This week I will continue with my review of gardening books that I use most often with my landscape design clients. Last time, I focused on those that reference sustainable and native gardens, and edible gardens and this week will address other well-adapted plantings, many of them focusing on botanicals that have thrived in Texas gardens for hundreds of years.
Herbs might be grouped together with edibles, though they are often planted in gardens designed for them alone. I have perhaps a dozen books focusing on herbs and herb garden design, but if I were to have the choice of only one, it would be “Southern Herb Growing” by Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay. This book was written by and for gardeners who live very close to us in Central Texas; both authors lived in Round Top when this book was published. It focuses on herbs that will thrive in our long, hot and humid summers and gives detailed information on growing them. It is organized into three parts: A herbal primer on why to grow, designing a garden, growing in containers and propagation; a growing guide for more than 130 featured herbs; and a section on cooking with herbs, both culinary (for cooking) herbs and ornamental herbs are discussed in this book.
Another favorite guidebook for clients is “Heirloom Gardening in the South: Yesterday’s Plants for Today’s Gardens.” I was a Texas Rose Rustler with author Dr. Bill Welch (and associate Greg Grant), beginning in 1981, and have learned much from my intermittent association with him. This book begins with an exploration of our gardening heritage, discussing influence of Native Americans, the Spanish, French, Africans (through African-Americans), English, German, Italian and Asians. Understanding these various influences helps to develop a garden that is in harmony with both the surrounding landscape and also the style of the house (and the owner). He discusses natives and (those dreaded) invasives, how heirloom plants were shared and spread through the South and then gives ideas using basic design principles for designing your own garden.
The following chapter lists plants including trees, shrubs (including old roses), vines, grasses, perennials and bulbs that have survived for hundreds of years in Texas gardens and other areas below the Mason-Dixon Line. A final chapter gives us a view of both authors’ home gardens and how they grew. I actually have two copies of this book, so I can share with more than one design client at a time!
Following in that same vein, I offer “Antique Roses for the South” as an in-depth introduction to the Old Garden Roses. Also by Dr. Welch, this book details an historical perspective of Old Roses and gives information on some of the rose “rustling” endeavors that contributed to our knowledge of, and spreading interest in, their culture and cultivation. He discusses landscaping with Old Roses, arranging them into bouquets, rose crafts and the propagation of roses for sharing with garden friends. The final 100 pages are dedicated to describing care and culture for over 100 roses suitable for gardens in our climate. There is a photo of the front of my old house and cottage garden in Austin on p. 33, showing how I trained the very vigorous climber ‘Mermaid’ into a large pecan tree there.
Another wonderful book from another Texas Rose Rustler is “Landscaping with Antique Roses” by Michael Shoup and Liz Druitt. His book is organized into chapters on designing the garden, integrating roses into the landscape, rustling/propagating/purchasing and planting/protecting/pruning. Following is an encyclopedia of selected Old Garden Roses, most, if not all of them, offered by his Brenham (actually Independence) Texas Antique Rose Emporium Nursery. One little known fact: I was actually a sales representative for the nursery in the mid-1980s, working with nurserymen in the Austin and San Antonio area to get the plants into local retail nurseries. Later, he built his own Independence and then San Antonio facilities and my job ended. At the time, I was importing roses and planting them in my large garden at 48th Street and Evans Avenue in Austin. Many cuttings from plants in that garden later became part of his offerings at the nursery.
The last book most often shared is another Bill Welch classic, “Perennial Garden Color: Perennials, Cottage Gardens, Old Roses, and Companion Plants.” This book was published long ago in 1989 and helped promote wider interest in gardening with old-fashioned plants. He offers information on the roots of our gardens, perennials for easy garden color, arranging those plants in the garden and also buying, planting and caring for them. A later section of the book talks about inter-planting these perennials with Old Garden Roses.
Although native plants will be the most easy-care and sustainable flora in the garden (and also offer the most to our friends the butterflies, birds and other fauna), I always try to find a place for a number of other well-adapted plants in my designs for Central (and SE) Texas Gardens. I hope some of these books will help you to choose suitable plantings for your gardens, as well.
Please address any questions or suggestions you might have for me by visiting my website www.thefragrantgarden.com and clicking on the “CONTACT” tab.”
