DeLong is a long-time friend of mine. I've listened to her progress on this beautifully written resource for a while now through status updates on Facebook. Her labour pains have made me appreciate the birth of this book even more.
“Plants for Atlantic Gardens” profiles approximately 100 plants best suited for growing in our province's challenging climate.
The collection travels from Acer (maple) to Veronica (speedwell), with plants that some may view as native - therefore dismissing as common - including bayberry, bunchberry and ferns. However these have valuable attributes as well in the landscape as DeLong deftly describes.
On a windy hilltop in the community of Scott's Bay, she has tested the vast majority of these hardy subjects. Her gardening experience and curiosity traces back to her childhood in Newfoundland.
She recalls bringing her father a small dish of juniper berries she had picked, asking if they were blueberries. He pointed out the difference shortly after by taking her to pick the latter.
Personal experiences pepper this book as attractively as sub-headings like:
No Garden Bullies Allowed, and the Salt-Sprinkled Garden.
Recommended species and cultivars are suggested for every plant, and on the flip side, those to avoid.
DeLong is brutally honest with the drawbacks to some of the plants she chose to include. Take daylilies for instance: “Let's get the bad news out of the way to begin with: deer are very fond of them.”
But, she balances this nicely in the appendix by supplying a long list of deer resistant plants, in addition to other appendixes on drought-resistant plants, and those for moist or wet soil.
An extensive list of links to professional trade associations and horticultural associations is also supplied.
This book is admirably illustrated with 200 colour photos, hardiness map and contains further reading recommendations.
DeLong is the author of “The Atlantic Gardener's Greenbook”, writes regular gardening columns for the Chronicle Herald and is a gardening editor for Saltscapes magazine.
She is scheduled for a number of book signings and talks in the next few months.
The book launch is on Feb. 26 at the Telegraph Tea Room in Melvern Square near Kingston; she’ll be speaking at the Woodlawn Library in Dartmouth on March 10 at 7 p.m.; to the Dartmouth Horticultural Society on March 14; the St. Margaret's Bay garden club on March 16, the Brookfield garden club on March 22 and at Ouestville Perennials in West Pubnico on April 9.
“Plants for Atlantic Gardens” is a softcover, 252-page book, published by Nimbus Publishing. It retails for $29.95.
