In Time For Spring – Another Book Review

the SHADY LADY’S GUIDE to NORTHEAST SHADE GARDENING                     by Amy Ziffer; University Press of New England; 2014

The title says it all.  This is the book for shade gardening in the Northeast; specifically Northeastern North America.  If you live somewhere else on the globe this book is only of interest if you are one of those many people who love to drool over photos of plants you will never be able to grow where you live.  If you live in the NE of NA, and you have a shady spot – then I highly, highly recommend this book, it’s the best I’ve come across so far.

As Ms. Ziffer points out in her introduction, the publishing industry is awash in gardening books that attempt to apply to everyone and as a result are so general that large swaths of the information in them is of little or no use to the book’s owner.  (I own a number of books like this.) This is particularly true of the sections that list plants, and since half of this book is a plant gallery, it is comforting to know that if you live in the area described – all of the plants mentioned are worth reading about.  You aren’t necessarily going to use them all, and they are not the only ones available for your garden, but they are ones that grow well in the specific conditions you have.  As is always the case, deciding what is worth growing (as opposed to what might grow) is quite subjective, but Ms. Ziffer is very clear on the criterion she used for evaluating plants, and that makes it easy to judge whether or not you agree with her assessments.

The book also has a lot of very practical advise about gardening in general, and gardening in the shade in particular.  I found myself in huge agreement with the section on mulch, and although I have never had to worry about deer the section on dealing with them was very informative.  Ms. Ziffer has a gentle sense of humour, and a very realistic assessment of the capabilities and needs of Northeastern NA shade gardens.   This book is very much about working with the conditions you have in order to get the best value for your time and money.

A significant portion of the plants covered are native plants and related cultivars, including a number of the spring ephemerals.  The logic is that effective gardening means working with plants that are adapted to the conditions you have, so native plants have a real edge in that department. I really appreciated a book that had native and non-native species side by side instead of having to go to separate books to get the necessary information.

This book’s a keeper.

‘Ecology for Gardeners’ – Book Review

Ecology for Gardeners:  Steven B. Carroll and Steven D. Salt;                          Timber Press; 2004

It has been just over a decade since I finished the courses for my horticultural certificate; so when I spotted “Ecology for Gardeners” in the library, it seemed like a good time for a refresher course.  It seem somehow apropos that it came out the year I earned the certificate, although I only came across the book late this year.

This is not the book you need if you are trying to figure out how to deal with a specific insect pest or plant disease, but it is the book to give you insight into how these and other organisms interact to create the ecosystem that your garden exists in.  I should note off the top that although the science in the book is global, the authors have focused primarily on North America as that is where their experience is, and therefore where the text is most applicable.

The first chapter ‘The Nature of Plants’ was rather like a quick recap of most of the botany I’ve taken to date.  From there you move to ‘Other Garden Inhabitants’ (essentially all the non-plant life) and ‘The Garden Environment’ (the ‘elements’ as they used to be called).  Chapters 4 and 5 look at how these different factors interact with one another, and the final chapter applies all this crash course in biology/ecology specifically to gardening.

Being teachers, the authors have written a book that in many ways could be used as a textbook, but one that is written with a sense of humour; something that is frequently missing in textbooks and essential, I think, for coping with the vagaries of life (& gardening).  The glossary at the back of the book covers most of the terms used in the book, which are also explained in the context of their first appearance in the text.  A short list of further reading, and a very comprehensive Index follow.

For those who find science, and especially scientific nomenclature, intimidating I will say that it gets easier as you go through the book.  If you really can’t face it, I think reading the last chapter (Ch. 6) by itself would be worth it.  From there you could go back, if you wished, to learn more of the biology that grounds the conclusions of the authors.  I’ll be honest though; this is not a light read, and it is not gardener porn – it really is a textbook.  It does, however, lends itself to being read in small chunks.

My only serious complaint was with regards to the figures and plates.  Since the figures are not always on the page where the text referring to them begins, and because the colour plates are all in the middle of the book, it took me a few tries before I figured out which was which and was able to find the corresponding illustration being referred to in the text.

The epilogue, and especially the last paragraph, was an excellent précis of the authors’ ethos and the spirit in which the book is written, so I will let it speak for itself:     “Although gardens are created environments, they can be thought of as windows into the workings of the natural world.  To the extent that we approach gardening with the welfare of the natural world in mind, our gardens will be places in which to nourish plants and ourselves and through which to make Earth a healthier, better place in which to live.”

If that is the sort of gardening that appeals to you, and you enjoy science, then I would definitely recommend this book.