The Edible Front Yard

Upon seeing this book on the shelf, my hands went toward it as if drawn magnetically. Once I had a few moments to read through its pages, I found it to be colorful, unpretentious, well thought out, and useful.

There’s a good blend of plant descriptions, garden design ideas, practical advice on building soil, and using hardscaping materials. Personally, after seeing some photos in this book I’m dreaming of a concrete paver installation in my backyard.

My only slight criticism of the book is that for the gardener outside the year-round gardening bliss of southern California, there was a notable lack of maintaining an edible garden through the winter, and how to actually make it attractive through the long winter months. A few things I’d advise would be evergreen herbs (like rosemary) or plants with bright red berries or fruits (rose hips!) to make the front lawn gorgeous through the colder months.

There’s also a point in the book (“dreams vs. reality”) where the author states that tomatoes aren’t the best used in edible front yards, yet in the photo on the next page (and many other photos, upon closer examination) definitely have tomatoes featured. Ms. Soler even sports a cute bunch of tomatoes behind her ear in her bio photo! She does state that cherry tomatoes are the best bet, so I’ll have to agree with here there. Sure if you’re going to have to blanket a tomato with insulation in order to get fruit it’s not easy on the eyes, but personally I think the bold yellow blossoms, glossy fruit, and the distinct, amazing smell of tomato plants make it a perfect addition to an edible garden.

The Edible Front Yard by Ivette Soler.

The Twilight Garden

This is not a gardening book to attract vampires – but it may help create the mood for intense necking. Here is Twilight Garden, a really lovely book with elegant design and content.

I’m always discovering new and innovative information about garden design. But when it comes to evoking a magical mood once the sun begins to go down, white and silver are the best. The author, Lia Leendertz, does a fine job of drawing in the reader with evocative descriptions of walkways in the moonlight and gorgeous scents in the air.

My favorite part of the book is the second half. She spent time selecting plants for the twilight garden and creatively grouped their photos and descriptions into the categories “Star Plants”, “Supporting Cast”, and “Backstage Beauties”. Just like a great movie, a great garden has to consider the entire cast (not just the diva).

The Twilight Garden, available for $19.67

Grow Great Grub

During her college years, a woman named Gayla tried her hand at growing food in a limited amount of space. Since then she’s gone from gardening novice to goddess. Her second book on gardening Grow Great Grub is full of tips on what edible plants to grow with the space you have available.

“Many urban dwellers suffer from an incapacitating anxiety complex about space. We’ve gotten it into our heads that either we need to own land or we need lots of it in order to grow food. ” – Gayla Trail, Intro to Grow Great Grub

I hate to admit that I find that statement to be true about myself back when I lived in Brooklyn. I started off in a small, expensive studio with only a tiny fire escape outside two windows, and I never got beyond my window boxes of pretty flowers. Oh, the edible flowers, basil, and tomatoes I could have grown my first year of urban living!

With beautiful photos, great tips, and useful DIY projects scattered among the pages of gardening advice, this is a great gift for the potential urban homesteader you know.

Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail.

Hawaiian Heritage Plants

This is the time of year when times seems to stand still. Winter feels like it will never end. Dreams of tropical flowers and soft breezes start to become more prominent in my mind. So a book on Hawaiian heritage plants looked like just the thing to get my imagination going.

This isn’t an entirely soft and dreamy post. The lush beauty of Hawaii has a number of somewhat dark historical facts related to its plants. Other plants were and still are vital to the local economy and food chain. Here’s a list of some plants that are important to the history and culture of Hawaii.

Plumeria:
Similarly to hibiscus, plumeria is a lovely addition to many leis, but is actually native to Mexico, Venuzuela, and Central America.

Plumeria image available from Calyxia Design.

Sandalwood: (‘iliahi)
The background on sandalwood on the Hawaiian islands was the most surprising out of all the plants I read about. For thousands of years, sandalwood has been of great importance because of the strong, seductive scent that originates from its heartwood. One of my favorite descriptions of use by the Hawaiian Islanders was that some young women would take sandalwood powder and mix it with coconut butter to create a wonderful body balm.
What I didn’t realize was that many of the native islanders were exploited by their own leaders to sell the vast sandalwood forests to outsiders looking to make a profit.

Hibiscus: (koki’o ‘ula or koki’o ke’oke’o)
I find it interesting that even though there is such an emphasis on encouraging use of native plants, in reality the plants that have really shaped many cultures are often transplants from other areas of the world. Take the hibiscus. The hibiscus is a native to Southeast Asia, yet it is now Hawaii’s most famous emblem as well as the state flower. In spite of its recognition, many varieties of this plant are endangered.

Taro: (kalo)
The taro needs growing conditions similar to rice, in that it likes to have a shallow amount of water all around it to flourish. Taro has been a staple of the Hawaiian diet for centuries, and is commonly called “poi” when the taro root is pounded and fermented.

Wild Ginger: (‘awapuhi)
A plant with gorgeous blooms, its thick sap can be easily used as a hair shampoo and conditioner.

Noni: (Indian mulberry)
Noni is frequently hailed as a modern day cure-all, especially by noni juice companies. Its effectiveness isn’t conclusive, and in the days when the Hawaiian island of Moloka’i was used a leper colony, noni was sometimes used without any positive result. It is supposedly good at treating lice!

For lots more on this subject, pick up Angela Kay Kepler’s “Hawaiian Heritage Plants”.

From Art to Landscape

As one might expect from a book titled “From Art to Landscape”, the author expresses his experience using fine arts in his creative design process. He emphasizes exploring ideas with different mediums, so as to not get caught up in technique but to really do whatever possible to get an idea out of your head. Sometimes the best ideas are born when you free yourself of the consciousness of doing and focus more on the mood.

My favorite section in this book was Mr. Smith’s experience designing the children’s garden at Winterthur Gardens in North Carolina. The most ethereal of the features was a fairy ring of concrete mushrooms that mist up when someone steps into the middle of the ring.

The Tropical Mosaic Garden in Naples, Florida, was another project where Smith was an integral part of the design. I loved the colors of the bromeliads (Aechmea blanchettiana) against the sea-themed blue mosaic walls. The wall design was an unintentional but beautiful result of his creative design process.

From Art to Landscape: Unleashing Creativity in Garden Design