Gardening in Alaska : So many books, so little time...

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Gardening in Alaska presents big challenges, whether it's the extra effort in finding plants tough enough to survive our Zone 2-4 climate, communicating with like-minded Alaska gardeners, or keeping up with the latest trends, issues and solutions. We'll try to help with that. We'll also tour gardens from Homer to Anchorage to Wasilla to Willow whenever we get the chance, and post the best garden photos around. Presenting a forum about cold-weather gardening and for cold-weather gardeners is what we are all about. We hope you'll join us on the Talk Dirt garden blog.

Photographer and gardener Fran Durner (fdurner@adn.com) writes the blog.

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So many books, so little time...

Posted by talkdirt

Posted: June 14, 2009 - 4:00 pm

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The stack of review books on my floor is not getting any smaller, and though the days may be longer, the number of things that MUST be done never seems to dwindle.

However, I am committed to getting more garden book reviews out there for you!

The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening edited by Fern Marshall Bradley and Trevor Cole. (Readers Digest, $35)

The title of this hefty 4 lb. 11.4 oz. book should have been The All-New Illustrated ENCYCLOPEDIA to Gardening. This revised and updated edition, now all organic, is so packed full of information that I think the designers made the type as small and light as possible just so they could squeeze in copious amounts of information without making it too heavy for the average person to lift.

For quick reference, USDA hardiness maps and zone charts are inside the front and back covers.

In each section, the page edges are color coded so you can easily choose a particular section by looking at them when the book is closed. The perennnial section is lavender, shrubs and vines orange, etc. (Of course you'll have to memorize what color goes with what section but that won't be too difficult with all the time you'll be spending referencing this book.)

There are the usual chapters - perennials, annuals, shrubs, etc., with lists of plants. The tree section is 30 pages long and the shrub & vines a good 56 pages. There is an excellent chapter on fruits with comprehensive pruning and training instructions and an excellent description of espalier techniques. The lawn and ground cover chapter is also informative.

There is good information on dividing and propogating. The chapter on ferns includes directions on propogating from spores.

The book also contains whole chapters devoted to popular plants like iris, hostas, grasses, roses and peonies among others.

Excellent information is contained in a chapter devoted to diagnosing plant problems and disorders with organic solutions offered. The same for bug problems and biological controls. Each individual section has a little mini primer just for those plants under the heading, "What can go wrong."

However, his book does fall down in one aspect. The perennial section was too short at only 22 pages and the list of plants does not include hardiness zone information which is all too important, especially for us. Some of the plant lists, such as the one for shrubs and vines and trees includes the zone listing but not perennials. Or grasses or fruits. What were they thinking to include some zone information but not all? Luckily, that information is readily available elsewhere.

I especially liked that plants were listed under both their common and botanical names. I want to learn more Latin botanical names for things, so this will come in very handy.

Overall, I thought that $35 was a reasonable price tag for this much information.

If you have this book, please share your opinion of it. OR, if you know of another book that you have found useful - please let us know!

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So many books, so little time...