Recommended references?

[Tom Waters]

Hi all,

I'm not sure where to post this, and this seems as appropriate a board as any. I've been an avid gardener for many years, but am relatively new to the world of rock gardening and alpines. I read the SRGC journal from cover to cover, and enjoy it, but I also find it a bit overwhelming. There are so many different genera, and usually little is said about cultural requirements and practices. I was hoping to find a book or website with a broad selection of plants frequently used in rock gardening, with descriptions and cultural recommendations.

The searching I've done so far has not been very productive. There are books on specific genera and families, but the general/beginner books seem to focus on different types of rock gardens (scree, trough, berms, etc.) and their construction, rather than on specific plants and how to grow them. One book that seems to have the intention of being what I'm after is Rock Garden Plants: A Color Encyclopedia, but reviews I've read seem in agreement that the information on each plant is too brief and superficial to be of much value in learning how to grow them well.

Do such references exist, or does one learn by a combination of trial and error and using genus-specific references?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Tom

[Maggi Young]

Tom, I believe one of the secrets of the success of a Forum like this is the chance we have here to ask questions and discuss here the very points you seek in a reference book.  You are correct, there are not many books that cover the sort of information that you crave and we try here to respond as best we can to queries about cultivation etc of different plants.

It is always worth doing a s Forum search to see if a plant that interests you has been covered in this way, eith er in this forum or the 'previous incarnation' of SRGC Forum.

It is really tough to find any book that deals with a wide range of plants... as you say, most deal with a particular range or habitat and have the expected limitations of their format.

[David Nicholson]

Some books here I have found useful Tom.

"Bulbs for the Rock Garden" by Jack Elliott, Batsford, 1995  ISBN 0 7134 7424 8. often available quite cheaply, try the on-line bookshops. A little out of date nomenclature wise but a book by a "Master"

"Alpines in the Open Garden" same author, Batsford 1991 ISBN 0 7136 8100 4 same comments above apply

"A Guide to Rock Gardening, Richard Bird, Christopher Helm, 1990 ISBN 0 7470 0227 4 same comments as above apply

"A Manuel of Alpine and Rock Garden Plants" Christopher Grey-Wilson ed, 1989  ISBN 0 7470 1224 5 same comments as above apply

and a modern one

"The Rock Garden Plant Primer" Christopher Grey-Wilson, Timber Press 2009 ISBN ISBN 978 0 88192 928 7

[SusanS]

Hi Tom,

I am also in the process of learning more about the plants Darren and I grow.  The first book he recommended that I read was not a book on growing the plants but a dictionary of plant names.  At the time I thought this a little strange, but having started to learn what the names mean, it isn't as daft as it first sounds.  Some of the names give clues as to where the plant originally came from, what conditions it grows in in the wild, it's appearance or growth habit /rate.  This then translates into knowing what the plants need when in cultivation.  Not a fool proof technique but helpful.

Stearn's dictionary of plant names for gardeners - William T. Stearn,  Cassell Publishers Limited  ISBN 0-304-34149-5

There are so many books to chose from it is difficult to know where to start. 

Susan

[Tom Waters]

Thanks everyone!

David, your recommendations are just the sort of things I was looking for. Since they are out of print, they weren't showing up on the first few pages when I searched Amazon, but with the titles I was able to find online sources for all of them!

Maggi, the forum certainly is a tremendous resource. However, it is at its most useful when one has a specific question. I'm not at that point yet with most rock garden plants - I'm trying to get the big picture of what everything is, what is suitable for my location and what piques my interest. At this stage, I learn best by browsing a nice thick book!

Susan, very neat approach. I've studied botanical Latin for a long time, and indeed the names often convey a great deal!

Tom

[arisaema]

Tom,

I'm not sure the book you're looking for exists, cultivation advice is more often than not climate specific, "sunny and well-drained" in Nortern Europe may end up meaning "crispy and fried" in NM...

This one by Bob Nold might be useful if you don't already own it: High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-Hardy Dryland Plants

[Tom Waters]

Thanks! That looks like another good one for my part of the world. I have enough gardening experience that I'm comfortable "translating" advice from other climates to my own, but need some info about winter hardiness, water requirements, soil pH and such to get started.

[Tim Ingram]

Tom - a couple of my favourite books are 'Growing Alpines in Raised Beds, Troughs and Tufa' by Duncan Lowe published by the AGS in 1991 and the superb 'Rocky Mountain Alpines', proceedings of Alpines '86. The last part of this has articles by gardeners in many different parts of America and elsewhere. I don't know how easy it would be to get hold of but it is highly recommended.

[Lesley Cox]

I wouldn't disagree with any of the foregoing and there are great books mentioned there. But a good way to start is just to pick up a few dwarf-growing plants at your local nurseries or garden centres and plant them in any ordinary soil, provided it is not boggy. Many many pleants will respond well and generously and gradually you'll know what you want to grow more of and what will do well for you. Then the books and the Forum come into play for a bit of specialized knowledge.

I started alpine gardening way over 50 years ago by sitting on the front steps of the house that went with a tiny nursery while my mother looked around the plants for sale. I looked at what was growing around me and was immediately fascinated and then had a pile of (very) old AGS Bulletins dumped in my lap and was told to "have a look through those." By next day I had sent off a first sub to the AGS. I was just 16. But I had been gardening since the age of 5, starting with a square metre of garden and seedlings of pansies, Iceland poppies etc.

Now I look at this, I don't think it's answering your query at all. Go with the books mentioned. If you can find a copy, Will Ingwersen's "Manual of Alpine Plants" is very useful.

[David Shaw]

May | go to the bottom of the ladder and suggest the RHS Encyclopedia A-Z of Garden Plants - it give all the basics that you are asking for, Tom, and is my first reference point for simple information on a huge variety of plants. I actually have two copies - one, an old one in the potting shed and a less battered edition in the house. A significant, in terms of money and alpine information, step up from that is the AGS Encyclopedia of Alpines, now out of print, but is much more specific for alpine plants.

[Maggi Young]

The AGS intend to get their Encyclopedia online some time soon, or so we were told  at Alpines 2011.
That will be useful: if it is available to all and if the omissions and snafus contained in the original are ironed out for the online version.

[Tim Ingram]

To be honest I am with Lesley on Ingwersen's Manual of Alpine Plants. It was written by a great nurseryman who grew and sold plants and so had a good eye for what would do well in the garden but also a deep fascination with more unusual and rarely grown plants. When I started gardening this was my bible. I think the RHS and AGS Encyclopaedias, fantastic though they are, are rather overwhelming. The other good book I should have mentioned is Roy Elliott's, 'Alpine Gardening', which is beautifully written.

[David Shaw]

If we are going back to the good oldies how about Collectors Alpines by Royton Heath which mainly concentrates on plants for the alpine house or frames. Then there is my first ever alpine plant book, Anna Griffith's Collins Guide to Alpines and Rock Garden Plants. This served me well for many years and still gets referred to.