Stack Showcase > Gardening

Look to the Rose, by Sam McGredy.
"Born in Ireland Sam McGredy is the fourth generation of his family to grow roses commercially. He has become a household name in his adopted home, New Zealand. and has bred many popular new roses, including Peace, Sexy Rexy, Gold Medal, and Auckland Metro. This beautiful large book consists of delicately rendered watercolours of fifty roses with a facing page containing Sam McGredy's entertaining commentary. An apposite quote about roses heads each one,. Both authors clearly love their subject. As Joyce Blake writes in the foreword "Thank you, Sam, for so much beauty."

A flower for every day, by Margery Fish.
"A reissue of a gardening classic. Margery Fish, the famous gardening and cookery writer, contends that "there is no need for any garden to be dull and bare at any time of year, for even in winter there are flowers that will bring colour and shrubs that have berries or blossom. Good foliage helps the garden at any time, and when there is little else there is beauty in bare branches, skeletons and the pale dry leaves of a summer's glory"." (Amazon)

Handbook of gardening in New Zealand, by M. Murphy.
"The subtitle: with chapters on poultry and beekeeping" denotes that this book is about gardening and housekeeping of a different age. This is a lovely little volume, produced on velvety cream paper, with old-style vignettes at the head of and in the margin of each chapter. In fact the meticulous black and white drawings and charts are one of the delights of this book. It contains dissertations on the garden calendar, the home orchard, insect pests, the greenhouse, the afore-mentioned poultry-yard, and a chapter of useful hints. It contains useful tables which enable you to calculate the number of trees required to plant an acre of land, and the number of plants in a rod of land. In short it contains everything the new settler would need to manage his home garden or smallholding. Truly a "stack gem"."

Mushroom Growing at home, by Roy Genders.
"This little book was written by the English gardening expert Roy Genders in 1953 "in response to the 2000 letters I received after my television show and talk on Mushroom growing" He considered it to be the first book written for the home mushroom grower and wanted it to be helpful to those who wished to grow this delicious food at home, at a time when comparable foods (eggs and tomatoes) were dear, and at certain times of the year scarce. Detailed instructions are given here, but times change and things are probably simpler now."

Sissinghurst : the making of a garden, by Anne Scott-James.
"Anne Scott James' account of the planning, creation and fruition of Vita Sackville West's garden at Sissinghurst, Kent. This is a world-famous garden of outstanding beauty and thousands of visitors flock to it every year. There are many large colour books of the actual garden for gardeners and armchair gardeners to dream over, but this is an account of the history and nuts-and-bolts creation of it written by a noted English journalist and author of other of gardening books including "Gardening letters to my daughter"."

The charm of old Roses, By Nancy Steen.
"This book is a New Zealand classic. Nancy Steen is one of this country's foremost authorities on old roses. She and her husband turned their Remuera garden into a veritable dictionary of these plants. The title is well selected these flowers combine natural beauty with romantic history. It is astonishing that many of the old-world varieties are to be found in such a relatively new country, but Mrs Steen reveals that such was the sentimental attachment to these emblematic flowers that they were imported from the times of first European settlement by the whalers, missionaries, farmers and gold-miners. The fact that these still flourish in half-forgotten cemeteries demonstrates that the rose a constant reminder of home for the exiles. The Steens worked on their rose garden for twenty-one years, built up a magnificent library of old and new books on the subject, visited famous old rose gardens and horticultural libraries, and developed a unique collection of coloured photographs of the flower. Harry Wheatcroft has written the foreword to this volume, illustrating what an authoritative work it is." (Adapted from book cover)

Yates Garden Guide.
"It is fascinating to see the older editions of this quintessential New Zealand garden guide which many of us remember the older generations of our families using, and to see how fashions in gardens (and homes, fashion and book design) have changed. The ultra-neat manicured section of the post-war years has given way to a softer more natural look, and there are many more varieties of garden now, but the basic tenets of soil care, cultivation and propagation are still the same."

Driftwood in the home, by Florence M. Schaffer.
Yes! There was a time when people really did this!! And not just in America. Some of us can remember it here. This book features the most bizarre and amazing things made out of driftwood - not just tables, lamps and candelabras, baskets but bowls, planters and Christmas decorations. Worth a look for sheer nostalgia value alone - and the wreath made out of different coloured succulents looks rather nice.

Flowers for shows.
Many people still do this - exhibiting produce is an extremely popular pastime in New Zealand, particularly in country districts, as the laden benches at A & P shows testify. This little spiral-bound book lays out all the rules for exhibiting both flowers and vegetables, listing each species. It also contains the criteria for judging, including a colour wheel, and hints for exhibitors and judges.

A New Zealand gardener's notebook, by Barbara Matthews ; illustrated by Graeme Gash.
This a lovely large book for garden-lovers to browse through and savour. It is comprised of newspaper columns written on a seasonal matters by the popular and authoritative author, the daughter of a noted New Zealand gardening dynasty. Each month is introduced by a full-colour illustration of flower, shrub or tree coming into bloom at that time. Each page is adorned with meticulous line drawings by the talented Auckland artist Graeme Gash. Fashions in gardening come and go, but the major preoccupations remain the same - creating a beauty, choosing the right plants, caring for them and dealing with pests, diseases and the elements.