February Meeting

Our new president Ruth Hartsell opened the meeting with a review of the planning meeting. (Pick up your 2009 Member Guide for the schedule at the next meeting, or contact the editor if you wished to have yours mailed to you.)

The topic for the meeting was "My Favorite Gardening Book." Everyone brought at least one favorite book to share:

Chick's favorite is The Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants by Steven M. Still (who happened to be a former classmate of Bruce's). She likes it because it is so thorough and very descriptive.

Bruce's choices are The Hosta Handbook by Mark Zilis and An Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials by George Schmid. The first is a nice reference manual to take into the garden with you, but unfortunately it is out of print; and the second is also very informative.

Sandy likes books with pretty pictures, but one of her favorites has no pictures at all--The Midwest Gardener's Book of Lists by Susan McClure. It covers everything--all plants in all conditions. She also brought in June Hutson's book Annual Gardening and The American Horticulture Society Encyclopedia of Garden Plants by Christopher Brickell.

Ruth H.'s pick is very similar. The American Horticulture Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants features 15,000 plants and 6,000 photos.

Maggie T. brought in the first gardening book she purchased. Published in 1955, House and Garden's New Complete Book of Gardens has lots of ideas that Maggie liked. Another favorite is Secret Gardens - Creating Romantic Retreats by Alan Toogood.

Rosemary took a different approach with her choice and shared Beverly Nichols' book The Gift of a Garden or Some Flowers Remembered. It tells the story of a gardening adventure--building a pond, ending up with a small mountain of soil and turning it into a rock garden. Rosemary found it very entertaining.

Maggie D. brought in two newly purchased books she thought may become favorites: Creating and Planting Garden Troughs by Joyce Fingerut and Rex Murfitt and The Cook and the Gardener by Amanda Hesser. This book has a month by month story of a vegetable garden in France and of course is complete with seasonal recipes.

Lois likes Bulbs by John E. Bryan because it is so thorough.

My choices were Planning and Planting Rock Gardens by John Kelly because of the inspirational photos and it is a good overall book on rock gardens; Stonescaping by Jan Kowalczewski Whitner because I like playing with rocks and Missouri Wildflowers by Edgar Denison, a classic because I like native plants.

It was a fun and interesting evening.