Perhaps, though it was Chinese wormwood, A. apaiacea, which may grow to a vigorous five feet.  The whole plant has been used in the China to treat dysentery, malaria, dizziness, night sweats and nose bleeds, while the flowers alone are said to be effective for rheumatism, lumbago and headache.  Not that common mugwort was ignored in China.  The foliage found its place in treating headaches, to staunch bleeding and relieve asthma, headaches and swellings.  Other species utilize to this day in China include A. argvi, A. capillaries as well as A. annua, or qing-guo, more familiar in the West as “sweet wormwood” or simply a “annual wormwood.”

            Annual wormwood, A annua, has also found wide use in Western herbal despite causing allergic reaction.  It has been valued in treating colds, influenza, diarrhea, dysentery and various fevers, along with night sweats and flatulence.  The U.S. Army has also shown interest, according to Stephen Foster and James A Duke in Medicinal Plants (1990), for quinine and/or chloroquinine-resistant malaria.  Then there are those species either native to North America, or introduced by early European settlers.  Native silver sage, A. canadense, for example, is according to the famed herd catalogue, was used by “the Montana Indians as a general tonic, to restore hair and as a dermatological aid.”

            Ornamentally, several forms are unexpected for their widely admired grey to silver foliage.  In the perennial border, it is advisable to use these selections rather than their weeds bumptious cousins.  Silver King, A. lidoviciana “Silver King,” is a superb selection for sunny sited where height is no problem.  The somewhat sorter, a two feet or so A. l. “Silver Queen” is admirable in situations where a more compact form is called for.  Their dwarf, almost prostrate relation is that unsurpassingly lovely and appropriately named “Silver Mound,” A. schmidtiana.  So soft and silky does this appear it almost begs to be stoked.  But don’t let appearances fool you.  The is one tough plant sunny, well-drained soils where it can spread.  Choose companions any plants with blue flowers such as Companula or annual Browalia for sophisticated effect.

            The late James Beard said, “I believe that if I ever had to practice cannibalism, I might manage of there were enough tarragon around.”  That wonders culinary herb is in fact yet another Artemisia, to be precise, A. dracunculus sativa.  So what is that sold as tarragon in seed packages?  This is, in fact, Artemisia dracunculus dracunculoides, or Russian Tarragon, a vile and almost tasteless substitute masquerading as the real McCoy.  True French tarragon, the culinary form, is propagated by division.  Thus an almost positive test is if a tarragon plant is cheap, it is not the form James Beard swooned over.

            Finally, you can rely upon the inhabitants of Old Europe and, in particular, France when it comes to discovering intoxicating beverages.  Wormwood was used in the now notorious liqueur absinthe or Le Fee Verte.  It was a favoured tipple of such as Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Picasso and Hemingway.  Some at least were mentally by the potent potion.  Now with reduced wormwood it has become the drink of the “in crowd.”  Made in Czech Republic, the herb extract may be reduced, but there is enough alcoholic content to intoxicate an elephant at fifty paces.  Possibly you won’t see reputed Le Fee Verte, the green fairy, but very possible a pinkish pachyderm.    Oh well, absinthe, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder.

Rhodes for Every Eastern Garden

            Stroll out the front doors of Vancouver International Airport and a landscape lush with rhodendrons, azaleas and other ericaceous shrubs confronts you.  Take the bus to your downtown hotel and flanking the entrance chances where you will find planters filled with the same.  As is well known, British Columbians do this to leave their cousins from Eastern Canada foaming with frustrated envy.

            We need not be so, if we follow the advice proffered in the new book Rhododendrons and Azaleas by Geoff Bryant.  Here to a would-be Erica enthusiast’s delight is almost one hundred pages of solid advice, tips and background on these fascinating shrubs and small trees.  Better still, the book is generously illustrated with magnificent colour that have the additional advantages of being relevant to the text, not always a common finding in today’s massive market for gardening tomes.

            Botanically, if not horticulturally, azaleas are included with rhododendrons in the Ericaceae, the health or Erica family.  This contains a staggering 116 genera and perhaps 3,000 species of mainly shrubs.  Not a few others have found their way into cultivation, including Kalmia, Pieris and heathers as well as the Vaccinium, which supply us with blueberries and cranberries.  While found worldwide, from a gardener’s point of view, they are distinguished by demanding acidic soils.  Gardeners here at least also tend to regard azaleas as deciduous, dropping their leaves in winter, while rhododendrons stay evergreen year round.

            Hence soil and nutrition receive a full chapter of their own.  Here Bryant discusses the significance of pH, noting that rhododendrons prefer an acidic soil in the pH 4.5-5.5 range but will grow “perfectly satisfactorily” in soil with a pH as high as 6.6.  Raised beds of soil amended with quantities of Canadian peat moss, which is very acidic, along with pine needles and oak leaves are often recommended in south-central and south-western Ontario as well as other areas where soils are nearer to neutral, or pH 7.0.

            Climate also receives a chapter of its own.  British Columbians may aver that rhodos require the moist and moderate coastal climate.  True, some of these shrubs are intolerant of frost but then again others will take temperatures as low as –25C.  While the Coast Rhododendron is the state flower of Washington, West Virginia has chosen for theirs the Great Rhododendrons and the mountains of that state can be notoriously cold in winter.  There are even certain Kalmia that flourish naturally in the Ottawa region, proving that even such an area does not pose the problem of capital punishment for rhodos.

            Many of the troubles, as Bryant establishes, may be solved by accepting neighbours’ advice, viewing nearby parks and botanical gardens and checking with local nurseries and garden centres.  In south-central Ontario, Edwards Gardens, Leslie at Lawrence Avenues, Toronto, is home to a collection of over 1,000 plants from the Canadian Rhododendrons Society (Toronto Region contact((416) 239-8898 or (416) 422-2164).  Woodland Nurseries in Mississauga (2151 Camilla Rd; (905) 277-2961, catalogue $3.50) will whet your appetite with four acres of the plants in a woodland setting.  Not far away are the Rhododendrons Gardens on Shawnmarr Rd.  (905-279-4966) will also repay a visit.  St. Catharines also has an outstanding rhododendrons display at the Walker Botanical Gardens (109 St. Paul Crescent; (905) 683-2925), while Vineland Nurseries is worth a visit on the way there, or back, at 4540 martin Rd, Beamsville ((905) 562-4836, catalogue $1.50).

            The backbone of Geoff Bryant’s Rhododendrons and Azaleas lies in chapter 6: The Plants, and a vast and tempting selection he offers up here.  Size, flowering season, colour, fragrance and foliage will be the major considerations, overviewed in the previous chapter but what follows can be browsed through for hours on end.  Most usefully, Bryant has included each plant’s USDA hardiness zone.  Completing the book are sections on planting and maintenance, the latter including mulching, pathogens, pruning and feeding while concluding with a chapter on propagation, Bryant presuming the not unlikely scenario that he has made a complete convert of any reader of this highly recommended book.

Orchids Explained      

            Be warned before commencing to read I.D. James’ Orchids: An orchid growers adage is that when you get one, you have to get a second and third; then you have to move.  In China, orchids are symbols of man’s virtue, moral excellence and refinement.  Much the same could be said “Jim” James’ book on culturing members of this enormous botanical family, second largest only the Compositae.  Not since Orchids Simplified by Torontonian Henry Jaworski a decade ago has there been such a badly needed book.

            Novices will find delightful reassurances here: Orchids may indeed be the aristocrats of the horticultural world but they are not the exclusive hobby of the rich and famous.  Early in his book, James recommends in “Hints for Beginners” how to buy orchids, watering, fertilizing, pests and correct size pots as well as such sound suggestions as to visit other growers, joining orchid societies and using the Internet.  He also offers a short list of eight simple orchids for beginners while nothing that “not everybody will agree” with him.

            The renown Southern Ontario Orchid Society can be reached at (905) 822-5117 or (905) 845-5782.  Locally there are a growing number of orchid outlets but acknowledge must be given to that of Clargreen Gardens, 814 Southdown Rd, Mississauga (south of QEW, 905-822-0992).  Public collections for viewing are not common.  The southernmost of the six greenhouses that make up Allan Gardens indoor display has a modest collection of orchids (Carlton just east of Jarvis 416-392-0724) as does the Conservatory, Chinguacousy Park, Central Parks Dr., Brampton (905) 458-6555.

            Reducing a plethora of information must necessarily be a daunting chore.  James achieves this reduction by first concentrating on care before offering a separate chapter each on cattleyas, cymbidiums, dendrobiums, oncidiums, pathphiopedilums and phalaenopsis which are front rank subjects for orchid fanciers, but not forgetting “other,” which he allows a chapter of their own.  Unfortunately in a book of its size, it is perhaps unfair though to expect anything but the barest of historical bones in establishing a background for he fascinating plants.

            According to Dioscorides, the women of Thessaly used fresh orchid tubers to excite sexual desire in their partners but if they wished to discourage them they used an old tuber.  In the opening years of the twentieth-century, Eaton’s catalogue could still offer, through their pharmacy, such terrestrial tubers of native Ontario orchids, ripped from the wild.  These included many lady slipper orchids, now the provincial floral emblem of Prince Edward Island, while the related showy lady slipper is the state flower of Minnesota.  Fortunately such times have passed.  Today’s orchids are grown exclusively as ornamentals – with one major exception: the vanilla orchid.  According to a University of California study, the odour of vanilla is one of the world’s four favourite smells along with banana, peppermint and lemon.

            Those adventuresome enough to enter the orchid world will be joining many others.  James Jesus Angleton, CIA’s Counter-intelligence Chief, was also an orchidologist.  Boris Karloff had an apartment on the top floor of the Dakota where he grew orchids.  Michael Coppola was a Mafia orchids fancier who whiled away his year in prison 1962-63 raising them there.  Most recently, Lorne Michaels, producer of Saturday Night Live at NBC, always had orchids on his desk, while Cher (Cherilyn Sakistan) has a blue–black orchid tattooed in an extremely intimate place.  Zsa Zsa Gabor fed orchids to her spaniel, a gift from Charlie Chaplin, or so she claimed in One Lifetime Is Not Enough, leaving shuddering fanciers to say “orchids to you!”

            Your new passion for collecting orchids is correctly described as acridities, according to john Blowers writing in 1962.  Orchiditis had already been designated for an unpleasant male condition by the medical profession, as the unfortunate Canadian Tom Green discovered recently.  Orchidaceous on the other hand has been used to describe many an exotic feminine film star such as the beauteous Mexican Dolores del Rio of the 1930’s a far delightful association as far as hobbyists are concerned.

A Rainbow of Colour with Irises

            According to Greek mythology, Iris was the messenger of the gods, symbolized the rainbow on which she came down to Earth.  Perhaps a thousand years B.C., Homer was aware of the flower and it symbolism.  Iris, he describes, was a herald with golden wings and came running on the wind.  Canada’s own Lucy Maud Montgomery has numerous references to iris, particularly I. versicolour, in ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ set in her beloved Prince Edward Island and also writes of them in her journals kept on gardening far away for much of her life where she lived not far from Toronto.  

            Thanks to the hybridizing efforts of another great lady, Miss Isabelle Preston, along with other Canadians we have an affinity for these regal flowers.  It is a rare garden that does not have a least one clump flourishing with minimum attention.  However, Pamela McGeorge and Alison Nicoll want us to know there are more earthly delight awaiting us in the iris gardens and their new book, Irises, amply demonstrates this.  

            In fact, they say, Homer was beaten by 6,000 years, the Egyptian cultivating iris as long ago as 7,000 B.C.  They used the flower to adorn the sphinx and it appears in their rulers’ sceptres, “the trinity of its parts representing faith, wisdom and valour.”  Much later, the French King Louis VII took symbolized iris with him on the crusade, thus the Fleur de Louis, later corrupted to fleur-de-lis, or flower of lily.  Or at least that is one of several stories Pamela McGeorge and Alison recount in this excellent book  

            Iris, of course, has not only been used for ornamental or symbolic purposes but also in medicine.  They appear in the physic garden of the great St. Gall plan of a medieval monastery for Abbot Gozbert who ruled St. Gall from 816 to 836.  Indeed, as recently as the early 20^th century Lucy Maud Montgomery writes of boiling the bed sheets in orris root Anne of Ingleside (1936).  Orris, derived from the root of I. germanica, is still familiar today to all those who dabble in potpourris as a scent fixative.  Commercial perfumes, too: according to Cathy Newman: the framed Chanel No.5 contains iris, amongst other substances.  

         One of the most frustrating experiences for gardens though are iris that stubbornly refuse to bloom, but have excellent leaf growth.  The Iris team have short but useful checklist for bearded iris problems in this area.  These irises originated with I. germanica, offered incidentally in the Toronto Nursery catalogue of 1828, and popular with German florist.  It was in that country that hybridization commenced in earnest during the 1830’s, leading to today’s astounding offerings.  But McGeorge and Nicoll do not limit themselves to such.  They also have much to say – and illustrate – on other rhizonomous iris such a I. japonica, I ensata and I sibirica to name some of the most widely grown.  Then there are the bulbous iris, especially those that push through the frigid spring soil even before snowdrops, such as, I. reticulata and I. Danfordiae which also sell for such delightfully low priced bulbs every fall.

            The State Flower of Tennessee, iris has also attracted the attention of artists.  The leading US female painter of 20^th century, Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1994), famous for her flowers, five years before she died saw her ‘Dark Iris No.2’ sell for US $1.5 million.  And when it was sold for us $49 million in 1987, Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Irises’ achieved the fourth highest price ever paid for any painting.  Unfortunately the purchaser, Australian businessman Alan Bond, was unable to pay in full and in 1990 it was sold to J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, for an undisclosed sum, speculated to be anywhere from $35 to $60 million.

            If you have never visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington when the Iris is at its peak, usually about the first week of June, you just haven’t lived (Toronto line (905) 825-5040).  Then there is the Canadian Iris Society at (416) 225-1088 www.netcom.ca/!cris/CIS.html.  One of the places to contact for these fascinating perennials is McMillen’s Iris Gardens, RR#1, Norwich N0J 1P0 (519-468-6508; www.execulink.com/~iris) with $2 catalogue that list over 1,500 iris varieties.

A Host of Hydrangeas

            Despite an English superstition that, planted near the house, hydrangeas will stop your daughters from marrying, the royal richness of these flowers has attracted crown heads.  “On gala occasions,” Theo Aronson, wrote of Edward VII in The King in Love, “great pyramids of roses, hydrangeas and carnations decorated the main rooms” of royal residences.  When Peter Lawford married Patricia Kennedy, a hedge of white hydrangea ran the full length of the weddings party’s table.

            Hydrangeas, says Glyn Church in his books of the same name, “have an interesting history.”  Their arrival in our gardens is, he goes on, “includes heroics, deprivation, mystery and intrigue.”  The first hydrangea species introduced into gardens was the eastern North American H. arborescens, collected by the indefatigable John Bartram in the 1730’s.  Later, traveling in Georgia with his son, he discovered H. quercifolia.  A few years later this, the Swedish physician Carl Thunberg discovered what turned out to be two more hydrangeas in a load of Japanese hay: H. macrophyllum and H. serratum, thus kicking off the oriental sweepstakes for hydrangeas.

            Glyn Church trained England as a horticulturist, immigrated to New Zealand in 1977, and now operates a nursery specializing in rare plants at Oakura in that country …including a seven-acre garden featuring these versatile plants.  Technically and practically, he knows his subject well, as demonstrated in his new offering from the Canadian publisher Firefly.  Getting right down to it, he establishes that what we admire as the “flowers” of hydrangeas are in fact highly coloured sepals.  In most plants these modified leaf structures serve to protect the more showy blooms they enfold.  In hydrangeas though, as with poinsettias, the situation is reversed.

            Included also in the book Hydrangeas is an extensive chapter describing the different species and varieties.  This includes those forming shrubs as well as the climbing species, along with they’re near relative, the mouth-twisting Schizophragma hydrangeas.  The various H. paniculata come in for attention also, especially H. p. ‘Grandiflora’ familiar to most southern Ontario gardeners along with the ubiquitous H. arboresecens ‘Annabelle.’  Alas, the florists’ hydrangea, H. macrophylla, may just survive as a low bush planted out in our gardens here, but the winter cold will almost certainly kill the flower buds.  Coastal-dwelling British Columbians, as usual, will likely have better luck.

            With an extensive garden of these plants himself, Glyn Church has many landscaping suggestions.  Readers with heavily shaded gardens will find some of these especially valuable, although hydrangeas flourish just about everywhere.  Nor does he lose pace when describing soils, feeding mulching and watering, particularly the vexing question of pH.  There is also extensive information on another perennial query, that of pruning techniques.  Hydrangeas are comparatively pathogen free, but a short section covers possible pests and diseases along with predominantly cultural controls.

            In their current catalogue, Spring 2001, Gardenimport offer the climbing Japanese hydrangea vine Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Moonlight’, as well as S. h. ‘Rosea,’ a rarer pink version, in addition to the RHS award winning H. paniculata ‘Pink Diamond.’  Most local nurseries and garden centres offer a modest selection of hydrangeas hardy in our climate.  Perhaps though there is some occasions at least when it is inadvisable close to the house, at least if you reside in the pluvial British Nottinghamshire was scaring off the postman.  The plants luxuriant growth made the doorstep damp and slippery, causing the Royal Mail employee to twist his ankle.  Consequently, letters were marked “premises inaccessible,” much to the contempt of their intended recipient: “I’ve heard of postman being frightened off by rottweilers but never a plant.  You would think they were being confronted by a towering thorn bush or chased by a giant Triffid,” Dr. Brown said.

Happiness is a Hibiscus

            Beside the state flower of Hawaii, hibiscus blooms formed an important element in the social lives of the Pacific peoples, Jacqueline Walker, author of the new book Hibiscus tell us.  A bloom over the right ear indicated the wearer to be “single and seeking a love.”  But when worn over the left ear, the wearer already has a mate.  These spectacular flowers have also been used for shining shoes and the calyx of one species was used to produce jam in Australia.  Also the flowers have been used as dyes, inks, colouring for liquors and as a substitute for litmus paper, while bark from the bush makes an exceptionally strong cord.        

            These are from, in the main, the tropical hibiscus, or H. rosa-sinensis to be formal about it.  Numerous hybrids have been created over the years and Ms. Walker lists many of these.  Alas, most are likely to be unavailable in our northern greenhouses.  Seeing them in an open habitat necessitates travelling south.  One of the few places Canadians are likely to be able to view a superb collection of hibiscus is by visiting Florida.  The Fairchild Tropical Gardens, on Miami’s old Cutler Road, the largest tropical botanical gardens in the continental United States, features a separate hibiscus garden.  Founded in the late 1930’s by tax accountant and keep gardener Colonel Robert H. Montgomery, it is perhaps one of the few tangible benefits taxes have ever produced (10190 Old Cutler Road, Miami, Florida 33170 (305)-667-1651).

            Having returned from such tropical paradises as Florida, Hawaii or further afield, delving into Hibiscus will yield everything and then more on their care and culture.  There is even a complete chapter entitled “Tropical Hibiscus in Cold Climates.”  This covers such basics as potting soil mixed, watering, fertilizing, light requirements, humidity, pruning, reporting, mulching and even simple pest control emphasizing chemical-free methods.  Sondra Gotlieb may boast, as she once did, of taking care of a hibiscus for 10 years.  “It needs a bug blast every three weeks.  The stronger the better,” advised Ms. Gotlieb, wife of our former ambassador to the U.S., adding: “Actually the ones with health warnings on the can do the best job.”  Nowadays we know better and try to avoid such drastic action.  Anything to keep hibiscus, as Australian Ruth Silock says, “flaming and frillier.”  

            Many a Canadian garden already has a shrub that is decidedly hibiscus like, blooming in blues, pinks and white.  This is what playwright Eugene O’Neill was referring to in his Desire Under the Elms when he wrote: “Yew air my Rose o’ Sharon.”  H. syriacus is variously known as Althea, Hardy Hibiscus or Rose of Sharon.  Originating in China and Taiwan, Ms. Walker list over 30 popular hybrids some at least of which should be available in local nurseries and garden centres.  These shrubs or small trees grow at least six feet or almost two metres tall, although much bigger specimens are not unknown, particularly in the Beaches area of Toronto.  It must have been in that city a long time, as is listed in the Toronto Nursery catalogue of 1827.

            Supplies of the perennial Mallow, Rose Mallow or Swamp Hibiscus are never enough to fill each year’s demand.  H. machetes have enormous, eye-catching flowers on stems up to six feet tall.  The original home of these hardy hibiscuses is the southern United States, although one form, now very rare, has been recorded as far north as Canada.  Technically it is a “subshrub” that is treated like a perennial thriving as does O’Neill’s Rose o’ Sharon in sunny position with good, well-rained soil.  You may find these listed by your favourite nursery under the hybrid name of ‘Southern Belle.’

            Then there is an edible hibiscus which those entranced a Louisiana cuisine and elsewhere have sampled: H. esculentus.  Magnificent yellow blooms, each with a dark blotch at the centre eventually fades, dies back and produces a seed pod harvested while still green and immature, and known as okra.  Only the very hottest part of the garden is suitable for growing what are such annual shrubs in our northern climes.

            Hibiscus though, says Ms. Walker so accurately, “brings to mind palm-fringed islands, coral atolls and shaded verandahs.”  They are associated with romantic images and, as such has been exploited for tourism, resorts, real-estate companies, retirement villages and restaurants, she says, not to mention a hotel, a health spa and even a clothing label!  This indefatigable author even ran a check on the Internet – and came up with 997,940 entries for the world “hibiscus.”  Even Toronto, which likes to bill itself as “Canada’s Banana Belt,” features three business so-named, including the “Hibiscus Sports Bar & Night Spot” on Victoria Park Avenue, but that is it, at least for now.

Taking Off with Climbing Clematis  

            In the Victorian ‘language of flowers,’ clematis indicated, for reasons best be known to themselves, mental beauty.  Clematis viticella, was grown in 16^th-century England by the physician to Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.  This may, or may not, account for the common name of Virgin’s Bower.  It was used to cover arbours, pergolas, trellises, verandahs in late 18^th and early 19^th century gardens.  It is mentioned in William Custead’s Toronto Nursery catalogue of 1827.  A close cousin, C. vitalba, was known by country folk on account of the fall seedheads, as Old Man’s Beard.

            These thought are European representatives of, what Dr. Feltwell describes in ‘Clematis in their habitat,’ vines that extend around the Northern Hemisphere and even have representatives in Australia.  Thanks to man’s intervention we discover in the next section of Clematis for All Seasons that breeding has resulted in “700 different names of clematis commonly listed, abut one-tenth of which are synonyms …”

            Dr. Feltwell calls clematis “one of the most versatile groups of plants” and continues on to prove all the many gardens situations in which they can be utilized.  Certainly they are under-used in most city gardens or, for that matter Canadian gardens any and everywhere.  Like most vines they are ideal for constricted spaces, asking only some support to scramble skywards up a sunny wall or fence, although a few may tolerate more shaded positions.  Indeed, their marvellous camouflage and softening abilities are frequently overlooked.

            Perhaps their rumoured cultural finicalness is to blame.  But this is, as the ‘Growing Clematis’ sections proves, just that, an unfounded rumour and dastardly untruth.  While the heads may like sun, clematis enjoy keeping cool feet, in either existing shaded or that provided by associated planting of annuals, perennials or even low growing prostrate shrubs.  The hole should be backfilled with good soil and copious compost used to tamp it down, with more being added as the soil settles.  This is accomplished by a thorough soaking with plenty of water.  Interestingly, despite frequent advice to add a handful of garden lime when planting, and each season thereafter.  Dr. Feltwell eschews this idea.  He stresses though that clematis are “prodigious drinkers and will prosper with regular fertilizer and watering.”

            Pruning is a puzzlement for most people, for any plants, never mind the subject of this book.  Clematis for All Seasons divides these vines into their three traditional groups by flowering period, then continues on with when and how to prune, in a straightforward manner, modestly illustrated.  Included also are practical tips such as not to be in too much of a hurry to cut apparently dead wood which may surprisingly sprout into life if left.  The ‘Growing Clematis’ section concluded with the management of pests and diseases, again with excellent colour photographs.

            While Canadian hybridizer Frank Skinner spent some time with hardy clematis, resulting in such varieties as ‘Blue Bird,’ ‘Rosie O’Grady’ and C. macropetalata ‘White Swan,’ interest is clematis has waxed and waned in this country.  The Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington (Toronto line 905-825-5040) have an excellent clematis collection (680 Plains Rd W. Burlington).  Dr. Feltwell lists more than 4000 species and cultivars from around the world but unfortunately; at present at least, local nurseries and garden centres and something less than adventuresome.  We can only hope that this book jogs them out of their apparent apathy.

            Two of the most famed mail order suppliers, Cruickshanks and Gardenimport, both offer a fair range of clematis, both species and hybrids, in their current catalogues.  Cruickshanks, a venerable Canadian company, recently became part of the Indigo empire (www.indigo.ca) and a full selection is now carried at their Bay & Bloor store in Toronto, or one can order online.  Gardenimport, Box 760, Thornhill L3T 4A5 (www.gardenimport.com) offers four catalogues over two years for $5, and is also very highly recommended.  Toronto area customers can arrange to pick up orders direct and save shipping cost.  Clematis for All Seasons by John Feltwell (Toronto: Firefly Books ISBN 1-55209-283-6) $19.95.

Hot Hits from Firefly Books

            Background, garden and botanical classification and variety listings and descriptions accompany sold advice on general culture.  Puzzled about just how to prune your clematis?  John Feltwell has the answers, as the same horticultural expert known the difference between a geranium and a perlagonium.  Jacqueline Walker tells just how your hibiscus and Glyn Church the advantages of landscaping with hydrangeas.  Talking about iris may be like delivering the proverbial coals to Newcastle for Canadians, nerveless there are still many useful tips in the book of that name by Pamela McGeorge and Alison McNicoll.  While gardeners in coastal British Columbia revel in their rhododendrons, truth be told many will flourish in Eastern Canada also along with azaleas as can be discovered in Geoff Bryant’s book.  And growing those aristocrats of horticulture, members of the great family Orchidaceae is nothing like as difficult or time-consuming as commonly believed as one learns from I.D. James

            Although the list of gardens species or, for that matter, houseplants, is almost endless, these seven books cover many of those most frequently enquired about.  Whether seeking general cultural advice or more specifically in areas such as pathogen control all the books will prove useful.  It is noteworthy, in fact, that when it comes to dealing with various calamities that may – or may not – inflict the plants, the preference in most cases veers towards natural or physical controls rather reliance upon chemicals.

            Variety selections are also very thorough, although these books are all obviously written for the North American market as a whole, not merely to cover Canada.  In fact, while Dr. Feltwell apparently hails from the U.K., the other authors to reside in New Zealand and so offer fresh and valued insights into gardening worldwide.  Unfortunately, the resources lists are consequently not only added in the editorial process but are bound to disappoint, so limited are they.  But this to cavil over a couple of ages at most.

            These books will find a prominent place on any gardener’s bookshelf or, for that matter, on year around gift lists.  One can only hope that Firefly will find the notoriously fickle Canadian market worthwhile to continue supplying with yet more titles of a similar nature.  Those available now, and highly recommended, are:

·         Clematis for All Seasons by John Feltwell ($19.95)

·         Geraniums & Perlargoniums by John Feltwell ($19.95)

·         Hibiscus by Jacqueline Walker ($16.95)

·         Hydrangeas by Glyn Church ($16.95)

·         Irises By Pamela McGeorge and Alison Nicoll ($16.95)

·         Orchids By I. D. James ($16.95)

·         Rhododendrons and Azaleas by Geoff Bryant ($16.95)

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