The Explorer's Garden: Rare and Unusual Perennials

by Hinkley, Daniel J.

• ISBN13: 9780881924268
• ISBN10: 0881924261
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-08-15
• Publisher: Workman Pub Co

Summary

The sophisticated gardener is forever in search of distinctive new plants not commonly found in gardens. This book describes and illustrates the most interesting perennials Dan Hinkley has encountered in his many travels around the world hunting plants in the wild.Awards for this book:American Horticultural Society Book Award New York Times Editor's Choice - Best Books for Gardeni

Table of Contents

Foreword	9	(4)
Roy Lancaster
Preface	13	(6)
Acknowledgments	19	(2)
Introduction	21	(6)
Chapter 1 Woodland Ranunculids: Anemone, Anemonella, Anemonopsis, Ranunculus, Trollius, and Glaucidium	27	(27)
Chapter 2 On the Vine: The Climbing Aconites	54	(6)
Chapter 3 Berries and Bugbanes: Actaea, Beesia, and Cimicifuga	60	(16)
Chapter 4 Hepatica: Liverworts and Island Treasures	76	(9)
Chapter 5 Beyond Frilly Filler: The Genus Thalictrum	85	(9)
Chapter 6 Berberidaceous Botany	94	(30)
Chapter 7 Corydalis: Jewels in Many Hues	124	(13)
Chapter 8 Woodland Poppies	137	(15)
Chapter 9 Rheums with a View: The Ornamental Rhubarbs	152	(12)
Chapter 10 Cuckoo for Cardamine: Cardamine, Pachyphragma, and Wasabia	164	(12)
Chapter 11 Triosteum	176	(4)
Chapter 12 The Herbaceous Aralias	180	(4)
Chapter 13 The Ubiquitous Umbellifers	184	(16)
Chapter 14 Herbaceous Hydrangeas: Cardiandra, Deinanthe, and Kirengeshoma	200	(8)
Chapter 15 Singular Saxifrages: Chrysosplenium, Mukdenia, and Peltoboykinia	208	(8)
Chapter 16 Bodacious Bounty: Rodgersia and Darmera	216	(10)
Chapter 17 The Prickly Rhubarbs: Gunnera	226	(7)
Chapter 18 The Lesser Lathyrus	233	(8)
Chapter 19 Far and Away from `Johnson's Blue': The Hardy Geraniums	241	(18)
Chapter 20 Shrieking Solanoids: Mandragora and Scopolia	259	(5)
Chapter 21 Starry Charms: Omphalodes and Myosotidium	264	(7)
Chapter 22 Comely Composites: Syneilesis and Ainsliaea	271	(5)
Chapter 23 Birthworts and Wild Gingers: Asarum and Saruma	276	(12)
Chapter 24 Enchanting Jacks: Arisaema and Pinellia	288	(20)
Chapter 25 The Wooded Lilies: Fairy Bells and Solomon's Seals	308	(34)
Chapter 26 Gargantuan Lilies: The Genus Cardiocrinum	342	(4)
Chapter 27 Boggy Beauties: Helonias and Heloniopsis	346	(2)
Chapter 28 Paris in the Springtime: The Genera Paris, Trillidium, and Scoliopus	348	(11)
U.S.D.A. Hardiness Zone Map	359	(1)
Mail-Order Sources of Plant Material	360	(3)
Glossary	363	(4)
Bibliography	367	(2)
Index	369

Excerpts

Few gardeners who have cultivated the edible rhubarb (Rheum xcultorum) can deny that they have admired the columns of white flowers unfurling in globular splendor in early summer. But homage to such things in the vegetable garden is generally bittersweet, often but a swan song of yet another spring gone by -- the end to a season of freshly picked and eaten produce. As a young gardener, in fact, I was taught to never let the blossoming stems emerge from our rather antique hand-me-down clump of "pie plant" that we grew on the far side of the vegetable patch. Advice well taken but, fortunately, not always heeded. I only recently began growing true Rheum palmatum, a species native to China and, in its typical white-flowered form, infrequently cultivated. Having brought this back from a collecting foray to England, I use the plant to good effect in my light woodland, where it produces gigantic, Gunnera-like foliage in matte green and erect flowering panicles of white rising to 6 ft. (1.8 m) or higher. Certainly the best-known of the ornamental rhubarbs is this species's red-flowering cultivar, R. palmatum 'Atrosanguineum'. With a flair for the dramatic, 'Atrosanguineum' awakens in early spring with ruby-red foliage, which conjures nothing short of pure, unadulterated anticipation for what is to come. As the jagged leaves unfurl to nearly 3 ft. (0.9 m) across, the reddish tints of the upper surfaces take on a patina of aged copper, while the undersurfaces retain an intensity of matte rose-red. I am held spellbound in the early days of May when the fresh, upwardly held leaves, backlit by sun, capture and illuminate a palette of arresting colors and textures. Yet the show has only just begun, as in early June a massive flowering stem heads skyward, carrying large, knobby buds sheathed with scarlet bracts. After the stems reach upward to 7 ft. (2.1 m), the buds unfurl to create an airy spectacle of crimson flowers with cerise overtones. If good seed set occurs, an additional season of interest continues with numerous glossy red, triangular fruit dangling from this treelike inflorescence, Several other selected cultivars of R. palmatum are available, including 'Red Herald' and 'Hadspen Crimson' (both by Eric Smith) and 'Red Select'. I should mention that the distinctive foliage shape and color is more a product of patience than of simply acquiring a good clone. Foliage on young plants is less lobed and less colorful than on mature specimens.