Founding Gardeners

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf

This extensively researched book takes you into the minds and lives of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Franklin.

Starting with the insistence of George Washington to plant native trees at Mount Vernon in the 1700's, continuing through the Revolutionary War and on through the Presidencies of Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison, this book contains an overwhelming amount of information.

A 128 page bibliography testifies to the thoroughness of documentation. It is an interesting tale of how much horticulture meant to the founders of our country.

The Perennial Care Manual

“The Perennial Care Manual – A Plant by Plant Guide. What To Do and When To Do It”, by Nancy J. Ondra. You can get a taste for her writing at her classy and informative blog “Hayefield”. 

This large book (8 ½” X 11” with 355 pages), replete with Bob Cardillo’s gorgeous photos, is divided into two parts - “Perennial Care Basics” and “Plant by Plant Perennial Guide”. It is one of the most readable books I’ve ever read.

The “Perennial Care Basics” section contains a lot of information to absorb. From starting a new garden to revamping the old garden, there are so many tips and tricks simply make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

For instance, I want to mulch the roses after ground freezes but, after the ground freezes, the mulch is also frozen. Nan’s advice: Cover the mulch with a tarp to keep it from freezing. I did that this year. I made my mulch pile on the patio next to the roses and covered it with a tarp. The mulch stayed warm and I mulched the roses in December. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Not in a lifetime could I get so much information in one book. Each one of the 125 perennials in the “Plant by Plant” section includes growing tips, seasonal care and troubleshooting. Inserts for most of the plants contain tips and facts not found in your average plant description.

An insert for Crocosmia:  “Definitely Deadhead – Where crocosmias thrive they may actually grow too enthusiastically to the point of being aggressive…invasive in some regions…”  I haven't had that problem yet but I will definitely keep an eye on them. Deadheading is a simple task. A few snips and the job is done.

I guess you can tell I’m a big fan of this book. I’ll be happily dreaming through it all winter and beyond!



A reminder for local gardeners:


SPRING GARDEN SERIES
Get out of the house for an evening and start thinking SPRING! The first session starts 6 PM January 17 at Bethlehem Township Community Center. Call 610-391-9840 to reserve a spot or print the brochure in the link above and send it in.
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Good Bugs

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(Monster-sized lady beetle models from Master Gardener display “Good Bugs/Bad Bugs” at Adventures in Agriculture at Palmer Mall, Easton, PA 2/14/10.)

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If we need another reason to limit our use of insecticides, the risk of killing all the good bugs as well as the bad bugs makes a strong argument. As my grandmother used to say, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

One of my favorite references “The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control” provides a list of good bugs (as well as pests). It includes a description, locale, life cycle and how to attract. The illustrations are outstanding. I’m sorry I can’t publish the pictures. How many do you recognize by name? My total was 7.

Aphid Midge (Aphidoletes aphidimyza) – larvae feed on aphids
Assassin Bug (Family Reduviidae)– helps suppress flies and caterpillars
Bigeyed Bugs (Geocoris spp.) – valuable predators of aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, spider mites and small caterpillars
Braconid Wasps (Family Braconidae) – parasites of elm bark beetles, cabbage worms, hornworms, corn borers, aphids and others.
Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) - pollinators
Damsel Bugs (Family Nabidae) – predator of aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, thrips and small caterpillars
Ground Beetles – prey on slugs, snails, cutworms, cabbage root maggots, and other pests that have a soil-dwelling stage
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) - polinators
Hover Flies/Flower Flies (Family Syrphidae) – larvae feed on aphids
Ichneumon Wasps (Family Ichneumonidae) – larva parasites of caterpillars, sawfly, and beetle larvae, and other insects
Lacewings (Chrysoperla (= Chrysopa) spp.) – general predator
Lady Beetles (Family Coccinellidae) – feed on aphids and soft bodied pests
Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) – prey on aboveground species of mealybugs
Minute Pirate Bug (Orius tristicolor) – predators of thrips, mites, small caterpillars, leafhopper nymphs, other small insects and insect eggs
Mites, Predatory (Family Phytoseiidae) – attack spider mites
Praying Mantid (Mantis religiosa) – catch and devour both pests and beneficial insects
Rove Beetles (Family Staphylinidae) – control aphids, springtails, mites, nematodes, flies, cabbage maggots
Soldier Beetles (Family Cantharidae) – larvae and adults prey on cucumber beetles, corn rootworms, aphids, grasshopper eggs, caterpillars and beetle larvae
Spined Soldier Bug (Podisus maculiventris) – attacks caterpillars and grubs, including tent caterpillars, fall armyworms, sawfly larvae and Mexican been beetle larvae
Tachinid Flies (Family Tachinidae) – predators of cutworms, armyworms. cabbage loopers, gypsy moth larvae and others
Tiger Beetles (Family Cicindelidae) – feed on a variety of insects
Yellow Jackets (Limonius spp.) – predators of flies, caterpillars and other pests. Can be a pest at picnics.

I could go on and on about this book. It’s a good reference for anyone interested in organic gardening. I think the short, illustrated section on “Insect Impostors” is worth the price since I can’t tell a soldier bug from a stink bug.


(University of Delaware Cooperative Extension publication “Beneficial Insects”.)

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I had to post a picture of the Krekk Alpacas hanging out at Adventures in Agriculture. Always a big hit. .

American Gardens

Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940 by Denise Wiles Adams (copyright 2004)

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I seem to be stuck in garden history mode. I’m reading through the 419 pages of this fascinating encyclopedia. It’s full of wonderful photos and drawings of plants and old gardens. Remarkable facts and stories of gardening in America fill the pages.

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1851 Joseph Breck recommended double digging.

Watson 1859 and Robert Copeland 1867 suggested making compost for the garden and each had his own recipe.

1891 Liberty H Bailey wrote about the renewed interest of native plants. “The interest in native plants has never been so great as now. . .”

1893 “Ornamental Gardening for America”, Elias Long recommended wavy line edges for gardens instead of straight lines and mixing hardy perennials or annuals with woody plants.

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These comments could have been written yesterday. Pretty sharp those ancient gardeners.

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Victorian Garden

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The Victorian Garden, Allison Kyle Leopold (copyright 1995)

This book is more than a list of interesting facts. It includes a sense of Victorian lifestyle. The progression through 19th century gardening is readable, well illustrated. I tried to pick a few highlights to share.

Bedding out

Early 19th century Victorians’ “bedding out” displayed bright colors and elaborate shapes. Imagine a large oval filled with scarlet geraniums next to a large crescent filled with golden coleus.

The well-to-do used combinations of beds. The square, rectangle, round and oval shapes evolved into intricate geometrical designs. Many Victorian ladies planned, planted and pulled a few weeds but never touched a shovel or a hoe. They were much too delicate for manual labor.

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(Photo: A modern example of bedding out at Longwood Gardens along the Flower Garden Walk.)

Great attention was paid to the bed’s surroundings of grass or gravel and the color combinations. Arguments ensued regarding the best plant and color combinations. Bedding plants included low growing annuals with long bloom season in bright colors.


Cottage Garden Revival

Passion for gardening exploded in the last quarter of the 19th century spurred by growing middle class and the development of seed and plant catalogues.

Almost all gardens included a few scented flowers such as lily of the valley, phlox, sweet William, sweet pea, columbine, hyacinth, rose. Soft colors such as pink, white, blue were preferred after mid-century. A well-kept garden was a testament to the gardeners taste, intelligence and refinement.

Specialty gardens came into favor.

Perennial boarders contained an abundance of plants arranged low, medium, tall - front to back. Coral bells, phlox, hollyhock, cleome, stock gillyflower, hyacinth, tulips, asters, monarda, delphinium, penstemon are a few of the plants that overflowed the beds.

Perennial gardeners today face the same problems planning a succession of blooms for color all season and selecting pleasant color combinations.

Rose gardens (Rosariums) arose in every shape from a single specimen bed to central circular bed with pie shaped beds extending from center.


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(Photo: Old rambler rose ‘Blaze’)

Pathways of grass, gravel or patterned brick were installed to view the roses. Old roses and the newly hybridized roses fed the rose fever. Some popular bushes were gallica, damask, alba, centifolia, China, rosa rugosa, hybrid perpetuals and more.

The Shakespeare Garden found a niche in late Victorian gardens and included willow from The Merchant of Venice; primrose, rosemary, saffron from The Winter’s Tale; musk roses, pansies “love-in-idleness”, oxlips and violets in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; hawthorn bush in Henry VI, Part III.

This book was a fun read on a snowy day – providing a feeling of romance and sense of connection with gardeners through the years.
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The Winter Gardener

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The Fragrant Year by Helen Van Pelt Wilson and Leonie Bell

Some books give you that warm, fuzzy feeling. This is one of them.

Published in 1967 as collaboration between internationally known writer, lecturer and gardener Helen Van Pelt Wilson and expert plant illustrator Leonie Bell, The Fragrant Year is full of information for a scented garden.

The romantic style created a pause from holiday stress for me. Wilson writes with a love of plants evident in her poetic pen.

Chapter 15, “Autumn Aromas”, begins –

“Summer slips so gently into autumn, and the warm lush scents of plants in full leaf change so imperceptibly to the crisp dry smell of those soon to fall, that until the one low branch on the great sugar maple above the rock ledge turns significantly to gold we are hardly aware of the slow passing of another year.”

After reading through the somewhat long list of plant fragrance classifications, I suspect my unsophisticated nose would not be able to make the distinctions. I’ll have to take the authors’ word on the nuances of fragrance.

The information is precise. The authors lived and gardened in zone 6. Varieties of plants sorted by season and listed by botanical name fill the book.

The longest chapter “Just Roses” contains rose history as well as a discussion of varieties, their growth habits and scent.

In the section “The Bourbons":

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“By the end of the nineteenth century, ’Mme. Isaac Pereire’ had become a favorite. Considered one of the most fragrant of all roses it provided pounds of petals for the potpourris then so popular. . . . Bushes grow to 6 feet and some canes reach higher; bending them down discourages bloom.”

(Photo: In my garden - Bourbon Rose, Madame Isaac Pereire, 1881)

The book provides transportation to an earlier time. Whether read from beginning to end, taken in small doses or browsed by areas of interest, it is a lovely guide to building a scented garden.
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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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Garden Book

The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control, edited by Barbara W. Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley. 1996 Rodale Press, Inc.

I’m enjoying browsing through this Christmas gift. You need to be really, really interested in gardening to stay with this book. Realizing that it is a reference book, I found the identification parts of the book the most valuable. I’m not so sure about the recommended controls.

The “Problem-Solving Plant Guide” starts with a plant description. The by-plant section includes flowering plants, shrubs, vegetables and fruits. Then, a list of problems the plant may have ends with page number for control information.

The section, “Insects. Recognizing Your Friends – Eliminating Your Foes,” includes everything from aphids to yellow jackets. The illustrations are small but each insect is accompanied by 2 to 6 pictures. Each insect section includes Description, Life Cycle, Beneficial Effect or Damage Control or How to Attract. The life cycle information is important since some insects can only be controlled at a specific stage of life. It’s nice to have this information in one book.

The book continues with “Diseases and Organic Controls” again with pictures. Type of Problem, Symptoms, Plants Affected, and Prevention and Control for each disease is listed.

Most of the general advice is not something we haven’t heard before. Use disease resistant plants. Clean up plant debris. Prune to insure good air flow. Eliminate weeds. Select the right plant for the space. Use compost and mulch. – a brief synopsis of good advice.

It’s a good reference book and reads like, well, a reference book. I’ll have to force myself to read through some sections. Maybe I’ll read “Diseases. Identifying the Cause – Implementing the Cures” during the next snow storm - unless Dan Brown writes a new book.

A Gardener’s Christmas

All I need is a few garden gifts and life is good.

Please add a comment and share the gifts you received for your garden this season.