Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

Editor's Plant Literary Picks

Dec 01, 2003

A recent addition to my library is Conifers of California by Ronald M. Lanner. Cachuma Press, 1999. What a beautiful book! The art work of Eugene O. Murman is warm and real. The pictures are clear and rich in color and the text is full of pertinent but not overwhelming facts about California's 52 native conifers. There are range maps, quotes by Muir, Sargent and Sudworth and the 7" x 9" size of the book allows one to comfortably sit in the shade of your favorite tree in the garden and dream of visiting and / or growing these graceful giants. The pictures of Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana) beckons me to the Siskiyou Mountains.


Books
Some books that have inspired my love of foliage plants:

Best Borders by Tony Lord. Penguin Books, 1995.

Coloured Leaved & Berried Plants, Shrubs and Trees by H.G. Witham Fogg. John Gifford Ltd., London, 1972.

The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses, Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-tails and Selected Bamboos by Rick Darke. Timber Press, 1999.

The Complete Guide to Foliage Planting by Sandra Bond, Nigel J. Taylor, Michael Jefferson-Brown and Myles Challis. Ward Lock 1992.

Plant Marriages by Jeff Cox. Harper Collins, 1993.

The Random House Book of Indoor and Greenhouse Plants Vol. 1 & 2, by Roger Phillips & Martyn Rix. Random House, 1997.


The Random House Book of Perennials Vol. 1 & 2, by by Roger Phillips & Martyn Rix. Random House, 1991.


Web Sites To Visit This Month

Forest Farm Nursery Forest Farm Nursery
If you need to mail order perennials, grasses, ornamentals, conifers, fragrant plants, honey plants, etc., then access the huge database of this diverse, long time mail order nursery. One of the best.

Yerba Buena Nursery
One of the original native plant nurseries and still growing the widest selection of California natives.

Regional Parks Botanic Garden at Tilden Park