Books on Seed Starting and Plant Propagation

GSB01 Gardening with Heirloom Seeds
Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for a New Generation
Lynn Coulter

Paperback, 316 pages, 8 x 9, full-color photographs, full-color illustrations
University of North Carolina Press, June 2006, ISBN 0-8078-5680-0

Heirloom seeds are more than the promise of next summer's crookneck squash or jewel-colored zinnias. They're living antiques handed down from one generation to the next, a rich inheritance of flavor and beauty from long ago and, often, far away. They are sometimes better adapted to pests and harsh conditions than many modern varieties and often simply smell or taste better. Gardening with Heirloom Seeds serves as a resource for gardeners, cooks, and plant lovers of all levels of expertise who want to know more about finding, sharing, and propagating the seeds of heirloom flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
In these beautifully illustrated pages, Lynn Coulter describes fifty treasured heirloom species, from Frenchman's Darling, a flowering herb whose seeds were pocketed by Napoleon Bonaparte when he invaded Egypt in 1798, to Snow White beets, an old Dutch favorite that will not stain the cook's fingers red. Most of the plants included here will grow all across the United States; a few are best suited for warmer climates.
The text is sprinkled throughout with practical advice from heirloom gardeners and lists sources for finding the seeds of many old varieties. Because it also provides ample room for making notes, Gardening with Heirloom Seeds can be used year after year and can become an heirloom in its own right—a personal journal to pass along to the next generation of gardeners.
About the author: Lynn Coulter is a journalist and writer whose work has appeared in Delta Sky, Family Circle, Southern Living, and other publications. She lives with her husband and son in Georgia.

  $22.50

GSB05 Seeds of Fortune
A Gardening Dynasty
Sue Shephard, Foreword by Roy Lancaster

Hardcover, 300 pages + 16 color plates, 6 1/4 x 9 1/2, full-color illustrations, b&w photographs, b&w illustrations
Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-256-3

For fans of The Tulip and Orchid Fever, here is a captivating account of big business, adventure, and family intrigue in the horticultural world.
For over a century and across five generations, one Scottish family pioneered the introduction of hundreds of new plants into gardens, conservatories, and houses, and became the foremost European cultivators and hybridizers of their day. The story begins in 1768 when a Scotsman named John Veitch went to England to find his fortune, starting out as a gardener for the aristocracy. Realizing that horticultural mania had begun to spread throughout the population, Veitch and his wife opened a nursery and began to send the first commercial plant collectors to North and South America, Australia, India, Japan, China, and the South Seas. These plant collectors were among the first people allowed into the countries of the Far East and the tales of their travels—many of them perilous and some fatal—are wonderful adventure stories. Combining an historian's eye for detail with a flair for storytelling, Sue Shephard charts the fortunes of one family and through them tells the fascinating story of the modern garden.

  $29.95

GSB06 Take-Along Guides-Berries, Nuts and Seeds
Diane L. Burns, Illustrated by John F. McGee

Paperback, 48 pages, 8 1/2 x 8 1/2, full-color illustrations
NorthWord Books for Young Readers, ISBN 1-55971-573-1

Each book has descriptive text and color illustrations to aid in identification. Basic natural history information is also provided. Blank pages are included to use as a scrapbook of notes and drawings.

  $7.95

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For More Information on Germinating Seeds with Gibberellic Acid GA-3, get the book:
'Seed Germination, Theory and Practice', available for $20.00 postpaid:
Dr. Norman C. Deno, 139 Lenor Dr., State College, PA 16801. Describes testing 4000 species and gives pre-germination requirements, plus how to use GA-3.

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