It is a great honor for us that our book “Perennial vegetables: discover, grow, enjoy” was nominated for the year's garden book. The award went though today at the Book Fair opening to another publication, who deserves it more than. When I saw the mammoth work “Trees in urban landscapes” with related “City Trees dictionary” Henrik Sailor and Johan team Ballenstedt was on nomineringslistan I felt that it could not get anyone else to claim the winner.
Both books have been my summer reading, and although the books are about urban trees are a gold mine for the forest gardeners. The books fill many gaps that we have had and is probably the largest that has happened in the forest garden turns ago Martin Crawford wrote his book “Creating a Forest Garden” years 2010. The most valuable of the books is that they are written from a Swedish perspective, something that is largely absent in the currently available literature woodland garden.
The first book includes eight exhaustive chapters on both trees and how they work, and the city that habitat. Most valuable for me has chapters “Nature as a role model” and “Plant Management” been. Although chapter “understanding earth” is well written and organized educational for those who want to understand better what is happening below the surface and how it affects the vegetation. I “Nature as a role model” explained concepts of succession and the different strategies that trees have chosen to survive in the wild in an exemplary manner. Especially strategies around the establishment of trees and shrubs in the forest garden I have gained new insights about which I will share with you on this blog eventually.
The chapter plant management is underlined once again how important it is to not skimp with watering in the early years and it gives a good overview of the different flat qualities that can be found in nurseries, as well as the advantages and disadvantages which are, for example, bare rooted against container grown trees.
In the second book, “City Trees dictionary” described above 1000 different trees found or the authors should be in the urban environment. Although I am generally quite uninterested in plants that only has aesthetic values (because there are so many that are both beautiful and edible parts) I can not help but be carried away by the enthusiastic descriptions of ornamental trees very “beautiful expression” the authors diligently highlights. What I miss in the second volume are detailed tables where trees aggregate characteristics are summarized. Now I have to scroll to each plant, and read the text to see if it is hardy or not and whether it is a pioneer- or sekundärart. Speaking hardiness added it is also a bit too much focus on the trees that are hardy in cultivation zones I-II, but there is probably nothing that you can blame the writers for considering that they operate at Alnarp in southern Sweden.
Besides that both books will get points deducted for quite sloppy editing is a disadvantage books rather high price, round 450 kr per bok. Fortunately, there are those borrowing on 34 library around Sweden. Should you invest in one of them is clearly the first book that is sure to turn upside down on a lot of what you thought was true in the forestry horticulture!