can’t grow vegetables outside in January in Nova Scotia, but there are certainly garden-related activities for the entire year.

I’m quite clear that I am unlikely to ever visit the Chelsea Flower Show, the epitome of garden shows held in London, England every year since 1912. But with Best Garden Design by Chris Young, any gardener can receive practical inspiration on bringing a fresh, exciting look to one’s own garden. Young presents tips from the expert designers who showcase at Chelsea, as well as case studies on particular designs showing why they work and how to achieve something similar. Nova Scotian gardeners will have to adapt somewhat for plant hardiness, but there are enough delightful variations in design, from post-modern to classical, that any reader should take away something from this book.

You don’t have to be an entomologist to enjoy the wonderfully readable Bees, Wasps and Ants. In fact, the author stresses that his lively volume is not a field guide for identifying these insects, of which there are an estimated mere 150,000 or so species. What he does with this volume is bring us into the world of these important insects, which are variously “cows, police, wolves, pollinators and recyclers.” Along the way, he focuses on the importance that bees, wasps and ants have for gardeners, and shows us how to make better gardeners by encouraging and embracing biodiversity rather than running for the insecticide the first time an ant marches past us on the walkway.

I'm told that I need to start promoting my own forthcoming book a little bit. So: Plants for Atlantic Gardens will be out in late February or early March of 2011. It's not in time for Christmas, but it will be in time for spring planning and pre-planting. There we go. I've done my deed for the time being. You can't get this one now, but you can get the rest of these, and any of them would be welcomed by the gardener in your life--or as a treat to yourself. Happy Christmas reading, everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: Powerless Wednesday, post storm

A wee bit of verbiage to explain today's photos, which are only taken with my iPhone. Monday night, the Annapolis Valley was lambasted by a storm worthy of hurricane status. Many of us, including our house, are still without power, due to huge numbers of uprooted and broken trees and downed power lines. We're safe and just waiting for the power to be restored, 40 hours later...others sustained damage from tractor trailers blown off roads to buildings collapsed.

Nova Scotia Power has some explaining to do. Seriously.

Some non-Christmassy Christmas blooms

Tis the season to show pretty pictures of poinsettias, Christmas cacti, and other holiday-related plants. I'm no exception, as I love all of these and have a number of them blooming their little hearts off here in the house right now. But on this sundrenched December day, I thought we'd celebrate some of the other blooms of this season. They're not necessarily Christmas plants; they're just a feast of colour for the winter-weary eyes (this, even before winter is truly here).

Leading the pack is my blue leadwort, or plumbago. This is the first time this particular plant has bloomed indoors for me, and the secret has been to put it in the kitchen window, over the sink, where I can water it the moment it gets thirsty, and where no bad kitties will try to eat it. There is something about plumbago that some of the kitties find quite irresistible, and it's not the colour of the lovely blossoms.

My gardening- and blogging buddy Joey and I share a deep and abiding love for cyclamen, for the foliage as much as for the flowers. While I never saw a cyclamen with flowers I didn't love, I bought this particular plant purely for its gorgeous, gorgous foliage. Cyclamen like a cooler temperature than many houseplants, so they do well in my office, which isn't the warmest room in the house.

Another plant that does brilliantly for me is Phalaenopsis, or moth orchids. Currently, there are five of them in bloom in my house, and the others are resting or preparing to bloom again. This is one of my favourites, because I find green flowers absolutely mesmerizing.

Yes, I know paperwhites are considered Christmas plants by many. I have several pots of them that are a long way from flowering yet, as I try to stagger their blooming as much as possible. I love the cool whiteness of their blooms, and unlike many people, I don't find the fragrance unpleasant if the container is in a large room.

Another of the phalaenopsis blooming in my office--thhis valiant plant has been in bloom for months and months, close to a year actually, and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. I must be doing something right!

Okay, I know...we're definitely into the Christmas plants category now with amaryllis. But I'm very excited about two amaryllis I got this year from GardenImport. This is 'Cupido', one of the Sonatini varieties, which are smaller-bulbed, as well as having smaller flowers and stems. I'm expecting to have blooms by tomorrow-and all of my bulbs have at least two flowering stems, which is going to make for a long, happy blooming season.

Other amaryllis such as this 'Red Lion' are also preparing to show off before Christmas for me, but they're going to be very welcome. Anything to help cheer the gardener's soul while we prepare to get ourselves through the winter months.

What non-Christmassy plants are blooming at your house? We can pretend it's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day now. Carol won't mind. Honest she won't.

The return of the native...plant!

(Hepatica nobilis (liverwort) flowers in spring.

Followup note, Wednesday: I think we'll be continuing the discussion on natives for at least another post or two, but in the meantime, for a really good look at natives in Nova Scotia, do visit the website for the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, at Acadia University in nearby Wolfville.

Some time ago, I was asked if I would do a post here explaining the difference between native and naturalized plants, as well as one on hybrids vs heirlooms. We plant geeks tend to bandy around such terms with such familiarity that we assume everyone has that same familiarity, which isn’t the case.

Aquilegia canadensis, Canada columbine

What defines a native plant? If something is native to an area, it means it was born or naturally occurring in that specific area. To compare myself to a plant, I was born in Newfoundland, so I’m a native of that fine and lovely province. However, I’ve lived most of my life to date in my parents’ home province of Nova Scotia, so I’m a naturalized Nova Scotian.

Hamamelis virginiana, native witchhazel

Plants may, of course, be native to more than one area, but I tend to go with Allan Armitage’s definition of something being native to North America. Thus although ironweed isn’t native to Nova Scotia, it is native to much of North America, and that’s good enough for me.

Yellow form of red-osier dogwood showing twigs in winter. (Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea')

Let's get something clear right now: I love many, many native plants, and have dozens of them on my property, but I am absolutely NOT a purist who wants only natives in my garden.

A native white spruce (Picea glauca) along the border of our property.

The gardening world is rife with discussion on this topic, with many people considering it heresy to use anything BUT natives in their gardens. That’s fine for those who want to be militant, but that’s not me. And I love cultivars that have been developed using native plants, like the glorious echinaceas that have sprung from crossing native species such as E. purpurea and E. paradoxa.

Amelanchier foliage and flowers in spring.

Again, I bow to the wisdom of Allan Armitage, who in his fabulous book Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens (Timber Press) observes,

“Cultivars are the gardeners’ candy store. If you like purple coneflower, a dozen choices now await you. Should cultivars be called native? I don’t know—should rap be called music? It is simply a matter of opinion. I believe garden-improved cultivars, both selections and hybrids, will only help mainstream gardeners further embrace the world of native plants.”

The flowers and foliage of bunchberry, Cornus canadensis.

Why choose native plants to add to your garden? Often they are very well adapted to local growing conditions and tougher than introduced species, but you do have to exercise common sense. Plant a Canada holly (Ilex verticillata) in a dry area of your garden, and it will not thrive, any more than white pine (Pinus strobus) will be happy beside the seashore. You have to site them where they do best. Happily, there are native plants for every growing condition.

Labrador violets, Viola labradorica
Many natives are low maintenance, not requiring a lot of pruning and fertilizing and other pampering to do well—when situated in the right conditions, again. Some are drought resistant, while others are suited for wet, or shady, or heavy clay, or seashore situations.

The delicate flowers and foliage of bluestar, Amsonia tabernaemontana.
Many are disease and pest resistant, (but not necessarily disease and pest proof). You’ll often hear them touted as requiring less in the way of pesticides, but in my garden, nothing gets any sort of pesticide, organic or conventional, so it’s not an argument I’m going to make.

Bee on flower of swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata.

Quite often native pollinators, birds, and other types of wildlife have not adapted to using introduced/naturalized species for food purposes, so this is another great reason to include native species of trees, shrubs, and perennials in your plantings.

Waxwings feeding on the fruit of the American elder, Sambucus canadensis

Of course, there are always exceptions to this—think again of that humble dandelion, which many people curse but which provides nutrients for many a pollinator in early spring.

Flowers of highbush cranberry, Viburnum trilobum.

I hope that you’ll consider adding some native plants to your garden, although you may find, with a little research, that you already have quite a few in your plantings.

Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium maculatum.

I’m not going to preach at anyone—I don’t like it when I am preached at, so I try not to do it to anyone else.

Red trillium, T. erectum.

My job is to give information to other gardeners, and it's up to you what you do with it. I just hope you’ll enjoy whatever you plant, wherever you plant it!

Wordless Wednesday: Frostflowers for December

More garden all-stars: New to my garden in 2010

Continuing on with our lovefest of plants that have performed well in my garden this year, we'll turn our attention to some of the 'new-to-me' plants that have been delightful in 2010. I'm sure you all know the sensation of discovering a new variety of a particular genus that you've not seen before, or trying something that you've seen elsewhere and couldn't find locally, or just deciding to give something another try. It's one of the best things about garden, the endless sense of discovery.

Epimediums are seriously underutilized around here, although those who know them love them and rave about their virtues. The thing about epimediums, also known as bishops cap and barrenwort, is that they're early bloomers, coming on in late April to mid May. In containers, they will bloom even earlier, so sometimes they've past their bloom period before most people start coming out to garden centres. Many gardeners who don't know what they're looking at will be less than impressed to see 'only' foliage, so that's why epimedium are often left on the benches at nurseries. There's a lovely variety of flower colours as well as leaf size and colouring; these are beautiful groundcovers and highly recommended.


A few years ago, I spotted yellow waxy-bells (kirengoshoma) growing in a garden in Truro, and got very excited. Until that point, I'd only read about these beauties in books, which isn't to say there aren't plenty of them growing here--just that I don't get out to nearly enough gardens. One of the joys of yellow waxy-bells is that they're late blooming, putting in an appearance in late summer or early autumn.

Another underutilized perennial is the beautiful masterwort, Astrantia. Masterwort is a member of the umbellifer family (Apiaceae or Umbelliferae), which makes it related to queen Ann's lace (Daucus), sea-holly (Eryngium), parsnips, dill, and carrots...and goutweed. It's a charming, well behaved perennial, forming nice mounds of handsome foliage and sprays of flowers in pink, greenish-white, or red to burgundy. A contrasting ring of petal like leaves, or bracts, surrounds the tiny florets, and makes them eyecatching and cherished for use in floral arrangements. A friend of mine says she has seedlings all around her garden from her plants, but I haven't been so fortunate with mine.

I've had a white-flowered dittany, or gas plant (Dictamnus) for a few years, but this year found the purple form for sale at a nursery down the Valley from here. The thing about Dictamnus: make sure you plant it where you want it, because it hates being dug up and moved. It's slow to settle in, but well worth the wait to get the spectacular, fragrant blossoms.
Although my previous attempts with a tree peony were not very successful, I decided to try again this year. Gardening colleague and nursery operator Lloyd Mapplebeck told me to tip a clay pot or a bucket over the woody stem of the plant after leaves drop and the ground freezes, to help protect the graft union for several years until the tree peony is well established. I meant to do that today, but came in the house too early. Tomorrow, the pot goes into protect-the-peony mode.

The very well named 'Brilliance' autumn fern is actually brilliant from the beginning of the season, when its new growth unfurls, until now, when it's preparing to go into resting mode. I tried this one last year but didn't have a real healthy plant to begin with, and it didn't return. This one was beautiful when planted and grew moreso over the season.

If you love to have pollinators around your garden, you need to have both the veronicas and their relatives the culvers roots, Veronicastrum. This is 'Red Fox' veronica, the bright pink blooms of which are often covered with bees and other pollinators. Last post we mentioned the new variety 'Purpliscious', but 'Red Fox' is an older, and still very popular, cultivar.

This is a relatively new variety of Echinacea, 'Tangerine Dream', which could become one of my very favourites because it's so definitely, defiantly orange. Very eyecatching in the perennial border, especially since it's near several other strongly-coloured bloomers, including 'Red Admiral' cranesbill and a host of other echinaceas.

Panic grasses don't have the showiest of flowers, but they have very graceful sprays of petite flowerheads along with handsome foliage that may be blue or green in colour, red- or wine-tipped. There are quite a few cultivars available around here, including 'Heavy Metal', 'Shenandoah', 'Rotstrahlbusch', 'Cheyenne Sky', 'Dallas Blues', and 'Thundercloud'. You can't have just one. At least, I can't.

A brief dip into shrubs to round out the day. This is the February daphne, D. mezereum, which was introduced to Nova Scotia with the settlers from Europe. It has highly fragrant flowers (they don't come out quite so early here) which turn into brilliant scarlet berries, but remember to take care with these plants: they are highly poisonous in all their parts.

One of the lepidote rhododendrons, R. russatum, is trying very hard to become my favourite ericaceous plant. As far as I know its flowers have the most blue-tinged colour of any of the hardy rhodos for our area.

Having waxed excitedly happy over 'Sungold' buddleia a number of times, no one will be surprised to find me still praising the beauty of this honey-coloured, fragrant flower. I'm preparing to mulch the base of mine with evergreen boughs and hopefully one of them will come through our winter.

One of the coolest evergreens I know of is the Siberian cypress, Microbiota decussata. In summer, the foliage of this low-growing conifer is a bright green, but as cold weather advances, the foliage turns bronze to purple. It's a tough, obliging evergreen, and one that should be used far more than it has been.

The fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica) is related to our common sumac but as you can see it's quite different in appearance. It is a low-growing, spreading shrub, with interesting leaves and brilliant autumn colour. This variety is 'Gro-low', and I like the way it's used in some plantings around Wolfville, underneath taller shrubs and trees like flowering crabs. I haven't noticed any fragrance in my shrub's foliage, but I'm impressed with everything I've seen about this plant, so I hope for many years of pleasure from the one I planted this spring.