Garden book review: lost and found

The Organic Garden

A practical guide to natural gardens--from planning and planting, to harvesting and maintenance.

Author: Christine and Michael Lavelle

Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: Hermes House

Published: 2003

I rediscovered this book the other day. I remember glancing through it when I received it as a gift nine years ago (can it be that long?). During the interim, it was buried under a pile of other books on the shelf and was neglected ... until now.

"The Organic Garden," is chock full of ideas on how to garden without pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides--and how to encourage a healthy, productive garden in the process. I've been committed to organic gardening since long before I received this book. Actually, I think it happened when we lived in our previous house--which was 13 to 18 years ago. Many of the techniques are familiar to me, although there are always things to learn and re-learn.

This book is in limited supply, but you can get copies on Amazon, eBay, or through used-book sellers. The authors also have published more recent books on the same topic, with slightly different titles (search for "organic gardening" and "Lavelle").

Like most of my favorite garden books, it has excellent photographs and step-by-step instructions on how to do everything from no-dig gardening to companion planting to willow weaving.

I'm embarrassed that I neglected this very useful book. But I'm also extremely pleased, because it will offer many hours of quality reading during the cold months ahead. For now, I'm putting it in a prominent spot so I won't neglect it again!

Thanks to Holley at Roses and Other Gardening Joys for hosting the Garden Book Reviews meme.

A pocket-sized wildflower checklist

Wildflowers of ...

[insert your state or region here]

Author: Stan Tekiela
Paperback: 425 pages

Publisher: Adventure Publications

Published: 2000

This compact book is the most helpful print wildflower guide I've used. The publisher doesn't appear to have one for every U.S. state, but a good many are offered.

This resource comes in handy, for example, when you need to distinguish the difference between Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) and Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata). They look similar and grow in the same conditions, but the latter is a deadly native perennial.

What I like:

• The photos are high-quality, and each one covers a full page, making plant identification easier.
• Plants are organized by most common color, with color tabs for each entry.
• Icons at the bottom of the page help identify flower cluster, flower type, leaf type, leaf attachment, and fruit.
• Plants typically found in unique habitats (prairies, boundary waters) are identified.
• An index at the back arranges all plants by common name, in alphabetical order.
• A brief glossary defines basic plant terminology.
• The book is palm-sized, and takes up very little space in a bag or backpack, making it easy to take along when hiking, camping, or traveling.
• Each entry includes descriptions of plant family, height, flower, leaf, bloom time, cycle/origin, habitat, range, and history.

What needs improvement:

• It would be nice to have an additional index with Latin names, since common names often vary. (Latin names, however, are listed along with the common names at the tops of the pages.)
• While the book lists most Wisconsin wildflowers, it obviously can't include all, and in all colors. A quick reference to online resources would be handy, since most of us also carry smartphones.
• The binding is a little flimsy, as mentioned by several bookseller reviews. It's easily fixed, though, with super glue.

The book is available on Amazon or direct through the publisher. If you enjoy identifying, reading about, and studying wildflowers, this is a great little resource.

I'm linking this post to Holley's "Garden Book Review" meme at Roses and Other Gardening Joys. Thanks, Holley!

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Next up: The Garden Lessons Learned wrap-up. Please share a post or your thoughts about lessons you've learned during the past few months. To join in, click here to leave a comment with a link to your post. Cheers!

Wild adventures and misadventures: a book review

Extreme adventures can be invigorating, but obviously they also often bring great peril. If you're a natural risk-taker, you know this firsthand.

Some of us prefer to balance a few personal adventures with a healthy mix of reading or watching movies about others' exploits. A well-written account of a great adventure can almost make you feel like you've been there...as in the book, "The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures."

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: The Yosemite Association
Amazon price: $9.36









Muir often found himself in perilous situations, and nearly lost his life numerous times! For example:

• After walking from the Midwest to Cedar Key, Fla., he developed malaria and typhoid, and was bedridden for three months.

• When hiking a glacial peak in Alaska, Muir's companion slipped and dislocated both shoulders. Muir placed himself precariously underneath the man on a precipice to rescue him and drag him to safety.

• During a windstorm in California's Sierra mountains, Muir climbed to the top of a 100-foot Douglas Fir for a better view of the storm. He remained in his "lofty perch for hours," dismounting only after the storm had passed.

Photo by Francis M. Fritz [public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons.

Crazy man. Here is Muir's reasoning for his risky tree-climbing adventure:

"...when the storm began to sound, I lost no time in pushing out into the woods to enjoy it. For on such occasions, nature has always something rare to show us, and the danger to life and limb is hardly greater than one would experience crouching deprecatingly beneath a roof."

As nutty as this type of behavior may sound to those of us who are more cautious, it also brings benefits. Muir's essay about his experience at the top of that tree was published in Scribner's Monthly and was republished many times. And it helped establish him as a respected nature writer for the major magazines of his day.

"...my eye roved over the piny hills and dales as over fields of waving grain, and felt the light running ripples and broad swelling undulations across the valleys from ridge to ridge, as the shining foliage was stirred by corresponding waves of air."

"...the colors were remarkably beautiful. The shafts of the pine and libocedrus were brown and purple, and most of the foliage was well-tinged with yellow; the laurel groves, with the pale undersides of their leaves turned upward, made masses of gray; and then there was many a dash of chocolate color from clumps of manzanita, and jet of vivid crimson from the bark of the madroños, while the ground on the hillsides, appearing here and there through openings between the groves, displayed masses of pale purple and brown."

Throughout the book, short explanations set the scene for each of the 22 highlighted adventures. Lovely black and white scratchboard illustrations help tell the stories. If you enjoy the adventure genre, you'll enjoy these true-life essays about John Muir's most harrowing experiences.

(Note: Patricia of Woodlouse House mentions that many of Muir's books are available for free download as Kindle books on Amazon. I also noticed that many are also free in text format on the Sierra Club's website.)

I'm linking this post to Holley's (Roses and Other Gardening Joys) Garden Book Review meme. Check it out!