HOWARD RICE
Rosa 'James Galway' is named after the famous flautist in honor of his 60th birthday. The plant has a strong old-rose fragrance and can be grown as a climber or a shrub.
SPRINGTIME IS a feverish rush for gardeners, a heady whirl of plant temptations balanced by hard work. A crop of new books reflects that dichotomy, with titles ranging from dirt-under-your-fingernails practical to plant-rich-and-impressively-artistic.
"Ever Blooming: The Art of Bonnie Hall," foreword by Robert Michael Pyle (Oregon State University Press, $25). The quiet wonder of our native plants is felt on every page of this elegant little book. Hall was a scientific illustrator who indulged her love of Northwest flora by creating screenprints of native wildflowers, bugs and butterflies. Her notes on each plant include natural history, ethnobotany and conservation considerations. Hall's work combines simplicity and vivid color with closely observed scientific accuracy to capture the essence of each plant and creature.
"The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden" by Stanley Kunitz (W.W. Norton, $23.95). Another uniquely personal vision of nature, though in words rather than graphics, "The Wild Braid" was published to celebrate the author's 100th birthday. After decades of working the same seaside garden, Kunitz is on intimate terms with every plant, animal and vagary of weather. "I associate the garden with the whole experience of being alive, and so there is nothing in the range of human experience that is separate from the garden's eagerness and its insistence," writes Kunitz, in this story of a man and his garden growing old together. His musings are profound, his observations keen, and his poetry piercing, including "Snakes of September," the poem that supplies the imagery for the book's curious title.
"Month-by-Month Gardening In Washington & Oregon: What To Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year" (Cool Springs Press, $24.99). Seattle Times garden page columnist Mary Robson joins forces with longtime Washington Park Arboretum horticulturist Christina Pfeiffer to produce a practical handbook ideal for newer gardeners. There is plenty to interest more experienced gardeners, too, including lists of woodland ferns and nectar plants. The tone is chatty, the information reliable, the design lively, and, best of all, it's geared to our climate and gardening conditions. I can't think of a better gift for a new garden owner. Except maybe for . . .
"Sunset Western Landscaping" (Sunset, $29.95). The revised and updated companion to the plant-heavy "Sunset Western Garden Book," this title is a bargain for its hundreds of gorgeous photos alone. It explores all the practical aspects of garden making, from choosing an irrigation system to screening an outdoor shower, with plenty of design and inspiration along the way. I'll admit to having written a bunch of the garden descriptions, but that is a small part of this encyclopedic tome. I kept nudging the editors to include more Northwest gardens, but now that our climate has warmed up, most of these plants and garden styles look enticingly possible for all but the coldest Puget Sound-area zones.
"Organic Kitchen Garden" by Juliet Roberts (Conran Octopus, $24.95). I've always suspected that the Brits know more about growing lettuces and fruit than we do, and this book confirms it. A sumptuously photographed celebration of growing food through the seasons, all the action takes place in the historic kitchen garden at Audley End in Essex, England. Roberts, editor of the BBC's Gardens Illustrated magazine, takes us within those ancient brick walls to learn all about the prettiest and tastiest edibles and how to grow them. Her approach is basic enough for a new food gardener like me to follow, and so stylishly photographed that I now long to grow leeks, endive and purple potatoes.
"The English Roses: Classic Favorites and New Selections" by David Austin (Timber Press, $39.95). These roses are so deeply ruffled, so sweetly pastel that they deserve the full-page portraits they command here. < ultra-marketable these for holds future the what forecasting while advice, design and descriptions offers Austin David possibilities. all through sort helps them, breeds invented who man by written merits, their of catalog This types. shrub old fragrance intoxicating look puckered appealing retaining summer most They both. characteristics best combine roses English teas, hybrid modern between cross inspired>
Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.
