Books you may like to hear about

[David Shaw]

OK, I stand corrected.
Splash!
I still like the camera though.

[David Nicholson]

Me too, one of these days I'll learn how to use the fiddly bits!

[Paddy Tobin]

On another thread, Maggi mentioned that 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of Kew Gardens. I have just read a book published to mark the occasion and post a review below for your information.

Paddy

 “The Gardens at Kew” by Allen Paterson is the first major review of Kew by a former director of another botanic garden and is published to mark the 250th anniversary of the of the garden in 2009. Mr. Paterson was Curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Ontario and is presently Distinguished Advisor to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He traces the development of Kew from private pleasure ground to tourist destination (1,000,000 visitors per year) and conservation organisation. Along the way we are given the stories of many people connected with the gardens over the centuries, royalty, scientists, gardeners and landscape designers along with artists and architects. The work of the Herbarium, Jodrell Laboratory and the Millenium Seed Bank are also covered. The story goes from the beginnings of the garden right up to the present day and also looks to the future.

As befits such an institution the book is a large one, large in the range of the material covered and large in format. It is generously illustrated with excellent photographs though I would have liked to have had the photographs of plants labelled more specifically, a small grumble on my part but not one which took from a very interesting book.

I have always enjoyed a visit to Kew Gardens and reading this book brought much of that pleasure back to me but, more importantly, will allow me to enjoy future visits in a far more appreciative and informed manner as this is, I suppose, a guide book extraordinaire. [The Gardens at Kew, Allen Paterson, Frances Lincoln, London, 2008, HB, 352pp, £25, ISBN: 13: 978-0-7112-2536-7]

[Anthony Darby]

 Has anyone received (free) 'Atlas of Creation' ? It has been distributed worldwide to schools and universities. Nice pictures but the text is mince. I mean, does anyone really believe the Pharaohs had helicopters and that there was no such thing as the Stoneage. Clearly this guy has much more money than sense. Apart from the pretty pictures, these huge books would make excellent draught excluders, as both volumes equal the width of the average door and probably weigh just as much.

[mark smyth]

Recommended by me is "Gods of the New Millennium". How did ancient civilisations build and cut stones so they match even if there is a bump on the rock? How did South Americans get huge bus sized rocks from one mountain, down the valley and up the other mountain? On a rock somewhere is a stick man with a space helmet. The Mayans had a 365 day year.

[Anthony Darby]

The calendar was important to the Mayans so it was in their interest to calculate the year accurately. As for the rocks, no more difficult than organised team work. Regarding the space helmet. You see that because you associate it with a familiar object. It could just be a head adornment?

[Anthony Darby]

I see 'The Book People' have left books in our staff room for people to order. One of them is "Garden Plants for Scotland" for a fiver. Not bad, considering the price on the cover is £25!

[David Shaw]

Kew Books are about to bring out a new guide to Rhododendrons. Due to keen marketing skills I have managed to gain a further discount on prices and can offer the book to members at £45 which compares very favourably with the RRP of £59 (from 1 May).
I am have some stock on order and am taking pre-paid orders for delivery in April, either to the shows ( hopefully Edinburgh, Perth or Aberdeen) or by post at 15% p&p. I hope to place a second order at discounted prices on 27 April if there is demand.
This book is not available on Amazon

[Carol Shaw]

You will note that Kew Books itself is selling for £49 if you buy by 30 April... so David is offering a better deal than the actual publisher I doubt that Amazon will actually go for this but as of now is certainly not available from them for pre-order.

[FrazerHenderson]

I thought readers might be interested in the following book review culled from the pages of the recent (Spring 2009) Edinburgh and Lothians Newsletter. The author is content for his/her article to be reproduced here.

Frazer

The English Florists’ Tulip   

Tucked away in the deep recesses of a second hand bookshop I chanced on a slim booklet entitled The English Florists’ Tulip which covers the history and cultivation of fancy tulips by the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society. Whilst I have never really favoured cultivated forms of tulips, finding them garish and their flowering period short-lived, I was intrigued by this booklet. Indeed, I was so enthused after reading that I was sorely tempted to fire off a cheque to join the society, if only to ensure its continuing existence as a living memorial of our horticultural (and social) history.

Within just 44 well-illustrated pages I learnt about the florists’ flowers of the 17th century – carnation, tulip, anemone and ranunculus – which were then joined in the 18th century by pinks (dianthus), auricular, polyanthus and hyacinths. I also became quickly immersed in the three types of tulip fancy flowers namely breeders, feathers and flames.

Breeder tulips, also called mother tulips, are unaffected by tulip virus and of solid colour and are generally crossed with those with a virus to throw marked flowers with either feathers or flames. Ideally the feathered tulip has markings which are confined to the edge of the petals and these markings can be of a separate colour or colours to the rest of the petal. Sometimes the markings can run towards the centre of the petal and are then known as “beard” markings. In addition to the feathered edge flames or flamed flowers have a bold, broad centre stripe on each petal. Though the flowers, particularly a heavily marked flame, may look bizarre they do have a mesmerising beauty. At competitive shows the flowers are placed singly (on their stems) within brown beer bottles and are judged in terms of form, purity and markings.

It was said during the 18th century by an eminent scientist (who shall remain nameless) that –
   “..these men cultivate a science peculiar to themselves, the mysteries of which are only known to the adepts. Nor can such knowledge be worth the attention of the botanist, wherefore, let no sound botanist ever enter into their societies”.

Well, that statement covers not only florists’ flowers: it is also applicable today to the showing of a wide range of plants at SRGC shows! Anyway let us leave the grumpy scientist to his own views and simply admire the dedication of folk that seek to strive what they consider perfection and in so doing give pleasure to themselves and others  and harm no-one. If you ever see a copy of the book buy it you won’t regret it!

Bookworm

[Giles]

Frazer,
.......and as if by magic.....

[David Shaw]

Bill Terry, the writer of this book is a recognised authority on meconopsis and heavily involved with the Meconopsis Group. He lives in British Columbia where he is doing research on seed propogation of mecs.
The book is not a monograph but more a discourse on the genus with practical sections on propogation and growing them. Evelyn Stevens has been involved with the writers work and she showed me a pre-publication copy of it at the Stirling show on Saturday.
The book was launched in Vancouver on Saturday so will be available in the UK in a few weeks time. I am making contact with the UK distributer and hope to be able to offer it to members. This is a new distribution company to us and so I will have to negotiate trade terms with them, however I would still expect to offer the usual 10% discount to members. If anyone is interested please contact me.

[Carol Shaw]

Have to say I looked at this and thought it was a great book... the only disappointment is that they've printed on a matt paper so the mec. pix are not as good as they would have been had it been printed on glossy paper. That said I expect we will buy a copy...

[Giles]

Hortus No 88 Winter 2008 p15-21
Hortus No 89 Spring 2009 p32-44
 - and with continuing articles.
'Hunting the Dog's Tooth : Erythroniums in the Garden and in the Wild'
Joan Loraine

Contact details:
http://www.hortus.co.uk/

It's chatty travelogue, not a scientific article nor horticultural advice.

[Giles]

Looks like a new book on alpines is soon to be with us.
I can't make the link work, so try this,and click on 'forthcoming titles'.
Wilford and Rolfe doing a Kew Monograph. No 8. Alpines from Mountain to Garden.
http://www.kewbooks.com/