If you’ve been gardening in the West for a while, you probably own an impressive stack of Sunset Western Garden Books. I have an entire shelf sagging under the strain of every edition I’ve owned – the first one carved on stone tablets. Sure, I have lots of other garden books, but when I’m in design mode, I reach for my “Sunset”.
So it was with childlike giddiness that I replied an emphatic “YES!” after receiving an invitation from Sunset to visit their headquarters while I was speaking at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show last week.
Left to right: Me, Theresa Loe, and Jayme Jenkins |
Hungry bloggers and staff prepare for a breakfast feast. |
I bummed a ride from Theresa Loe, co-executive producer of everyone’s favorite gardening show, Growing A Greener World, and Jayme Jenkins, founder of ahaModernLiving.com. We joined a dozen more garden bloggers and Sunset editors for a luscious breakfast in their fabled test kitchen. The menu: fresh berry smoothie, mouthwatering veggie frittata, orange and strawberry fruit salad, and (are you ready for this?) a slab of chocolate zucchini rum cake! (Chocolate cake for brekkies? One more reason to love these folks!) The menu was prepared from their new Sunset Edible Garden Cookbook, a how-to-grow-harvest-keep-cook book filled with ab fab recipes and gardening tips.
But the star of the event was the new The New Sunset Western Garden Book (Oxmoor House; 9th edition), which has retained the best features of past editions while infusing the new one with timely, savvy, earth-friendly information to help western region gardeners.
As a designer, I’ve always relied on Sunset’s solidly researched plant encyclopedia to help me choose the right plants for the right place. Those listings are still there, but with the bonus of color photos replacing the line drawings that populated previous editions. I was delighted to see that one of my frustrations with previous versions of the book – inconsistent information regarding the mature size of plants – has been addressed. One example is the detail lavished on New Zealand flax (Phormium), describing the shape, color, height, and spread of more than 30 species and hybrids.
Another indispensible feature that gets me through debilitating bouts of designer’s block is the thoroughly overhauled Plant Finder section: 27 lists spanning 78 pages. Each list, while not exhaustive, includes a robust sampling of plants to meet nearly every design situation. Divided into three sections, the lists include:
Problem-Solver Plants for challenging areas with lists for hedges, wind-resistance, patio trees, plants for beneath oaks, and more.
Earth-Friendly Plants are described as “plants that can help you garden more sustainably” and include, among others, plants for waterwise gardens, western natives, and those that attract beneficial insects.
Plants for Special Effects include fall foliage, fragrance, sculptural plants – my favorite new category – and even plants for moon gardens. (These are not plants for low gravity, airless, waterless, Earth-orbiting satellites – maybe in the next edition.)
But as they say on the late-night infomercials, “Wait! There’s MORE!” Don’t miss the wealth of sometimes-overlooked information in the Gardening Start to Finish section in the back of the book. It gives gardeners advice on how to plant, install, and maintain their gardens. It’s like getting a whole other book that’s chock full of planning, site preparation, growing, watering, fertilizing, and problem management info.
One last feature – and a caution: Don’t get too carried away with the Pronunciation Guide, unless you like being ostracized at garden parties as a know-it-all. I turned to the guide to bolster my stubborn attachment to the botanical pronunciation of lily turf. Alas, “they” were right and (dare I admit it in public?) I WAS WRONG! Liriope isn’t pronounced “LEER-ee-ope”, as I insisted; it really is “leer-EYE-oh-pee”! (I still think it’s dumb.)
Ya learn something new everyday; especially of you treat yourself to a copy of The New Sunset Western Garden Book.
Comments
Keep your philosophy basically conservative. This is mostly dependent upon the ability of the defensive group. [url=http://www.miumiutokkaja.com/]ミュウミュウ アウトレット[/url],Let's get extra bases if we could, yet there is not any motive we should n't have faith which our own members will bat us in (if these are doing their particular job).[url=http://www.yuumeigagauotti.com/]ガガミラノ 時計[/url], Football is actually a hitter's activity. [url=http://www.vivienneoutletshop.com/]ヴィヴィアンウエストウッド アウトレット[/url],In case the team is actually hitting properly, we need to have no complications running conservative bases. [url=http://www.katespadergirl.com/]ケイトスペード バッグ 新作[/url],Aggressiveness for the base paths needs to be inversely linked to how good the team is impacting. [url=http://www.seikouottijap.com/]セイコー seiko[/url],EX GIRLFRIEND OR BOYFRIEND: you simply won't see one of the ideal teams playing the game today stretching many doubles in triples. When you make base running mistakes we take the tansad out of our hitter's hands and fingers. [url=http://www.vivienneoutletshop.com/]ヴィヴィアンウエストウッド[/url],Who may have a robust arm? [url=http://www.katespadergirl.com/]http://www.katespadergirl.com/[/url],Who may have an accurate supply? How very well does the different team's cutoff program are doing work? [url=http://www.coachofftenpo.com/]コーチ バッグ メンズ[/url],The length of time could it be taking these to get the ball inside from outfield? [url=http://www.miumiutokkaja.com/]ミュウミュウ アウトレット[/url],These are generally just some of typically the questions a good base coach will be looking to answer for the reason that game moves along (as well because the remaining group, [url=http://www.coachofftenpo.com/]コーチ バッグ メンズ[/url],you never know once you will likely be bottom part coaching).
Keep in mind that providing often the ball with the outfield nothing at all can be done in order to avoid runners coming from advancing. [url=http://www.yuumeigagauotti.com/]ガガミラノ 時計 人気[/url],The quicker a soccer ball returns towards the infield, the sooner we can prevent such advancement.
The top pitchers individuals who will throw a new strike if they need to. [url=http://www.seikouottijap.com/]seiko 時計[/url],An effective pitcher is often one who throws a lot of balls, however has few strolls (it's called "challenging the particular hitters"). [url=http://www.vivienneoutletshop.com/]ヴィヴィアンウエストウッド バッグ[/url],However, any pitcher who may have no taking walks may be think of throwing too many attacks. [url=http://www.katespadergirl.com/]ケイトスペード 財布[/url],This will likely suggest he's not demanding often the hitters. [url=http://www.coachofftenpo.com/]コーチ 財布 新作[/url],Allowable limits for moves: 0 to 2 walks every game and taking walks with no a single on basic. [url=http://www.yuumeigagauotti.com/]ガガボール[/url],Inappropriate boundaries for strolls: walking typically the 9th, tenth, or 11th batters, guides with 1st basic occupied. Have a tendency ever argue with the umpire. It doesn't start a little bit of good. Just hurts an individual and the crew. A great umpire may consciously or even subconsciously get back at you and the team. As well as the umpire's subconscious are essential regarding influencing. [url=http://www.miumiutokkaja.com/]ミュウミュウ バッグ 新作 [/url],Like when you are playing baseball and the field is a limited strike or basketball, a good umpire may unknowingly look for clues whether or not the particular pitch was a strike or not.[url=http://www.seikouottijap.com/]セイコー ウオッチ[/url], The split second you choose you're not going to swing on the field, stop considering the idea.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in