Books you may like to hear about

[FrazerHenderson]

Scottish Wild Plants: their history, ecology and conservation by Philip Lusby and Jenny Wright provides a comprehensive review of Scotland's rare and interesting species.

Published in association with the RBGE back in 2001 stocks have now been remaindere and can be obtained a the knock-down price of £2 from Book Bargain stores.

Though only 114 pages (with copious illustrations and photos) it packs in a great deal of information and I found myself learning a great deal about my native plants - which I must admit I'm guilty of ignoring in preference to exotics and yet they should hold my interest, such as Moneses uniflora the "One-flowered wintergreen" (alright I know it's circumpolar but nonetheless...).

Thanks Paddy for keeping us apprised of some great reads - I'm using your reviews to inform purchases (and haven't yet been disappointed - surely the mark of a good reviewer!).

[Paddy Tobin]

Franz,

Many thanks for your comments. I am reading Dan Hinkley's latest book at present: "The Explorer's Garden: Shrubs and Vines from the Four Corners of the World". I have no doubt you would enjoy it. It really does deal with a range of shrubs/small trees and climbers, many of which are new to us, which would be of interest in the garden.

The secret of my reviews: I only review books I have enjoyed reading!

Your Scottish Wild Plants is certainly a bargain. It is a fact of publishing life that gardening books are the most frequently remaindered. Publishing is really a big gamble. If there isn't immediate success (= sales) then the book is generally doomed.

Paddy

[Giles]

Due to a minor error affecting the quality of the colour plates, the publisher decided to reprint the last issue of Curtis's Botanical Magazine.
I therefore have a spare copy.
I attach the cover and contents page.
If someone would like it - send me your address and I'll post it to you.
Giles

ps A home has now been found for it.

[Paddy Tobin]

Kind offer, Giles, but nothing to interest me in it.
Many thanks,
Paddy

[fermi de Sousa]

Kind offer, Giles, but nothing to interest me in it.
Many thanks,
Paddy

Plenty of interest to me but i wouldn't make you pay the extra postage!
cheers
fermi

[David Shaw]

HELLO, EIRE!
As Publications Manager I have just received an order for a book. The trouble is the purchaser has not given me a name or address. The only clue I have is that the envelope has a Republic of Ireland stamp.
On the slim chance that this person might be a Forum regular, would you like to get in touch with me with your contact details. I have the book in stock and will keep it aside for you.

[Paddy Tobin]

David,

If you've got the money, say nothing!

Paddy (It wasn't me)

[Michael J Campbell]

not me.

[Arykana]

Great pleasure, you all like to read! I wrote and have published a book and now wrting a new one 

[Giles]

A few books that might be of interest, only the first of which I've got my hands on:

1. New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation. Grimshaw and Bayton.
Marketed as the 'update' on Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, but with a few caveats.
It's only 'trees' (not shrubs), and is for an audience wider than the UK. (Europe and N. America).
By the nature of the trees' 'newness' it lacks some of the reliable and practical aspects that Bean would cover, such as detailed advice about cultural conditions. No 'alpine' interest, I guess, and doesn't include Rhododendrons. Amazon are selling it for £93.50, but it is available cheaper for members
of certain societies (IDS;RHS Rhodo/Camellia/Mag Gp.) It will become a 'classic', I'm sure. I guess John Grimshaw might bring some to the AGS Conference for folk to look at. I think it's fantastic. Whether you want one, will probably depend on whether it covers particular genera you are interested in. I bought it for the Magnolias, but it has lots of other photographs to tempt you.

The next two I haven't seen yet, but will list, in the hope that one of you might be able to give us some information about them, as they might be of more
interest:

[Giles]

2. Mountain Flowers and Trees of Caucasia. Shetekauri and Jacoby. £26.59. (Amazon)
3. Wild Flowers of The Northern Highlands of Scotland. Butler and Crossan. £11.49. (Amazon)

If any of you have seen these - please tell us what you think.

[FrazerHenderson]

Notes from Walnut Tree Farmby Roger Deakin: Penguin UK£8.99 CAN$19.00 Henderson Rating 4.5/5
Drawn from notebooks from the last years of his life, this book, presented in diary format, presents Deakin's restless curiousity in nature and human life. His musings, for instance, as he watches an ant on his writing desk shall live long in my memory.

"I have a lost ant on my desk. It has been here for several days, wandering around in a baffled sort of way.....it's a restless soul, and no sooner has it arrived under the deep strip of shadow under the glasses case than it's off again, this time to the haven of an old copy of Sight and Sound, where, to my surprise, instead of burrowing under, it marches straight across an interview with the film director.....[and then a further page..].

"Just when I think I'll never see it again, up it pops, doodling its imaginery trail all over my desk. If I could somehow get it to walk through ink and trace its path, it might make some sense, some pattern even, but I doubt it. It is just a wandering ant, a damned soul, condemned to eternal exile on my desk, like Philoctetes... One of the few ants in the world whose natural enemy, the human, is actually concerned about its survival as an individual, except that the concept of individuality is completely alien to an ant."

This is a book that shares the wonder in the ordinary, asks us to appreciate the immediate, reappraises the common place and communicates all that and more in an infectious, life-affirming manner.

And, yes, there are sections about plants especially trees. The book is gentle, funny, uplifting, entertaining, informative and a stimulating read; it is already, and rightly so, a classic.

Frazer

[Giles]

Frazer,
I agree, this a delightful book.
Giles

[FrazerHenderson]

A couple of other books recently finished and to which I'll perhaps return to in greater depth when time permits are

The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift, which receives a Henderson rating of 4.5/5. Bloomsbury £8.99.

The book tells a 20 year love affair with a garden and its local and natural environment at the Dower House, Morville, Shropshire. Mrs Swift is a writer of immense knowledge, charm and skill who has told the history of the garden and her subsequent development of that garden in the form of a medieval Book of Hours. This is garden writing at its lyrical best. It is always good to read about the development of a garden, however, good books on the subject are rare; I can only think of The Lasket by Sir Roy Strong that even comes close to the Morville Hours.

This is a book that a shall read and read again, indeed I have read some chapters a number of times in order to savour lines and reflect on the thoughts invoked by the writing.

Seed to seed by Nicholas Harberd has received numerous accolades. The New Scientist thought it a classic, even David Bellamy thought it a "botanical master piece". Again, published by Bloomsbury at £8.99, sadly it only recieves a rating from me of 2.5/5.

Yes, genetics and plant growth are interesting (or rather could be made interesting) but I don't know perhaps it is the abundance of acronyms GIA, DELLA, RGA etc. that left me cold. I felt at times I was back at school reading the great Russian novels where one had to remember which character was which because the names became no more than irritations in the prose: I like to stop and reflect on writing much more I think than stopping to re-read and then check the glossary (and make notes) and then conclude that what could be said could have been said more clearly without the internal language of genticists. Those of a more scientific bent will clearly derive more pleasure from the book than me.

Frazer

[FrazerHenderson]

Just to advise that all gardening books at Border Books chain are currently half-price or less. The chain is in administration. I managed to snaffle some good bargains at lunch-time today from the central Glasgow store including David Anderton's tome on Welsh Gardens for a mere £7 (saving £13!).

The sad thing is that since the chains killed off the small bookshops and have subsequently succumbed to the internet themselves there will only be Waterstones available for perusing books (and at best its stock of horticultural books is poor - at least Borders contained a wider range).