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Favorite garden books?

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I have a stack of gardening books that I keep handy in my living room.

I delve into the books for information to put into this blog or whenever I’m looking up a new plant and want to learn all about it before purchasing it, or in most cases after I’ve purchased it. Yes I’m an impulse plant purchaser.

I was wondering what kinds of gardening books my readers have at home? Here’s a list of what I have on hand:

  • Botanica’s Pocket – Annuals & Perennials
  • Ortho’s All about Azaleas, Camellias & Rhododendrons
  • 500 Popular Roses
  • 100 Easy to Grow native Plants for Canadian Gardens
  • The complete book of Garden Flowers
  • Readers Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening in Canada
  • Complete Guide to Gardening (Better Homes and Gardens)
  • Botanica – The illustrated A-Z of over 10,000 plants

I think I’ve got a good start to my collection. What do you have that I should be sure to get for myself?






Cardinal Flower

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Cardinal Flower

Lobelia cardinalis

Cardinal Flower The Cardinal flower is a striking red beauty that is named after the bright robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals. The brilliant tubular flowers extend along an erect stalk and last for weeks. Leaves are toothed, dark green, and an attractive foil for the flowers. Perfect for moist sites, along the edges of a stream, or where downspouts drain into the soil. It’s particularly attractive when planted at the edge of a woodland garden.

Maintenance and Requirements:

Moisture is the main requirement for cardinal flower – the soil cannot be allowed to dry out or the plant will most likely die. Give it nutrient-rich soil, acidic to neutral, in sun or partial shade. Don’t mulch the plant too heavily over winter, as the rosettes may rot.

Propagation:

Easy to start from seeds, which mature in autumn. Seeds need light to germinate, so sprinkle them on the soils surface; if growing in pots, water from the bottom, so seeds aren’t pushed into the soil by the force of the flow. Plants can be divided in spring or fall.

Good Companions:

For a show stopping late-summer combination, plant cardinal flower with white turtlehead (Chelone glabra). Or, with false hellebore (Verantrum viride), marsh fern (Thelypteris palustris), bone-set (Eupatorium perfoliatum), and great lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica).

Wildlife– Attracts Hummingbirds

Height: 2-4 feet (60 to 120 cm)

Blooming period: mid to late summer

Exposure: Full sun to partial shade

Moisture: moist to wet

Habitat: Wet Meadows

Range: Prairies and Northeast North America

Butterfly Weed

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Asclepias tuberosa
Native plant

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Height: 2-3 feet (60 to 90 cm)
Blooming period: mid-summer
Exposure: full sun to light shade
Moisture: dry to average; drought tolerant
Habitat: prairies and meadows
Range: Prairies and Northeastern areas of North America

Description: Butterfly weed is one of the top butterfly attracting plants around. If one of the goals of your garden is to attract butterflies then this plant is a must. Clusters of orange flowers are borne at the top of 2 to 3 foot (60 to 90 cm) stems; leaves are narrow and dark green. Plants get bushy if they’ve got lots of room and, if crowded, stay narrow, straining for the sun. The seed pods are also very striking, large pods (4 to 6 inches/ 10 to 12.5 cm).

Maintenance and Requirements:

Butterfly weed prefers well-drained soil and will tolerate a broad range of conditions, from sand to clay, slightly acidic to neutral soil. Don’t let young seedlings dry out, but once established, plants are very drought tolerant. Butterfly weed emerges quite late in the spring, so be careful not to cultivate around it, as it doesn’t like disturbance.

Propagation:

Easy to start from seeds, which mature in Autumn. When seedlings are of transplantable size, place them in their permanent home, as butterfly weed’s long taproot resents being moved. You can also divide rootstalk in early spring or fall.

Good Companions:

Butterfly weed looks wonderful with almost any summer-blooming prairie natives, especially Blazing star (Liatris spp.), Prairie phlox (phlox pilosa), and Leadplant (Amorpha canescens), but for something a bit different, try planting it at the edge of a woodland garden, in a place where it will get sun. Also looks great with June grass (Koeleria cristata), which grows in clumps 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) tall and has fuzzy, spiky seedheads.

Related Species:

Though the common milkweed (A. syriaca) is a much-maligned plant, many of the milkweed species are not only very controlled plants, but are also very good candidates for prairie and northeastern gardens. One of the most graceful is whorled milkweed (A. verticillata), which has very slender leaves and airy clusters of small white flowers for many weeks in the summer.

Wildlife:

Milkweeds are the larval host plant for the Monarch butterfly and also the Queen butterfly. Their nectar attracts many other butterfly species and bees.

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