Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Winter Reading


Pinetree Garden Seeds, the seed catalog where I buy my favorite red zinnias, also offers bargain books. I have gotten some great buys on books that would otherwise be out of my reach. They are having a clearance sale, reducing prices to as low as $1. For a grand total of $26, I bought the following:

The French Country Garden - By Louisa Jones
France is often called "the country of four hundred cheeses" to portray its diversity. That same diversity is found in its gardens. Louisa Jones took a tour of gardens around the country and shares her impressions and conversations with the gardeners here. Sumptuous photographs illustrate them for us. The gardens are divided into six themes. “Intimate Country Gardens” features a grandmother’s, a painter’s, and a fashion designer’s garden, each reflecting their own personal interest. “A Passion for Plants” visits collectors of select species and their spectacular collections. The “Celebration of the Senses” gardens emphasize aromatic plants, foliage tones and textures, medicinal plants, edible plants and striking visual effects. In “Formal Play”, formal gardens exhibit whimsy in their playful planting patterns, topiary or sculpture. France is also seeing a rebirth of natural gardening that is explored in “Nature’s Ways”. A final chapter, “Planetary Perspectives” visits French gardens where global issues such as diversity and ecology play a major role.
Hardcover 176 pp pub. at $37.50
Clearance price $5.00

The Looking Glass Garden - By Peter Thompson
Take a trip to the Southern Hemisphere with Peter Thompson and see a whole new world of plants and gardens. Thompson wants us to extend our range of garden plants and touches on 1500 Southern Hemisphere plants and the role they could play in our gardens. He dispels the myth that these plants are too difficult to grow here, showing how these incredible trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, grasses and foliage plants can be used in sun or shade and hot or cool gardens. These plants have a forceful impact with their wild, exotic shapes, sizes and colors. Thompson demonstrates innovative ways to assimilate them into gardens using case studies of gardens where they are used. Hundreds of exquisite color plates illustrate these plants in their native habitats and in gardens. Thompson’s book is also a fascinating personal account of places, people, plants and gardens encountered.
Hardcover 451 pp pub. at $39.95
Clearance price $3.00

A Year in the Garden - by Theodore James, Jr.
Acclaimed garden author James and garden photographer Harry Haralambou take us on a very enjoyable and enlightening tour of their gardens as they evolve month-by-month through the seasons. They also share the story of the evolutionary background of these gardens from the time James purchased the one acre Long Island, NY property in 1974. On this property they have put an Alpine, water, shade, perennial, Japanese, shrub, woodland and secret garden. All come together beautifully to fulfill James' guiding concept that "a garden should be a series of events, spectacles, and occurrences that continue throughout the four seasons." Over 200 color photographs help readers experience all the pleasures of events and seasons in their garden. Hardcover 130pp. Pub at $29.95
Clearance price $5.00

Venzano: A Scented Garden in Tuscany – by Stephanie Donaldson
It was a misty November day, in 1988, when Don Leevers and Lindsay Megaritty first came upon the ancient Tuscan estate that was later to become their home. Nestled among the trees on the brow of a hill, it overlooked a landscape where agriculture still prevailed. Though in a state of neglect and disrepair, Venzano had abundant land and a reliable source of water issuing from a Roman spring. Today, their nursery garden is one of the jewels of the region, with an aromatic plant catalog listing nearly 10,000 varieties of lavender, rosemary, thyme, patchouli, lilies, honeysuckle, damask roses. Marrying exquisitely beautiful photographs to a narrative that is both personal and enlightening, we are given a taste of the daily life of a Tuscan gardener, as well a glimpse of the glorious hills and olive groves that lie just past Venzano's borders. For gardeners, armchair and otherwise, and for lovers of all things Italian.
Hardcover 144pp. Pub at $29.95
Clearance price $5.00

The Plantfinder’s Guide to Garden Ferns - By Martin Rickard
Ferns can add a naturalistic woodsy feel to a planting, or a lush jungly atmosphere. They come in an amazing array of leaf sizes and forms, and shades of green to gold to silver. You may think you’re familiar with ferns, but the variety in this book will astonish you. Rickard, the owner of a British fern nursery, guides readers on choosing and siting ferns, planting and caring for them, propagating them and using them in the landscape. He provides a large A-Z guide to large, small, desert and tree ferns. The color photographs in the book are exquisite. Many capture their beauty in the landscape, while others display individual fronds against a white backdrop. An exciting find for fern lovers.
Softcover 192pp pub. $24.95
Clearance price $5.00

The Random House Book of Old Roses – by Roger Phillips & Martyn Rix
Over 200 varieties of old roses with color photographs.
Softcover 95 pp pub. at $10.00
Clearance price $2.00

Feng Shui - Text: Belinda Henwood, Consultant: Howard Choy
Feng Shui is the Chinese art of harmonious placement meant to create balance between people and their environment. By following the principles of Feng Shui, people can bring this balance to their homes and gardens. Feng Shui can be complicated, but this book simplifies the concepts and touches on the basic remedies. In laying out a home or garden, one should look for a positive energy flow or “qi”. The book describes good home layout and placement of rooms, doors, and furniture. If you can’t change your basic layout, then it discusses simple remedies such as moving furniture, changing colors, adding movable partitions or plants to change the qi flow, and hanging wind chimes or mirrors. Outside, an appealing, simple and natural garden attracts nourishing qi to the home. Feng Shui is good design and makes good sense.
Hardcover 79 pp pub. at $12.95
Clearance price $1.00

3 comments:

joey said...

Appreciate the time to research these great finds, perfect for those long winter nights curled up by the fire ~ dreaming!

OldRoses said...

Joey, that's exactly what I was thinking. I'm looking for inspiration for next year.

Srividya said...

wow ! wonderful collection. Will check it out.