The Harrowsmith Book of Fruit Trees

Susan Brown is a B.C. horticulturist, permaculture designer, and early
childhood education instructor.

Choosing and growing fruit trees for northern home gardens is the focus
of this new book by Harrowsmith’s gardening editor. Introductory
chapters offer information on site selection, planting, pruning,
pollination, grafting, espalier training, and environmentally friendly
disease and insect management. Separate chapters on cherries, apricots,
peaches, plums, pears, and apples follow. Unusual fruits, handling the
harvest, recipes, climate maps, record pages, purchase sources, a
glossary, and an index complete the book. Experienced northern and
maritime fruit growers and researchers recommend fruit varieties for
their own area for each of the fruit kinds.

My praise is high for the special contribution this book makes to
northern regional fruit culture. There is only one other
Canadian-oriented book known to me that can guide the nonprofessional in
choosing fruit trees that will thrive in zones harsher than the
commercial fruit belts. The combination of Bennett’s learnings with
those of the dozen or so consultants results in a lot of very specific,
accurate, relevant, and up-to-date information.

My greatest delight is the attention given to our very hardiest fruit
trees: the prairie hardy apple crabs, the “prairie” plums, bush
cherries, cherry plums, hardy pears, and apricots bred from crosses with
central Asian and native species.

My second-greatest delight is the attention to evaluating tree fruit
rootstocks. This information is often poorly available to the
nonspecialist.

The graphics are the only weak element in this book. Full-color
photographs adorn most of the large-format pages but only loosely relate
to the text. Few reach their full potential to inform.

Years of disappointment may be avoided by consulting The Harrowsmith
Book of Fruit Trees before purchasing in a garden centre. Without
hesitation, here is a book for all Canadian public libraries.