Alpine Gardening Books

The first book you should add is Alpines: The Illustrated Dictionary by Clive Innes. Published in 1995, this book contains nearly 1000 outstanding photographs of alpine plants growing in native locations, in pots, and in rock gardens. The book is arranged alphabetically using the Latin names. Unfortunately, the common names for plants are not given. Therefore, an amateur gardener who doesn't know the Latin names would have difficulty finding these plants in their local nursery or garden center.

Innes provides a brief description of each plant illustrated. Here is an example of his descriptions:

Lapeirousia silenoides
Iridaceae

A short, cormous plant, to about 18 cm (7 1/2 in) tall, found in the wild in hilly country in Namaqualand, southern Africa. Each corm bears a single basal leaf, to 10 cm (4 in) in length, and a few caluline leaves. Flowers borne in early summer, zygomorphic, with a curved tube to 5 cm (2 1/2 in) long; upper segments magenta to cerise, central one hooded; the lower segments similarly coloured with yellow base and deep red spot. Needs rich, porous soil and full sun; keep dry during dormancy. Propagate from seed or cormlets.

If you find this description a bit difficult to understand, please don't be worried. There is a one page glossary with definitions of terms such as zygomorphic! This is a feature I use often when reading descriptions in any plant book. Innes also provides an index of syonyms and alternative names that is current as of the date of publication. Unfortunately, taxonomists (those people who name plants for a living) frequently make changes. It will always be important to check with plant societies and other sources to verify the correct Latin name for a plant. You may purchase this book online

Every gardener who grows from seeds, should add the book The Propagation of Alpine Plants and Dwarf Bulbs by Brian Halliwell to their book shelf (or perhaps I should say potting bench). Halliwell was the Assistant Curator of the Alpine and Herbaceous Plant Department at The Royal Botanic Gardens before his retirement. His many plant collecting expenditions and experience provide him with outstanding qualifications for writing a book of his nature.

The first part of the book, Techniques provides a detailed discussion of growing plants from seeds to maturity and a discussion of vegetative propagation techniques. The seed propagation section opens with a list of advantages and limitations of this method of propagation. He discusses many problems related to growing seeds, including infertile seeds, seed dormancy and chemical inhibitors that prevent seeds from germinating. Soil mixtures are suggested for seeds requiring various types of soils and provides some "soil recipes". In the section on vegetative propagation, line drawins are used to illustrate the various methods discussed. I found these two chapters to be an excellent review of a prior college course in greenhouse propagation methods.

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