MaryAnne Spinner, Chicago Master Gardener

Every year at this time, we are bombarded with dozens of Top Ten holiday gift lists, recommending the hottest electronic gizmos, the coolest designer chocolates, and the warmest cashmere sweaters. Garden gift books eventually fall into the mix, but most of the time the recommendations rehash the old Tried and True category. So instead of recommending a slew of garden books that are on every media maven's list–hum-drum plant encyclopedias, compendiums on orchids, or variations on the theme of container gardening–here are a few ideas that are a tad out of the ordinary.

100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names, by Diana Wells (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 257 pages, $17.95)

From Abelia to Zinnia, this book provides a wealth of information and charming illustrations, delineating the origin of common and/or botanical flower names. Wells tells us that the Gardenia was named after Dr. Alexander Garden, who was celebrated in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1750's for "selflessly" vaccinating the population against smallpox. The origin of Datura, a deadly albeit lovely flower, is said to come from the Indian word dhat; Indian thugs used it to poison their enemies, and it was officially used to execute criminals. Snapdragon's botanical name, Antirrhinum, comes from the Greek anti (from) and rhin (nose), referring to the snout-like shape of that flower. But this book does not limit itself to etymological lessons; you'll glean some fascinating factoids about the mythology or history of flowers and their champions. For example, we are told that Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, created the tradition of wearing a boutonniere when he plucked a rose from his new bride's bouquet, split open his lapel, and stuck it in. And lovers of Phlox may be amused that Vita Sackville-West, famed for her gardens at Sissinghurst, was heard to say that this summer garden stalwart smelled like "pigsties".

Poems for Gardeners, edited by Germaine Greer (Virago Press, 250 pages, $14.00)

Yes, this is the same Germaine Greer of feminist fame. However, this anthology is not a political screed, but a collection of lovely poems that were chosen, as Ms. Greer says, because they "would mean more to gardeners than they would to people who don't garden." Represented poets span from the ancients to the moderns, and include Horace, Sylvia Plath, e.e. cummings, D. H. Lawrence, Emily Dickinson, and–of course–William Shakespeare. In her preface, Greer states that her goal was to find "a truth to the sensuous experience and emotion of gardening itself". To wit, this excerpt from "Gathering Leaves", by Robert Frost:

Spades take up leaves

No better than spoons,

And bags full of leaves,

Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise

Of rustling all day

Like rabbit and deer

Running away.

Greer annotates the anthology with a curious but interesting section of Notes, wherein we learn that Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) wrote in his poetry of the then-new technique of espaliering nectarines and peaches in England, and that the mountain nymph Daphne, pursued by Apollo, called on the gods for assistance and was metamorphosed into an evergreen tree.

A Brief History of Gardening, by Neil Fairbairn (Rodale, 256 pages, $30.00)

The author has created a fascinating world-wide horticultural timeline from 2.8 billion years ago–"Photosynthesizing plants grow, causing free oxygen to occur in the atmosphere"–to the present (digging in the garden provides as much cardiovascular exercise as playing doubles in tennis). In between, we read that Emperor Charlemagne dictated what his subjects could plant in the year 814, and find a recommendation from 1350 that ants should be suffocated with wet sawdust. We note that crabgrass was patented in 1849, and can bemoan the 1916 emergence in Riverton, New Jersey, of Japanese beetles, which had hitchhiked over the Pacific Ocean on the roots of imported Japanese shrubs the prior year. The accompanying illustrations and photographs for each gardening event in history are top-quality and often amusing, and the text itself is great stuff for trivia fans.

In Search of Great Plants, by Betty Earl (Cool Springs Press, 312 pages, $19.99)

Subtitled "The Insider's Guide to the Best Plants in the Midwest", this handy paperback surveys the author's choice of the best garden centers and nurseries in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. Each state has its own chapter with coded map, making this book very useful for your next trip to Door County, Galena, Lake Geneva, or St. Charles. You'll find the nuts and bolts for planning: hours, driving directions–complete with GPS coordinates–as well as pricing information, profiles of the owners, and recommendations for side trips in the immediate area. Each listing also includes mail order catalog information, for those not inclined to make a field trip. Earl details each venue's specialties, explaining what plants you can expect to find at a particular establishment. For example, fans of Hemerocallis will rejoice in the news that Shields Gardens in Westfield, Indiana, grows more than 500 varieties of named daylilies, while Clivia Creations in Union City, Michigan not only grows the eponymous plant, but also features 50 varieties of Oriental tree peonies. No need to fear that Earl's agenda may have been tainted by commercialism. Her recommendations are quite personal and independent, as I learned when I ordered a number of tropicals from the wonderful Cottage Gardens in Piasa (pronounced "PIE-a saw") in southern Illinois. When I placed my first order and mentioned this book, Chris Kelley, Cottage Garden's owner, hadn't a clue she was listed therein.

Outwitting Squirrels, by Bill Adler, Jr. (Chicago Review Press, 188 pages, $11.95)

50 Ways to Kill a Slug, by Sarah Ford (Hamlyn, 96 pages, $5.95)

These two slim volumes would make great stocking-stuffers for those special gardeners–meaning probably everyone you know–who wage a constant battle against critters taking big bites out of heirloom tomatoes or small chunks out of hostas. Adler's book, subtitled "101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Dramatically the Egregious Misappropriation of Seed from Your Birdfeeder by Squirrels", is a humorous but practical look at the habits of the Tree Rat and the many options for counter-attack. Chapter titles hint at his approach. These include: Know the Enemy–Everything a Bird Feeder Needs to Know About Squirrels, The Feline Menace, What to Do if You Think Squirrels are Cute, and Quitting. (We quit, the squirrel never does.) You'll learn that gray squirrels eat at least their entire body weight in food each week (and, as Adler wryly notes, just let one of us try that!), have a 7-foot long digestive track, and may or may not be deterred by the ne plus ultra of anti-squirrel weaponry, Nixalite. On the slug front, even a squirrel would be jealous of Arion lusitanicus, the Spanish slug, which can eat double its body weight in a single day, and has 27,000 teeth (who bothered to count them?). Ford discusses the various classic techniques for eliminating these terrestrial gastropods–vinegar, warm soapy water, beer–then moves on to more esoteric (and hilarious) methods. She suggests befriending slug-eating plants, holding slug races (it's not the varmints themselves that compete, but small children you sucker into holding a slug-catching contest), creating a slug playhouse out of grapefruit, trapping the varmints with a vermiculite landslide, and making slug-suey or slug smoothies. (Don't ask, just buy the book!)

Worms Eat My Garbage, by Mary Appelhof (Flower Press, 162 pages, $12.95)

Unlike squirrels and slugs, worms are your garden's friends. Here is a concise description of this wonderful little book, as found on the quintessential worm lover's website, www.wormwoman.com: Worms Eat My Garbage is "the definitive guide to vermicomposting--a process using red worms to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich food for plants....Topics include different bins, what kind of worms to use, sex life of a worm, preparing worm beddings, how to meet the needs of the worms, what kinds of foods to feed the worms, harvesting worms, and making potting soil from the vermicompost produced." Appelhof (WormWoman herself) was considered the foremost expert in the field of vermiculture, and this little book is the bible of Wormdom, sure to please any gift recipient on your list. Oh–your friends don't already have a worm hostel or two in their basements? Here's your opportunity to make this a package holiday deal; go to the website and add a worm bin ($70 to 80, or follow the book's instructions on how to make your own) and a starter supply of two pounds of red worms (Eisenia fetida) for $34. If you don't believe that happiness is a fresh batch of worm castings for the garden, read this testimonial from my spouse, the Engineer: "When I was growing up, we never had any pets around the house. Now I have a thousand!"

The Most Beautiful Gardens in the World, by Alain Le Toquin and Jacques Bosset (Harry N. Abrams, 260 pages, $60.00)

My personal subtitle: The Most Beautiful Garden Book in the World. This is no stocking-stuffer (unless Godzilla is your holiday house-guest) but a large, heavy, coffee-table sort of tome, printed on expensive paper and lavishly photographed. It costs serious money, but is well-worth it for that very special gardener on your list (think significant other, or someone you owe). The author highlights over 30 gardens from Iran to New Zealand, and it's really hard to make it through this book without drooling or at least sighing wistfully. Le Toquin, a photographer who was formerly a specialist in ornithology and animal ecology at the Natural History Museum in Paris, captures the essence of these gardens in brilliant color and scope; many of the photographs are panoramic in nature with two-page pullouts. Featured gardens include some familiar names, like the tulip fields of The Keukenhof in the Netherlands, Singapore's spectacular National Orchid Garden, Sissinghurst in England, and the Huntington Botanical Gardens in California (see A Gardener's Place, 6/22/07 issue). But this gorgeous book also transports you to the classical gardens of Kyoto and Suzhou, to Peterhof in Russia with its myriad fountains, and to the Cardinal's Table of Villa Lante in Italy. Inspiration strikes with every page-turn, but I would dare any gardener/dreamer to get past the photographs of the Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh without thoughts of winning the lottery and booking the next flight to Morocco for a visit. Designed by painter Jacques Majorelle (son of the famous Art Nouveau cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle), and now owned by fashionista Yves Saint Laurent, this garden is a riot of cactus, tropical flowers and palm trees–400 varieties of palms–all framed by hardscape painted in that vivid and intense cobalt shade often called Moroccan Blue. Yes, this book is a splurge, but I'm sure you know someone who is worth it (including yourself!).

Do you have a gardening question? Email the Extension's Electronic Plant Clinic at rwolford@uiuc.edu, and our Master Gardeners will be glad to assist you.