It pays to read
It pays to read! I learned about Ben Dark‘s book, “The Grove” from the pages of a recent Gardens Illustrated magazine. As soon as I heard that Ben was a head gardener, I was hooked. The article’s book recommendation helped, too.
The Grove is an amazing book. It’s a nice seven-hour audio experience. Ben walks the same street all year and records his observations of people’s front gardens. The subtitle mentions 19.5 gardens, and only at the end of the book, we find out that the .5 garden is the one he would create if he lived there.
Common plants
Because he’s observing people’s front gardens, from the pavement, it’s not surprising that the book covers common twenty species like boxwood, rose, Wisteria, tulip, and Buddleja. And most of the species are well-known where I live, in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
So, you learn about the plants and some history. What I find especially helpful are the references to other gardeners and their books. A good bibliography at the end of a book can feel like finding a treasure. Ben has clearly done his research, so you’re guaranteed to learn something.
For example, I knew about boxwood blight, a disease that destroys boxwood. But I didn’t know there was also a moth that affected the plants.
Where I live, Buddleja shrubs are considered invasive. They have beautiful flower clusters, butterflies love them, and the shrub is easy to prune. I deadhead it by removing 3-4 sections from the top of each branch. But why is Buddleja so invasive? It’s because it has winged seeds.
Ben also tells us why grass plants are amazing. We step on them, and yet, they bounce back. They grow from meristems (growth points), so the whole growth process reminds you of toothpaste. Just press and more comes out. Until a new landscaper runs his mower off the lawn edge, and scalps the grass plants down to dirt, thereby eliminating the meristems. That’s why I teach new workers why we only remove the top third of every grass blade. The meristem is located in the bottom third, so if you cut below that, growth ends.
Grass scalping is the ultimate sin in lawn care.
Conclusion
The Grove is an excellent book: 5 stars! The narration is good, it’s well-researched and presented, and the whole idea of the book is amazing. You can learn a lot by observing common plant species in your neighborhood.
If you like plants, botany, biology, or gardening, this book is for you.
