Gardening Titles 2004: Sidebars

A Guest in the Garden

First published in 1976 by Putnam and out of print for well over a

decade, First Garden: An Illustrated Garden Primer by C.Z. Guest appears in a facsimile edition this month from Rizzoli. Complete with its original Truman Capote foreword and Cecil Beaton illustrations, it also contains a new introduction completed by Guest shortly before her death last November. "Unlike a lot of gardening books out there," says editor Holly Rothman, "this appeals to anyone who finds the creation of his or her own garden a daunting task. C.Z. Guest explains everything in a very calming way. But it's not dumbed-down material. She reminds you why you want to be doing this. She tells you how many years it will take this dwarf apple tree to bloom and how, when it does, you will be so happy." In her introduction, Guest praises the garden as "a good and loyal friend."

Going Buggy

Mayhem is something that gardeners expect. Foliage decimated. Roots gnawed. Stems sucked dry. It's a war zone. The enemies, however, can no longer hide. Princeton University Press unmasks them all in Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs (Apr.) by Whitney Cranshaw. "Most books on insects show you their adult forms," says Robert Kirk, executive editor for field guides and natural history. "This shows you the whole life cycle and tells you which life form does the most damage. It's arranged by group: leaf chompers, sap suckers. There's also an index of host plants, so you can answer a question such as, 'What's going to eat my strawberries?' You can know in advance who the attackers are." All 1,420 critters are pictured, as is the characteristic damage each miscreant does. Happily, Cranshaw also points out the beneficial insects we should welcome and, as well, offers advice for dealing with each season's onslaught of the baddies.

A Strong Sense of Scents

The beauty of a flower garden can affect a viewer even from afar, but aromas arising from the blooms will intoxicate the nearby visitor. Two new books underscore this sublime power.

Led by the Nose: A Garden of Smells (Souvenir Press, May) is Jenny Joseph's olfactory portrayal of her own English garden. The author of the poem, "Warning: When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple," tries to capture the scents of her garden, says Souvenir's marketing manager James Doyle, "by the distinctive descriptiveness of her prose, through conjuring up the memories and sense impressions that each individual smell brings to her, as well as noting the changes in her garden through the year as the smells change." According to Doyle, "Jenny would like her readers to go out and smell the roses, and every other flower, in their own garden and be as diverted by the associations and memories this will bring to them."

"Discovering plants that spill their scents in autumn or winter or earliest spring expands our enjoyment manyfold," says Ann Lovejoy in Fragrance inBloom: The Scented Garden Throughoutthe Year (Sasquatch, Feb.). "When I read Ann's writing, I feel so inspired," says editorial director Gary Luke. "She conveys her enthusiasm about plants intelligently, without gushing." Indeed, this is how she concludes her notes on one jasmine cultivar: The fragrance "is highly pleasant by day, but the evening and night versions have a smoky depth and a silky finish, particularly in warm, still weather." How can one resist?

Grassy Grandeur

When a lawn seems just too much to care for, think kindly of George Toma, the man who has made a career of manicuring vegetation. In fact, he has prepped the field for every Super Bowl ever played, winning his first big break as a groundskeeper at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium in 1957. He tells his life story (with Alan Goforth) in George Toma: Nitty Gritty Dirt Man (Sports Publishing L.L.C., Apr.). "He's up-front and colloquial," says developmental editor Elisa Bock Laird. "He's got a quirky sense of humor as he explains how someone ends up with a job like his." He also reflects upon his life and on such issues as artificial turf vs. natural grass. On a more practical level, Toma offers a chapter on Grass Growing 101 filled with tips for homeowners about everything from pre-germinating grass seed to taking care of bare spots.