Author Judith Tankard has updated her authoritative book on the life and works of Beatrix Farrand, a founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the first female landscape architect in the United States. In Beatrix Farrand: Garden Artist, Landscape Architect (Monacelli Press, 2022), Tankard provides updates on Farrand's last residence and now home to the Beatrix Farrand Society, Garland Farm in Maine; current efforts to restore Dumbarton Oaks Park in Washington DC; and the preservation of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Maine. The book also includes updated images of many of the gardens, and watercolor wash renderings of Farrand's designs. If you don't have the original volume, you will definitely want this one.
I've never been a great fan of houseplants, mainly because I can't seem to ever persuade them to live. However, a couple of friends gifted some to me during the pandemic, and miraculously, they are still flourishing. My appetite has been whetted by The Houseplant Guru, Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, in her latest book, Bloom, The Secrets of Growing Houseplants Year-Round (Cool Springs Press, 2022). Steinkopf profiles more than 40 houseplants that are easy to grow, if you know what you're doing. Each plant is described in detail, along with tips on how to coax them into bloom, watering instructions, and where they should be placed: east, west, south or north windows. She also lets you know whether the plants and their parts are toxic to pets or humans. I can't try a gardenia, because I don't have a west or south window, but my Christmas Cactus is covered with blooms, and I hope to see my moth orchid back in bloom this spring. This is the book you want if you want some greenery and blooms inside.
I think all of us who like to garden are dealing now, at times, with extreme weather events we've never experienced in the past. But in The Climate Change Garden (Cool Springs Press, 2022), botanist Sally Morgan and author Kim Stoddart provide valuable advice on practical ways to deal with too much heat, wind, rain, snow and frost. They show the reader how to select trees, shrubs, vegetables and perennials that are best suited to withstand weather extremes; how to manage storm water runoff and deal with heat islands; how to reduce the carbon footprint in the garden; how to take advantage of microclimates and adapt your garden techniques for the new climate future. As the authors say in the introduction, "...gardeners themselves feel the stress as they try desperately to keep up with whatever is coming next. Building resilience to our changing climate and shoring up our whatever-the-weather defenses is key."
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