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A Literary Garden

by

Lauren Roberts

Mother’s Day is coming up as I write this, and I have been giving a lot of thought to it. My parents are both 83 and in reasonably good health, though they rarely do some of the things they used to enjoy. For my mother, one of those is gardening.

She still putters around with some flowers and a few vegetables. She picks the tangerines and grapefruit from the trees that produce them so prolifically their branches often reach the ground. But mostly she enjoys what others create. Her love of gardens also encompasses  books be they exquisite, oversized art volumes such as Gardens in Time, essay collections such as Blithe Tomato and  more practical tomes that, while they may not always be used, do not go unappreciated or unread.

This year she is going to get three books that were so interesting I also bought copies for myself: The Savage Garden, Tiny Game Hunting and Designing California Native Gardens. All of them are utter delights for anyone with even a modicum of interest in this most earthy of hobbies.  

 
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 Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens (UC Press; $27.50) by Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrook is the newest one. It is most likely to be bought by in-state gardeners, though it would surely warm the transplanted hearts of Californians living elsewhere. Filled with exquisite photographs of scenes, places and plants, this book is a paean to California nature.

An essay on  native plants opens the book, explaining why they work best for each of the twelve plant communities—“repeatable assemblages of plants that grow together because of similar adaptations to microclimates, soils and slopes, and biotic factors”—the authors identified in the state.

Botanically and geologically, they note, California is among the world’s most diverse places. From Death Valley to the wet, damp redwood forests of the northern part of the state, from the high Sierras to the coast, from the central valley to the Mexican border, the range of plant life is enormous. The relationship between physical geography and plant life makes for a fascinating discussion, much condensed here, yet possessing an astounding array of information highlighting California’s biodiversity in a way that seems new and startling. I am a multi-generational native of this state. I have seen a fair portion of it. Yet I found myself surprised with a new perspective, as if someone had shoved it all together so I could see its delicate balance within a few pages. What had been familiar became new—and it is gorgeous!

Successfully changing over from old ideas involves a change of perspective, a way of perceiving and an acceptance of values other than your own. In the essay entitled “A Garden-Making Ethic for California,” the authors list three rules that together create the garden-making ethic that fuels this book: (1) Create a place of beauty; (2) Create a space with meaning; (3) Study the surrounding natural community, imagining what it was like before it was disturbed. They then lay out six main steps to achieving this “harmonious approach to living on the Earth, to striking a balance between natural ecology, cultural variation and personal aesthetics.”

They then provide specifics for each of the twelve plant communities: Bluffs and Cliffs, Redwood Forest, Coastal Sage Scrub, Channel Islands Garden, Desert Gardens, Montane Meadows, Mixed-Evergreen Forest, Oak Woodland, Grasslands, Chaparral, Riparian Woodland and Wetlands.

Santa Barbara, the area where I currently live, is a coastal town about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles. It falls in the coastal sage scrub region, though the Channel Islands are part of it too. Each of these chapters contains information on the types of native plants along with detailed pictures. The authors note that Los Angeles, being the urban high-rise it is, nevertheless offers opportunities for tree columns and living roofs. They include botanical as well as common names of plants, and provide design notes and illustrations. Everything I need to know to create a garden of native plants is here.

Designing California Native Gardens is an astoundingly beautiful book—glossy pages, excellent photographs, exquisite illustrations and specific  information written in a clean, clear style. You needn’t live in California to appreciate it, but if you do you will likely find this book spending as much time on your coffee table (showing itself off) as in your hands being studied. It is a truly brilliant combination of practicability and magnificence.

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Spring brings everything out: birds, flowers, fruits, vegetables and those unwanted accompaniments—pests. Tiny Game Hunting: Environmentally Healthy Ways to Trap and Kill the Pests in Your House and Garden (UC Press; $15.95) by Hilary Dole Klein and Adrian M Wenner is for everyone who has to deal with pests and who wishes to do so in an environmentally safe way. It is thoroughly practical and full of fantastic “recipes” for ridding your home or garden of unwanted pests that range from the utterly disgusting to the merely annoying.

But it’s not about killing. Indeed, as a perusal of the Table of Contents shows, it’s about choosing wisely and positively. As they note, doing battle can provide “great satisfaction from trapping pests without guilt, discouraging them without peril, and keeping them away by understanding their particular habits.”

Look around your home. Now. Step away from the computer and walk around, opening cabinets and drawers. Look in the garage too. How many toxic products do you have? Probably more than you thought. But you can change though, as they note, “you may have a period of higher insect damage.”

The book is divided into two parts: the home and the garden. The former is subdivided into “Common Pests” (ants, bees, flies, silverfish, spiders, etc.) and “Occasional Invaders” such as crickets, earwigs, and scorpions.

If you are a pet lover as I am you know that fleas are a problem. Thankfully, Program and Advantage are around, but using them cannot eliminate them completely. The authors go beyond that and offer suggestions for control, cleaning fleas off your pets and getting rid of them in your home. For the latter, one method includes a light bulb and a pan of soapy water; another a pair of white, fuzzy socks.

The garden segment is longer, and includes the interestingly titled “Tactics of Tiny Game Hunting in the Garden,” “Allies in the Air and on the Ground,” “Mail Order Mercenaries,” “Honestly Discharged” and “Friend or Foe.” (Do you get the feeling this is a war?) In “Tactics,” the authors cover a wide and interesting variety of pest control methods: handpicking, hosing, traps, barriers, soaps, horticultural oils, four kinds of dusts, five types of biological controls, six types of botanicals and 11 kinds of homemade repellents.

In the latter category is Tomato Leaf Spray, made by blending two cups of tomato leaves and stems with water, letting it stand overnight, then adding two more cups water. Spray where aphids gather. (The delightful fragrance is a bonus.) Other repellents incorporate garlic, hot peppers, spearmint,  horseradish, onion and citrus peel.

The excellent advice contained here really stems from one inflexible rule found in the Introduction: Don’t use any weapon to kill pests that could possibly kill you too. The recommendation is as sound as this book, which should be in the reference section of every home.

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A unique blend of horror, humor and affection marks The Savage Garden (Ten Speed Press; $21.95) by Peter D’Amato. The “savage” in the title refers to the carnivorous plants he discovered as a child, and that he now grows for commercial gain.

“’Look at this,’ my friend said. He plucked something from the moss and held it up in his fingers. It was an image that would forever be imprinted upon my brain. A ray of sunlight broke through the cedars, shining directly on what he held in his hand. It was a small, circular green leaf covered with hundreds of red tentacles like a pincushion, each ending in a tiny drop of dew. Every drop caught the light of the sun, and they sparkled and glittered like jewels. These small plants were dotted with numerous dead and struggling insects, their circular leaves sometimes clenched like tight fists, with wings and antennae sticking out and twitching . . . For me it was the beginning of a mind-boggling adventure that would change my life.”

Carnivorous plants are those that “eat” live food. The word in fact means “flesh-eating.” Most plants absorb nutrients from the soil and carbon dioxide from the air and use photosynthesis to transform them into life-giving carbohydrates. Most carnivorous plants grow in mineral-deficient and wet soils; the water often moves the nutrients away before the plant can use them for reproduction and survival. These plants have therefore developed ways to attract “moving minerals” (that is, insects) by developing weirdly beautiful leaves capable of enticing, trapping and then extracting the necessary minerals from the insects’ bodies.

As D’Amato points out, capturing insects does not a carnivorous plant make. What distinguishes it from other plants (that may capture insects as a defense mechanism) is the digestive process—and it is this process that is both fascinating and horrifying.

Venus flytraps are the best known of all carnivorous plants, but there is an astounding variety including the various pitcher plants, the cobra plant, sundews, the dewy pine, rainbow plants, butterworts, bladderworts and others.

If your past experience is anything like mine, you tried an Venus flytrap once and it died. Fear not. D’Amato had the same result with his first one. He has learned much since then, and all of it has been distilled into one of the best specialized gardening books I’ve ever seen. It is divided into “The Basics of Cultivation” (soils, water, light, feeding, pests, etc.), “Where to Grow Carnivorous Plants” (greenhouses, terrariums, tanks, outdoors) and “The Plants” (by type), and also contains a rich appendices section.  

The basics section is excellent, filled with clear photographs of the soils, mosses, feeding suggestions (warning: D’Amato’s sense of humor emerges here), fertilizing and pests that attack them. But the most intriguing part is the plants section. Here is where you will find detailed information on each type. An example is on American pitcher plants, the “most ravenous and underappreciated plants in horticulture.” Eight species are currently believed to exist, all except one native to the southeastern part of the United States. Their annual growth cycle begins with flowering and after the petal-drop, the opening of the pitcher leaves. Each species has a different structure and trapping mechanism, but it is believed that the plant uses color and nectar to attract insects.

The yellow trumpet plant, a stunning beauty, has an elongated, narrow funnel with a flared mouth and a narrow neck that holds aloft a large bright yellow leaf-like lid. With brilliant red veins running from its edges downward, this lid acts as a kind of landing platform that directs the insects inward toward the nectar that seems to have a drunken effect. And here is where the icky fascination comes in: “The interior is so waxy smooth the insects can rarely maintain foothold. Downward-pointing, needle-like hairs are found at its deepest point. Digestive juices are secreted by the plant in the lowest portion of the trap, and the level of this liquid rises as more insects are caught. 

The hooded pitcher plant, with an oddly grinning appearance, uses a unique method of trapping its food. Inside the overhanging hood are what appear to be windows, bright-colored parts that fool the insect into thinking there are escape routes just ahead as it moves inward, drinking the nectar. But they’re not as the panicked insect discovers, and the result is a one-way trip down the plant’s long neck, ending in the digestive juices below.

Perhaps the most lethal in appearance (and distressing in its trapping method) in this section is the Parrot pitcher plant which possess a hollow puffed hood that resembles a beak. Under the beak is a small circular opening surrounded by a collar that acts much like a lobster trap. “The interior of the tube is lined with extra-long, intermeshed, needle-like hairs, all pointing towards the base of the leaf. Prey caught by this plant suffer a hideous death. Once inside the hood, the exit is difficult to find due to the puckered collar. Insects thus enter the brighter tube lighted by the windows. However, there is no retreat, for to back out means to be painfully pierced by the numerous needle-like hairs. The victim has no choice but to proceed into the digestive acids in the lower part of the pitcher.”

D’Amato’s web site, California Carnivores, offers plants and information to anyone interested in adding these gulping (and gulp-inducing) ones to their garden. Frankly, I don’t see my mother doing it any time soon, but I am pretty sure she is going to find this book as un-put-down-able as I did. 

Whether you are a dig-in-the-earth gardener or an armchair one, you will love The Savage Garden and Designing California Native Gardens. For all of us, gardeners or not, Tiny Game Hunting is the perfect practical book to have around the house. With spring in the air and the outdoors beckoning, now is an excellent time to grab these books and head for the soil.


Almost since her childhood days of
Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, 800 bookmarks and approximately 1,000 books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) and Book Publicists of Southern California. You can reach her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 
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