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Category: Books on Gardening & Gardens

Recommended specialist books, monographs, historic gardens and data sources.

Drought or Flood in your Garden

Drought or Flood in your Garden

What sort of summer are you expecting. The probability is that there will be no extremes but the danger of flood or drought is always around for gardeners.

Dry garden

All the weathermen seem to be forecasting further drought conditions for the summer of 2012. Gardeners should therefore be prepared for flood!

Drought Preparations

  • There is a flood of advice from government and the government in exile ie. newspapers and media. eg. plant trees for shade and wait 100 years for them to grow.
  • Val Bourne at the Daily Telegraph suggests ‘puddling in’ when planting out your brassicas and leeks and this strikes me as a good use of water. It just means filling the planting hole with water just before you pop your plant in.
  • Another Val tip is to stand watering cans of tap water around the garden until the sun’s warmth has evaporated the chlorine away.
  • Carrots and parsnips naturally grow in drier sandy soil and grow longer in seeking out water. Try several varieties if you like these vegetables.

Flood

Flood Preparations

  • Be prepared to catch what water you may need in butts, barrels and ponds.
  • If your ground is liable to waterlogging either restrict the plants you grow or improve the drainage.
  • Minor drainage improvements can be achieved with added grit, sand and gravel
  • Major drainage improvements may include a deep soak-away or a perforated drainage system.

The Low-water No-water Garden: Gardening for Drought and Heat the Mediterranean Way – A Practical Guide with 500 Stunning Colour Photographs by Pattie Barron available from amazon

Managing the Wet Garden: Plants That Flourish in Problem Places by John Simmons available from Amazon
Credits
Dry garden by foliosus CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Flood by itspaulkelly CC BY-NC 2.0

Books you can’t buy from Amazon

Books you can’t buy from Amazon

These gardening books are just crying out to be written so we suggest some titles and authors.

Do not smoke your grass by Mary Wana

Turn your MP into Compost by Pete Substitute

Money saving tips add up by Alice Summ

Trollius, Yaks and other plant transportation by Dick van Bike

Daisies can be Yellow

Daisies can be Yellow

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Daisies are a large group of flowering plants under the family name Compositae. Included in the daisy family are well known groups such as Rudbeckia, Osteospernum, Helianthus, Coreopsis, Helenium even the cornflower and Globe Thistle.The Compositaes (Asteracea) are recognisable through their compound blooms consisting of many tiny flowers. A daisy has a yellow “core” of 200 disc florets, surrounded by 50 marginal, white ray florets with a conspicuous limb (these are the petals also called ligules). A single daisy “flower” contains about 250 separate flowers! Each central floret, a flower in its own right, has a style, anthers, corolla, pappus and ovary. The Daisy is one of the “core families” on which research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew concentrates.

Perennial Yellow Daisies

The RHS produced a bulletin on this subject and an interesting pdf can be down loaded. …

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Green Euphorbia & Wisley Handbook

Green Euphorbia & Wisley Handbook

euphorbia-2

The lime green bracts on this Euphorbia are looking very bright in the spring sunshine. The plants are evergreen and easy to manage and form a good clump after 2 or 3 years. This clump has 17 flowering stems about 3 feet high but is only 2 feet in diameter.

  • New stems are being formed at ground level for future years but the plant isn’t invasive. Any dead stems are pruned out at ground level to keep the plant healthy and the growth fresh all year around.
  • Euphorbia come in all shapes and sizes so choose a variety from a gardene centre that fits your planting scheme. This plant is growing in poor soil in a sunny bed raised from the surrounding garden and forms the back drop for alpine plants.

Book Cover …

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Sedums and Saxifrages

Sedums and Saxifrages

A pleasant mix of Stonecrop Sedums and Saxifrages or Saxifraga, as some would have it, are in flower at the moment. Stonecrop has taken my interest after reading about green roof plants.  I also have a friend who has created a Sedum Seat on an old dining chair by planting up the padded seat area to good effect.

The grand-daddy of books on the subject of Sedums is Ray Stephenson’s ‘Sedum Cultivated Stonecrops’.

Book Cover

Tips

  • Plant Sedums and other insect attracting flowers near vegetables that need pollination to set fruit. I have some near my Courgettes and Marrows and am getting a grand crop without worrying about fertilisation.
  • Do not plant London Pride  Saxifrage urbinus unless you want ground cover as, in my opinion, the flowers are weak in colour and form.
  • Borrow expensive monographs and special texts from the RHS library. It is free for members.

Other Resources

Royal Horticultural Society RHS ‘Gardening for All’
National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens ‘Conservation through Cultivation.’
Garden Organic National Charity for Organic Gardening.
BBC Gardening

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Best Shade Loving Plants

Best Shade Loving Plants

round-tulips

Beth Chatto believes you can transform a shady spot with easy-care planting that includes foliage and flowers for a brighter Spring garden. Illuminate a shady spot under trees with a range of flowers and plants.
Beth Chatto has an extensive list of plants for shady areas for all year round interest

Book Cover The Shade Garden

Top Ten Spring Shade Lovers

  • Honesty purple or white forms are good when in flower but also produce airy white seedheads
  • Forget-me-nots are flowering all over my back garden at the moment from self-sown plants.
  • Bluebells can be white as well as blue or even pink. They normally grow in shady woodland and will flower without sun. They also spread quite quickly particularly the thuggish Spanish variety. Do not take wild bulbs from there natural habitat.
  • Hellebore the Lenten Rose is another shade  loving plant that is happy under trees although the flowers tend to hang down and be hard to inspect.
  • Tulips can brighten the darkest spot. I plant them in pots so I can move them to where they will have the greatest impact. I can then replace them with other plants later in the year.

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Natural Garden Tips

Natural Garden Tips

 

Book Cover Available from Amazon ‘for anyone wishing to take an ethical and sustainable approach to gardening and garden design.’

One Gardener’s natural garden is another’s pile of logs and collection of compost bins. These tips are based on my view of a design led natural garden that is full of plants and informality.

Natural Garden Tips

  • There are virtually no straight lines in nature so why should gardens seek to formalise everything in rows like a demented Italianate showpieces. For me sweeping curves and waves are the natural way to garden.
  • Plant groupings can achieve an impact that even the best individual specimens can’t achieve. The Helenium Moerheim Beauty in the foreground of this picture provides that sweeping effect that a large perennial bed can withstand.
  • Thinking in 3 dimensions encourages the use of height and depth of view particularly in the backdrop of this picture. The trees and shrubs range from low ground cover to tall screeners and statuesque trees.
  • Planning your planting to help nature gives added choice. Foliage, berries and  bark can be as inviting as flowers in the right season and location.
  • Space and the gaps between can be an important feature in a natural garden. Not everything needs to be piled high like your local supermarket. The grass in this picture  fulfils that role but you may want to think of alternatives for your own natural garden.
  • The bones of the garden are as important as the floral flesh. Trees and major plants should have space and opportunity to grow naturally to fulfill their total promise.

Other Resources

Royal Horticultural Society RHS ‘Gardening for All’

National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens ‘Conservation through Cultivation.’

Garden Organic National Charity for Organic Gardening.

BBC Gardening

Old-Fashioned and David Austin Roses

Old-Fashioned and David Austin Roses

Book Cover

Old-Fashioned and David Austin Roses by “Barbara Lee Taylor

Instead of the usual division into Gallicas, Damasks, Albas, Centifolias, Moss roses etc. the chapters are divided into History, once-flowering old-fashioned roses, Repeat-flowering old-fashioned roses, David Austin roses, Cultivation, Landscaping with old roses and the book contains over 160 rose varieties. As you read this book you can virtually smell the scent of your successful roses as though it were a warm June evening.

‘Discovering old-fashioned roses is often the beginning of a love affair that lasts a lifetime. These beautiful plants offer you not only fragrance and beauty, but also a fascinating link with the past. In this beautiful yet practical book, some of the most popular old-fashioned roses are described in detail and illustrated in full colour. There is a complete chapter on the work done by David Austin in the 1950s and 1960s to create new English roses. Topics include species roses; Gallicas; Damasks; Albas; Centifolas; Moss roses; Ramblers; China roses; Portlands; Noisettes; Bourbons; Hybrid perpetuals; Teas and early hybrid teas; Hybrid musks; Climbers; Shrub roses & ramblers; Rugosas; David Austin roses; Cultivation; Pruning; and Landscaping ideas.

Gardeners Tip

Plant an Old Fashioned Rose or two as near to your bedroom window as practical. Enjoy the evening scent.

Try Just Joey HT Rose

Gardening with Water Features

Gardening with Water Features

Water water every where and not a drop to drink unless you are an aquatic or part of garden wildlife.

Water feature

February may be a bit cold to think about water features in your garden. Be ready as soon as the hard frosts are over to redesign your garden with an appropriate fountain or continuous flow of water like the powered globe above. Water features in this context are the prefabricated devices you can buy ready made, ponds streams and your own designs come under DIY
.

Benefits of Water Features

  • Water plays with the light and can enhance any visual appearance. Water often reflects the changing colours and light temperature in your garden.
  • Running or trickling water can add the dimension of sound to a landscape and as long as it keeps running it wont smell stagnant.
  • Landscaping and water features can improve property values make it stand out from the rest.
  • Water is restful and a feature can create a place for contemplation or a focal point in the garden.
  • Some water features are designed to successfully attract wild life.

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Seeds to Grow Next Year

Seeds to Grow Next Year

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This list of seeds is just a short selection of those I may grow this summer  January is a good time to read seed catalogues

Flowers

Alyssum Carpet of Snow the dwarf spreading variety that grows 8cm high . I bought by weight to get a quantity that will fill parts of the garden with that strong floral fragrance in late summer.

Alyssum Royal Carpet a deep violet I have not tried before – just a packet for fun.

Antirrhinum Tall Cut flowering to about 2 feet tall and useful for cutting. My first choice La Bella F1 were sold out so I will try again next year.

Aquilegia Alans Delight bought to give to a friend called Alan who admired my Aquilegia and has just started an allotment

Gaillardia New Giant Hybrids a two foot tall mix of this desirable perennial.

Helenium Helena a perennial to flower in the first season, bought for cut flowers

Vegetables

Courgette Green Bush for cutting when small a family favourite amongst the vegetarians

Courgette Tuscany F1 as it is resistant to mildew and I am worried about another damp summer

Parsnip Improved Marrow from an organic collection of canker resistant strain

Broad Bean Witkiem Manita for early beans to be sown in February

Broad Bean Masterpiece Long Pod as a contrast to the other beans