Royalty AND Gardening

In strolling through the library the other day, one of those large, coffee-table type books caught my eye. It was Royal Gardeners: The History of Britain's Royal Gardens by Alan Titchmarsh. A book that unites royalty and gardens - I snatched it up right away.

Unfortunately, there is one serious drawback to reading a book about Royal Gardens: it is January. Nothing will grow here for several more months, and I will never be able to grow half the things they do in England, due to climate (and space restrictions - I, sadly, do not live in a manor or palace!). However, for good fantasy reading about gardens, and as a general history of gardens throughout the ages, it is pretty good.

Titchmarsh looks at gardening through the eyes of the royals: who was interested in it, what styles were in fashion, and which monarchs were gardeners. Many were - several were not and are therefore omitted. The reader only learns about the monarchs ideas of gardening, and does not actually meet any of the gardeners that did the work. I suppose the monarchs can be considered gardeners in that they provided the space for the gardens and possibly even some of the ideas, but the title is slightly misleading in that respect.

It was interesting to see the pendulum swing of fashion in gardening from one era to the next. Gardens swing between a very informal, naturalistic style (think Capability Brown, landscape gardens, Gertrude Jekyll) to rigidly controlled beds and borders (Tudor knot gardens, Dutch parterres, Victorian massed bedding-out plants). I prefer the more informal and natural style myself, and so enjoyed seeing the different interpretations of that form of garden over the years. I was very interested in the chapter on Medieval gardens. This is the genesis of the modern garden, and they look very lovely to the modern eye. They are both structured and naturalistic, and I find them very pretty. I also really like the practice of letting bulbs naturalize in a lawn, and there are several fantastic photos of naturalized crocuses and daffodils.

All in all, the photos of the book provide inspiration. While it would be impossible to create many of the looks at home (space limitations, or degree of formality), a garden can glean grains of inspiration from the beautiful photographs. The book is also packed with interesting garden facts about tools, glasshouses (greenhouses), and plant collection. Many of the plant collectors names were now-familiar friends from my earlier read on the subject. As it is a coffee-table book, I think the main focus of the book was on the photographs, which are spectacular. The writing is less so. Titchmarsh writes in a very slangy, informal, breezy style, which I'm not sure is quite appropriate for the subject. One can write about history in an interesting way without resorting to being flippant. I am not that fervent a royalist that I protest against jokes made at a monarch's expense, but I think a non-fiction book in general needs to be written with a slightly more formal tone.

There is one other problem with the book: Titchmarsh includes a list at the end of royal and non-royal gardens to go visit. Many medieval and Tudor gardens have been restored to their formal glory. The problem here is that now I have 41 new reasons to visit England!

Botanizing

Yes, apparently "botanizing" is a verb. Who knew? You'll find that out and much more in the very interesting book Flower Hunters by Mary Gribbin and John Gribbin. This is a book for people who like plants, gardening, and adventure stories. For it is all of these in one.

I often complain about the lack of historical accuracy in novels. Little did I realize that the wary historical novelist must now beware of plants too! Many of the common garden plants we use today have been introduced into European/Western gardening within the last 200 years. These include such things as nasturtiums, azaleas, and rhododendrons. Here in North America, we are aware that many of our favourite plants are not from around here - they were brought by settlers (purposely or inadvertently) to the New World. However, many of these plants were also not native to the European world we thought they originated from. Instead they were gathered by intrepid explorers from around the globe - the Flower Hunters!

These brave men (and woman!) faced adversity, hardship, and danger to send back interesting and unusual plant specimens for the scientists of Europe to study and the gardeners of Europe to plant. Whether gathering plants in the name of science or of profit, the amateur or professional flower hunters had a difficult time botanizing. Travel was not the easy thing it is today.

Flower Hunters is a tremendously interesting book about the men and woman who introduced many plants to Europe whether through science or commerce. Until I read it, I had not realized how many common plants that we have today did not originate in the gardens of Europe, but elsewhere. I was truly fascinated - as will other readers be, I am sure.

The book contains 11 short sketches of each profiled flower hunter, but each story contains so much more information about the whole culture of gardening and science at the time. I almost wished that each sketch was a Wikipedia entry so I could click onto an interesting name as the story unfolded. The writers begin in England and Sweden with two men whose primary interest in plants involved their categorization into neat groups: John Ray and Carl Linnaeus. The remaining botanizers are men (and one woman) who traveled the globe searching for new specimens to send elsewhere, mostly to Europe. Some of these men went in the name of science, such as Joseph Banks, who traveled the world with Captain Cook in the Endeavour, discovering many new plants along the way. Some went in the name of profit, such as William Lobb who introduced the "monkey-puzzle" tree to England. (His brother Thomas brought back orchids.) Gardening was a passion in the Victorian era, and new plants could be sold for high prices. Others moved plants around within the British Empire: Richard Spruce brought quinine to India from South America, and Robert Fortune smuggled tea plants into India from China.

Many women did not participate in botanizing, due to various sociological factors that I won't get into here. One woman who did was Marianne North. She traveled the world looking for new and interesting plants for her paintings. While she did not take physical specimens of the plants, she captured them for posterity and her paintings can still be seen today in the Kew Gardens in England.

At the end of each sketch, the authors have noted gardening ideas to honour each explorer as well as discussing the plants named for the flower hunter. I thought that added a charming and personal touch for any gardener interested in knowing the provenance of their plants and who may want to honour a special botanist for their service to science, and gardeners, everywhere.

This is a lovely book to read in the dead of winter, as it involves a lot of long travel on boats to warm places. You will wish to be in those warm places, but be very happy that you no longer have to travel by sailboat eating sauerkraut for months (to avoid scurvy) to do so!

This is a very interesting read for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It is not too technical or academic and is a fun and, dare I say, swashbuckling read. A good time was had by all!

A Forest of Trees

Now that the beds are all tidied up, the garden tools are put away in the garage, and the garden covered with a soft blanket of snow, this means that gardening books are finished for the season, right? Wrong! This is the best time of the year to read gardening books. There's a lot of winter here in Canada, and you definitely can't garden in it - but you can read about gardens, gardening, and plants.

I am in the lucky position of being able to start my garden beds from scratch. (Apparently the previous owners weren't gardeners.) Aside from one spruce tree (which, I'm sad to say, I think we're going to have to take out) I have a free reign as to bed, plant, and tree placement. Aside from the aforementioned lonely spruce tree, there are no other trees on the property. (Although there are lots of nice [lilac, apple, Russian olive] and not so nice [Manitoba maple, giant spruce with big fat roots right through our vegetable garden!] trees around the property.) I like trees, and so I've been looking for a few options for the back and front yards.

Some of you may remember a post from a few months ago about a book on trees that I was super excited about until I read it, and then was disappointed due to its lack of options for my climate zone. I should have followed my own advice - when gardening, read local! Following my good advice I picked up this book at the library the other day:

It's called Tree & Shrub Gardening for Alberta, by Don Williamson and am I ever glad I picked it up! It is an excellent resource for an Alberta gardener interested in adding trees and shrubs to their landscape. It is such a good book that I think I am going to have to purchase a copy so I have it around as an easy reference.

The book offers more than just an abundance of options in the tree and shrub department. There are also handy sections on purchasing, planting, pruning, and propagating trees and shrubs. There is also a section on different problems and pests that may be encountered, and how to deal with these problem insects or diseases in a way that is environmentally responsible. More and more gardeners these days are realizing that the widespread use of chemicals in the garden kills off the good bugs as well as the bad and gardeners are turning to different methods to control pests and diseases.

But these lovely features are just icing on the cake. The book would be worth buying alone for the sheer abundance of trees and shrubs that it offers. Some are old favourites, some I've never heard of, and some I never thought about growing here. I've come up with a few new options for trees that I wouldn't have ever thought of were it not for the book. (I've also decided I'm going to have to open a tree farm or work on getting a bigger piece of land so I can have more trees!) The majority of the plants are zone 3, but there are some zone 2 and some zone 4. There are trees and shrubs for every taste - from small blueberries to giant elms. Each tree or shrub has a detailed entry with multiple photos. The entry gives all the features of the tree and discusses the recommended varieties. As well, each entry lists the basics at the beginning: height, spread, and zone. (Any change in this standard is noted under each variety.) The entry also lists the different pests and problems that are associated with each tree or shrub so that the gardener knows what he or she is getting in to with the purchase of that tree. One has to be a little more careful with the purchase and placement of trees and shrubs - they are a lot more permanent than some perennials or annuals!

This is a terrific gardening book for the the Alberta gardener who is looking to add trees or shrubs to their garden, or who already has trees and shrubs and wants to know how to take care of them. In short, this is a perfect book for every Alberta gardener.

Gardening in Colour

I am trying not to turn this blog into a gardening blog, but it's something I'm really interested in right now, hence my reading lots of gardening books and posting my thoughts on this blog. Those of you uninterested in gardening will just have to wait for the next post.

Lately, I've read a bunch of books on gardening design, as opposed to specific plants (seen recently: tulips, roses, trees). These books talk about the overall process of gardening and how to put a bed together. They're more of a broader-picture point of view.

The first book I looked at was Garden Color, one of the Better Homes and Garden books. (It was extremely difficult not to write "Colour" in there!) This book discusses different colours and colour combinations, and ends with some photos of some artists' gardens.

Garden Color was okay. It was not quite as helpful as I'd hoped. It had lots of photographs, but little specific text on how to achieve the look seen in the photograph, and eventually it just devolved into a blur of pictures of plants that I can't grow in my zone anyway. The book began by discussing all the different colours and the mood each colour projects, as well as where in the garden it looks best and other colours to combine it with. (Note: the book had purple and lavender in different categories. Isn't lavender just a shade of purple?) I would have liked a list of plants of each colour included as well, instead of just a few plants pictured.

Next, the book looked at different colour combinations as well as colour in different seasons. This is where there seemed to be too many photographs. I would have preferred one example garden for each type of garden (example: one white garden for monochromatic) and instructions on how to create that look at home. Otherwise, it was kind of a blur of different flowers that all blended together.

For more specific bed and border plans, I turned to Beds & Borders: Simple Projects for the Weekend Gardener by Richard Bird. This book discussed different border styles that could be created in a garden, presumably by someone with limited time. I'm not sure if you could accomplish all of his plans in a weekend, but he has some interesting ideas. My favourites were the mixed border and woodland border, but I also thought the brick parterre using vegetables was a really cool idea - although a little too formal for my house! (A parterre is a very formal style of garden where the plants are laid out in formal beds which create a pattern. The beds are edged with a shrub or other type of edging and the paths can be gravel, lawn, or brick. Think of the kind of garden you'd see at a formal house and you'll get the idea.)

There are 20 different projects in the book, and Bird gives instructions on how to complete each one, along with an alternative planting for a different look. He accompanies each project with an artist's rendering of the mature garden, along with an overhead view of the bed - done in colour! I thought that was a great idea and am making plans to draw out my bed plans and then colour in each plant to ensure that all the colours do go together as well in real life as they do in my head! I did not like how he only used Latin names for all of the plants. I am not that conversant in horticultural Latin quite yet and would still like the common names for plants so I know what he's talking about!

A similar type of book is Theme Gardens by Barbara Damrosch. I didn't get to read the whole thing (library constraints!) but it was very similar to Beds & Borders in that it gave step-by-step instructions on how to create various kinds of gardens, including: colonial, rose, butterfly, scent, Shakespearean, and moon! (No, not plants to grow in a "moonscape" but plants that primarily flower at night.) It was similar to the above in that it contained several different projects, and each project had a drawing of the garden in full bloom, as well as a garden plan in colour. But what I liked about Damrosch's book is that she drew three plans (or so) for each project: showing the garden at different times of year, such as spring, early summer and mid-summer. Thus you could clearly see what plants are in flower at what times, and what colours are together. That was quite handy and helped me picture the garden - maybe it's something I'll try with my own garden plans.

As we slowly wind into fall, I think my quota of gardening books will only go up - what else is there to do during a long, cold, winter except read gardening books and daydream! But now I have a few more ideas for my gardening plans to put into place next spring.

Aspirational Gardening

There are two types of gardening books out there. First, there are the ones which dispense useful and helpful advice and knowledge for plants and conditions in your area. Then there are the ones with beautiful glossy photographs of gardens you can never achieve living in your half-frozen climate and without the services of a small army of gardeners. Be warned: the books in this post definitely fall into the latter category.

That said, it is fun to read such fantasy gardening fare from time to time. But until I win the $50 million and can buy my castle in England, I am stuck gardening here on Mother Nature's terms, and such pretty gardens remain fiction - the stuff of shiny photographs in big coffee table books. My most recent trips to the library have resulted in an armful of gardening books on various topics. I give you the results below.

I love flowers and no garden is complete without at least a few flowering plants. From the plethora of books showcasing individual flowers, I selected two: The English Roses: Classic Favourites & New Selections by David Austin, and Gardening With Tulips by Michael King.

Of the two, Gardening With Tulips was by far the more useful. After reading this book, you will want to turn your backyard into a field of blossoming tulips, a la the tulip fields of Holland. King discusses all the different varieties of tulips in detail, and discusses the origins and development of the tulip as we know it today. He also gives a lesson on how to plan gardens with tulips. This section is less helpful, as he doesn't always include photos of what he's talking about, and references numerous other plant species by Latin name, which does help to clarify which plant he's talking about, but is of no help to the beginning gardener who doesn't know what plant he means! Gardening is an inherently visual exercise, so more photos of the plants he wants to mix with tulips and the design combinations would have improved this book. One helpful resource, however, is a helpful section at the end which lists tulips by colour. You can look through the entire red section and pick out all of the red tulips you want, and so on by colour. This book has inspired me to scatter some tulip bulbs throughout my garden plans.

English Roses is significantly less useful. Apparently English roses are a specific kind of rose grown in England, developed by the author, David Austin. I would highly doubt that these roses would grow well in Canada without serious care and maintenance. Even the author discusses the wholesale use of spraying and pesticides on the roses. Some of the roses are quite pretty, but most of them are too fluffy and showy for my taste. With their multitude of petals, they look like overgrown peonies. If you want peonies, plant peonies. I want roses that look like roses - not fat pillows of curly petals. English roses, apparently, are not to my taste. Austin discusses the development of the English rose in quite exhaustive detail, and then discusses each new variety specifically, with a photo illustrating the rose. He does acknowledge that some of the roses look like peonies, but apparently these roses bloom all year, whereas peonies only bloom once a spring - which is fine with me! Further, any problem in your garden can be solved by these roses, apparently. They are perfect shrubs, perfect for climbing, perfect as a cut flower, etc.. This book is for English rose enthusiasts only.

Next, I turned to books to help me plan my garden: Trees for the Small Garden by Simon Toomer and Woodland Gardens: Shade Gets Chic ed. by C. Colston Burrell.

I had high hopes for Trees for the Small Garden to help me find some pretty trees that won't overwhelm my landscaping and dwarf my house. I was sadly disappointed. The book does have some useful general information at the beginning on selecting, planting, and caring for a tree, but it really lets you down in the tree index. Of all the 80 individual tree species listed as suitable for small gardens, there were exactly 15 that could be grown in Zone 3 (my climatic zone). Really? Now how helpful is that? According to the climate maps at the back of the book, the majority of Canada is in Zone 2 - which would render this book useless for the majority of Canadians, there being only 4 trees which are hearty to Zone 2 described in the book. Plus, there were a few trees that I have seen grown here rated as a Zone 4. And most of the trees which were rated a Zone 3 I already knew about and didn't want (such as many evergreens). I was looking for variety. I do have a tree section in my terrifically useful Best Garden Plants for Alberta (which I have talked about before), but I was looking for a book specifically on smaller trees for smaller lots, and not the giant oak and elm behemoths that would shade my entire lawn and tower over my house. I suppose I should take my own advice to stick to books from your own region when looking for specific plants.

Fortunately, I had more luck with Woodland Gardens. This sweet little book dispenses general advice on how to create a woodland garden in whichever region of woods you live in. It has some excellent basic tips on how to kill grass, for example, and how to pick plants. It has different pieces by gardeners who live in different areas on how they created a woodland garden that fits in with the climate and woodlands of their region. Finally, it has a list of plants specific to each region useful for creating a woodland garden. Anyone who has shade and is interested in gardening in the shade should check out this useful book.

Finally, I read an interesting book on restoring a garden (at an Edwardian English manor house, no less!) in Gertrude Jekyll's Lost Garden: The Restoration of an Edwardian Masterpiece, by Rosamund Wallinger.

I "discovered" Gertrude Jekyll when I was reading about roses in The Garden Primer. The author suggested I check out a book about roses by Gertrude Jekyll. I couldn't find that book, but found this one instead.

Gertrude Jekyll was a landscape designer and gardener. She designed several gardens and landscapes in England during a period of time that corresponded with the Arts and Craft movement. She was renowned for using plants in a way that suggested the plants were naturally growing, and for her broad strokes of colour. She is, I modestly suggest, the mother of modern gardening design.

The author purchased the Edwardian manor house with attached, overgrown Jekyll garden. On finding out that it was a Jekyll garden, and that, miraculously, the original plans for the garden had survived, the author and her husband decided to restore the gardens to their original condition - a back-breaking enterprise that would take years. Her story is recounted in this book.

The book inspires envy (jade-green lawns of grass in January!) and awe (patches of bluebells around a wood bench under new-leaved trees, a homemade wall with flowers growing out of the crevices, daffodils and other spring bulbs growing wild in the grass under a flowering apple tree...). It is interesting to read about the author's struggles and triumphs as she tries to restore the garden. It is hard to read Jekyll's writing on the plans, and many of the plant varieties she used are no longer available today. It certainly makes my attempts at landscaping seem simple! It was an enjoyable read about another gardener's struggle, and ultimate triumph.

So, until I get my English manor with its staff of gardeners, I will have to confine myself to reading about other's gardens while I work on my own little plot of earth.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

One of my other favourite pastimes (besides reading) is gardening. Admittedly, this is of recent provenance - I now have some land to garden in! My garden may be small, but I have big ideas. Likewise my gardening library is small, but it is full of many ideas.

Every beginning gardener needs a guidebook. My guidebook is The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. I received this book as a gift from my mother, and I can already say that it has been very useful. I foresee it becoming like my Joy of Cooking, an indispensable guide I turn to, a book that is dog-eared, pencil-marked, and muddy from constant use. So far, however, it's in pretty good condition:

This book has everything a gardener would need to know. It has chapters on Annuals, Perennials, Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, Bulbs, Roses, Lawns, Ground Covers, Vines, Shrubs, Trees, Wildflowers, and Houseplants. The beginning chapters contain wisdom on such matters as What Plants Need, Planning Your Landscape, Gardening Gear, and How to Buy Plants. It is an excellent resource. The author's voice comes across clearly throughout the text and it is not dry or scholarly. It is like talking to a friend; albeit one with an impressive knowledge of gardening lore! I love her stories about her personal experiences. So much of gardening is the stories one gardener shares with another.

My one minor quibble with it is that it is American. Our growing zones up here in Canada are much cooler than the States, so often I will get excited about a plant only to find it won't grow up here (or at least without lots of tender care). But that is a minor distraction. The book is packed with solid tips and advice and should be on every gardener's bookshelf.

Because temperatures vary so much across Canada, it is important to have a few good books which talk about the plants which do grow well in the climate you have. Such as the following:

Both books are published by Lone Pine Publishing; a publishing house based in Alberta. Often local publishers are the best source for books about issues specific to your area - I urge you to check out your local publishers for gardening books specific to your area.

Gardening Month by Month in Alberta by Alison Beck is a handy resource to assist the gardener in planning his or her year. It is especially helpful for the first time gardener! Of course, the recommendations must be taken with a grain of salt as so much of gardening is weather-dependant. However, it is a handy overall guide for the seasons. It also contains such useful information as a chart of Alberta Climate Normals for various locations around Alberta, as well as maps indicating the last spring and first fall frost dates. It is a useful book.

Best Garden Plants for Alberta by Donna Dawson and Laura Peters does not contain the range of plants in The Garden Primer, above, but with this book you know that the plants listed will grow in Alberta. The book is divided into sections (Annuals, Perennials, Trees & Shrubs, Roses, Vines, Bulbs, Herbs, and Grasses & Ferns) with a brief description of each plant and a lovely full-colour photo. I often find myself looking up plants in this book and then turning to The Garden Primer for more information before I plot out the plants on my garden plan. Both books are helpful for the beginner Alberta gardener.