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Cool Books for Cold Gardens

© Gary Buckley

For cool and cold climate gardeners alike, two new books are out which it was my delight to read. Infact, I was unable to sleep until I had read Graham's Alpine Plants of North America, twice.

Every so often, books come out written with passion and insight, both the following fall into this catagory.

So it is best I let you read extracts, so you too and see that these books will add a comfortable addition to your growing library. In the case of Portraits of Himalayan Flowers, the photography alone warrants it's purchase! Portraits of Himalayan Flowers Toshio Yoshida Foreword by Daniel J. Hinkley 0-88192-551-9, 124 pp, 108 color photos, 1 map, 7 7/8 x 11 5/8", hardcover, © 2002

This enchanting photo journal, filled with photography that makes one feels as though one is there; is the first pictorial book on Himalayan flowers covering the whole area from Pakistan and northwestern India through Tibet and Nepal to Bhutan. Large photos of diminutive flowers set in the backdrop of the large-scale surroundings of the Himalaya are supplemented by brief captions blending technical data from the author's field notes with personal observations. The result is a book that is as informative as it is inspiring.

Gentiana ornata After the long monsoon period has ended and the majority of plants have finished flowering, the glaciated distant peaks become visible in the clear blue sky, and the advent of drying winds brings colonies of this autumn gentian into bloom. The 5- to 10-cm-long flower stems rest on the ground with many narrow leaves; each stem bears a single flower 3-3.5 cm in diameter. The pale blue corolla has deep purple and yellowish stripes on the outside. The white pyramidal peak of Mt. Langtang Lirung (7245 m) can be seen in the upper part of the photo with a minor peak of Ghenge Liru (6581 m) at the left. 3 October 1988, near Laurebina, W of Gosainkund, alt. 3950 m, C Nepal.

Cypripedium tibeticum

On alpine pastures in strong sunshine and dry wind, the flower appears atop a young stem that is yet enfolded by young leaves and sometimes curved to suspend the heavy flowers with its bag-shaped lip laid on the ground. In shaded forest edges, as in this photo, the flower appears with developed stem and leaves, and is more vivid in shape and color. The plant measures 10-25 cm tall. Larger leaves are ovate to elliptic. 6-10 cm long. The flowers are solitary, dark purple to maroon, with yello-green striations among parallel veins on sepals and petals. The lip projects forward with a wide circular mouth. 16 June 1992, W of Laya, alt. 4000 m, N Bhutan.

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