Cathie Draine: Reference books offer glorious reading

| Thursday, November 09, 2006

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If I were to make a short list of crucial gardening tools, it would read like this: a good pair of gloves, a sharp shovel, a scalpel-sharp weeder, a current tetanus shot and an assortment of excellent reference material.

Notice that all items are listed as singular except the excellent reference material. That’s books. And it is emphatically plural.

Several years ago I was happy — well, delirious — in recommending the American Horticultural Society’s “A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants,” a walloping 1095 page, 10-pound ultimate garden reference. It remains one of my most consulted books.

Adding to the DK Publishing/AHS library of books is the just published “Encyclopedia of Perennials.” It joins a series of reference books, which include AHS “Garden Plants and Flowers,” AHS “Encyclopedia of Gardening” and the AHS “Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers.”

The “Encyclopedia of Perennials” is the first I have found where, in my opinion, the influence of European gardens is offered as constructive and cooperative instead of competitive. The credit for that goes to the editor-in-chief Graham Rice and the contributing editor Kurt Bluemel.

To be fair, many of the mouth-watering photographs of landscapes and flower combinations were taken of English gardens, but the important fact is they are realistic and achievable models for instruction or emulation here.

It is worthwhile to start reading at the Editor’s Forward. There, Rice explains that the scope of the book covers only hardy perennial plants, omitting bulbs, annuals, biennials, alpines, roses, aquatic plants, shrubs or woody climbers.

However, don’t despair for that leaves more than 5,000 plants to be discussed. The first 30 pages of introductory material define the editors’ understanding, experiences and appreciation for perennials, their great popularity, and their remarkable adaptability.

The sizes of the photographs are large, remarkably large for a reference work. Each of the nearly 500 pages has photos that often fill half the page. The image choices are some of the more beautiful and instructive I have ever seen.

There is an abundance of information on ornamental grasses, due largely to the influence and interest of Kurt Bluemel, known in horticultural circles as “Mr. Grass.”

There are four new features found frequently throughout the text that I find excellent and immediately helpful. One is a light green text box called Gardener’s Notes that gives additional information on a range of topics. Examples are “New Flower Forms” in the section on campanula, “Are They Direct Descendants?” in the section on dianthus. Another feature, also educational in nature, is the Flower Structure Box.

The remarkable forms of the echinacea, the aquilegia, the hellebore and others are illustrated and discussed. Another educational bonus is the Gallery, a collection of photos that distinguish types or groups within a genus. The last of the bonus items is the Plant Association box, glowing photographs that illustrate and suggest almost perfect plant partners.

General cultural information about each genus entry as well as propagation guidelines and potential problems is adequate. Both the USDA cold zones and the American Horticultural Society heat zones are referenced with each entry as well as discussed more fully in the introductory material.

At about 8 cents a page, this reference book is a bargain. It is also colorful, well planned, informative, easy to use and absolutely beautiful. It is available now at area bookstores and from online sources.

Just to test the readability of the text, I settled down with a cup of tea to read at random. I was delighted at what I learned, pleased at the wide scope of the material and encouraged to scout around for some of the plants that are new to me.

Why, I wondered, aren’t we growing Adonis? It is a sweet little member of the ranunculus family native to Tibet, Bhutan and China. It blooms in early spring, is cold tolerant, prefers alkaline soils and looks like a cross between a buttercup and a pasque flower.

Checking out the selections for penstemon I was astonished to find a large listing of plants that lack the hardiness of our prairie natives and would have to be grown as, presumably, very expensive annuals here.

Here is the perfect Christmas present for your eyes — stunning photographs; for your mind — wonderful information presented in a learner-friendly manner; and for your spirits — the company of a large cadre of authorities who share your passion for perennials.

Pour a cup of tea, open the pages and delight yourself.

Buy the book

“Encyclopedia of Perennials,” Rice and Bluemel, DK Publishing and the American Horticultural Society, color photographs, hardcover, 500 pages, September 2006, $40.00.

More information about the editors may be found at Graham Rice’s Web site at grahamrice.com and Kurt Bluemel’s Web site at kurtbluemel.com. The American Horticultural Society Web site is www.ahs.org.

Cathie Draine is a member of the Garden Writers Association and a SDSU/Pennington County Extension Service Master Gardener. She lives and gardens in Black Hawk. Readers may send comments or questions to her in care of The Rapid City Journal, Box 450, Rapid City SD 57709.