THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512010063
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFER, GARDEN COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
ONE WAY to improve your gardening is to spend the off-season reading about better ways to get it done next season. A plethora of garden books are available, with new ones arriving just in time for the holidays.
The newest arrivals indicate that landscaping is the ``hot'' topic for gardening books.
The listings below are not reviews, but brief descriptions of some recently released books to help decide if you want to buy the book or give it as a gift this Christmas.
Daffodils for American Gardens,'' (Elliott & Clark, $24.95 hardcover) by Brent and Becky Heath. This is described as ``the first exhaustive U.S. handbook on daffodils.'' The Heaths know about growing daffodils in Tidewater, because they live in Gloucester and operate The Daffodil Mart there. The book includes recommendations for choosing the best performing bulbs for each hardiness zone.
Garden Artistry: Secrets of Designing and Planting A Small Garden,'' (Macmillan, $40 hardcover) by Helen Dillon. Illustrated with 85 color photos, this book was written to help gardeners make the most of small spaces. Dillon is garden columnist for the Sunday Business Post in Dublin, Ireland.
Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening: Updated with Color,'' (from Reader's Digest, $30 hardcover). With 3,500 illustrations and photos, this, like other Reader's Digest books, is an excellent garden reference at a reasonable price. If you can't find it, you can order by calling (800) 846-2100.
Landscape Magic,'' (Chapters Publishing Ltd., $19.95 paperback, $34.95 hardcover) by greenhouse owner Douglas Green. Every established garden needs periodic repairs. Green, a professional gardener, guides ``second-generation'' gardeners through the tricks and techniques for rejuvenating old yards and gardens.
Edith Henderson's Home Landscape Companion,'' (Peachtree Publishers Ltd., $19.95 softcover) by Edith Henderson. Henderson is an Atlanta landscape architect who has condensed 50 years experience into this book. A special appeal is made to garden clubs, with a lecture outline and provisions for using the book as a fund raiser. The book won a 1994 award from the Garden Club of America and is on the recommended reading list of the National Council of State Garden Clubs. Call (800) 241-0113.
The Lattice Gardener,'' (Macmillan, $35 hardcover) by William C. Mulligan. This is the first book dedicated entirely to building and gardening with latticework. Latticework and trellises are increasingly being used to create garden sanctuaries. Until Mulligan's death in May, he was a successful custom designer of latticework and garden ornaments.
Further Along the Garden Path: A Beyond-the-Basics Guide to the Gardening Year,'' (Macmillan, $40 hardcover) by Ann Lovejoy. If you've taken up gardening and are hooked but not yet ready to try to root a new cutting, the publisher says this book is for you because you are an ``intermediate gardener.'' Lovejoy gardens in Seattle and writes regularly for Horticulture magazine.
Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden,'' (Henry Holt, $45 hardcover) by Rosemary Verey. Rosemary Verey's Barnsley garden is one of England's most famous, attracting thousands of visitors each year. In her latest book, Verey offers a personal tour of her garden, aided by stunning photography by Tony Lord and watercolors by Hilary Wills.
Living Fences,'' (Chapters Publishing, $19.95 paperback, $29.95 hardcover) by Ogden Tanner. This book offers practical solutions for using plants to form privacy fences. Forsythia, holly and pyracantha are compared. If you can't find the book, you can order it by calling (800) 892-0220.
The Art of French Vegetable Gardening,'' (Workman Publishing, $35 hardcover) by Louisa Jones. Jones is a North American living in France. She has written previous books on gardening in Provence. This book includes 80 recipes and 175 color photos. It is a Book-of-the Month Club and Garden Book Club selection.
How To Grow More Vegetables!'' (Ecology Action, $19.95 paperback). This is the fifth edition of this book, telling how to use the biointensive method of growing food. The book tells how to provide food for a family of four in 800 square feet or less - all organically grown.
The Victorian Garden,'' (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, $40 hardcover) by Allison Kyle Leopold. This is a guide to a 19th-century garden, with 200 engravings and color photos. It is designed to help you create your own Victorian garden. If you read Victorian Homes & Gardens magazine, you'll want this book.
Odd Lots - Seasonal Notes of a City Gardener,'' (Henry Holt, $22.95 hardcover) by Thomas C. Cooper. This collection of 12 personal narratives reveals seasonal gardening in the city is not simple. Cooper is editor of Horticulture magazine.
The New Organic Growers: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener,'' (Chelsea Green Publishing, $24.95 paperback) by Eliot Coleman. Coleman is an organic gardening guru who shares his know-how in this book. One chapter is devoted to organic pest control.
Beautiful Easy Flower Gardens,'' (Rodale Press, $24.95 hardcover) by Laurence Sombke was just released this month. With 80 color photos, it includes step-by step plans for colorful flower landscapes, all organically grown. Sombke has previously written books on the environment and organic gardening.
The Transplanted Gardener,'' (Lyons & Burford, $22.95 cloth cover) by Charles Elliott. When Elliott moved from New England's Berkshire mountains to England, he was in for a culture shock. This book relates the experiences of an American who has infiltrated English gardening and describes it with a lively pen and revealing eye. If you like an American view of English gardening, with reasons why the English do what they do, you'll like this book.
There are also several publications by smaller or regional presses that are worthy of mention. They include:
``Robert Stiffler's Gardening in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina,'' (The Virginian-Pilot, $16.95 paperback) by Robert Stiffler. My book is a month-to-month guide to gardening in this region. A second edition is due out next week, but copies are still available at some area bookstores or can be ordered through the newspaper for $21.89 (including taxes, shipping and handling). Send a check made out to The Virginian-Pilot Book Offer to: VP Book Offer, Cashier, P.O. Box 2160, Norfolk, Va. 23501-2160.
``Salad Gardens - Gourmet Greens and Beyond'' from Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The 10 chapters of this handbook cover all you need to know to get a salad garden going, so you can grow fresh salad ingredients such as argula, spinach and chicory. Recipes are included, and the book costs only $6.95 in bookstores or $10.70 by mail. Write to BBG, 1000 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225.
Another helpful publication is ``The Virginia Gardener Newsletter,'' published 12 times a year by Diane Relf at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Cost is $5, mailed to the Department of Horticulture, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. 24061-0349.
Many of these books will need to be special ordered by a bookstore so don't delay in making your choices. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Photos
Landscaping is the ``hot topic'' for gardening books this year.
This book shows how to use plants to create privacy fences.
by CNB