Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The Winter Gardener

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If you ever have a cranky, out-of-sorts day this is the book to browse.

Perennials for Pennsylvania, by Ilene Sternberg and Alison Beck is loaded with plant pictures for gardeners to dream on.

The introduction includes information on the selection, care, and propagation of perennials. While the short section is not an in-depth study, it is a good basic primer on perennial gardening. I found the lists in this section helpful.

For instance the, “Perennials to Pinch Early” list includes:

“Artemesia, Aster, Boltonia, Black-eyed Susan, Catmint, Chrysanthemum, Hibiscus, Purple Cone Flower, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, Shasta Daisy.”

In the heart of the book, an alphabetical list of plants is beautifully illustrated. Flower close-ups as well as pictures of entire plants gave me a good idea what the mature plant will look like.
Each plant description includes growth habit, color, bloom time, tips, problems and pests. It’s a helpful quick reference for an answer to, “what’s going on with my hibiscus” or other plant questions.

I started putting markers in pages where I may want to add the plant to my garden. So, beware, this book can increase your plant lust.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A-ha! Another book for me to obsess about...thanks, Marie. Another that I like a lot is Joe Hudak's "Gardening with Perennials Month by Month." It helps me pinpoint the time of bloom for all the plants in the garden. hugs, Jane

Marie said...

I checked "Gardening with Perennials Month by Month" on Amazon. Thanks for the tip. I've added it to my wish list.