Lois Hole's Northern Flower Gardening Perennial Favorites: 100 Best for Cooler Climates

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Perennials are the plants for the 1990s; they’re experiencing a surge
in popularity not seen since the Depression of the 1930s. From the
thousands of perennials available in garden centres, this guide’s
author selected 100 plants on the basis of their being the least
demanding to grow, beautiful yet tough, and, above all, able to survive
Canada’s winters. Even with these restrictions, her selection includes
a variety of heights, blooming seasons, and colors. There are ground
covers, flowers suitable for cutting, bushlike plants, and towering
plants that reach five to eight feet.

The work includes a strong how-to section, an illustrated
“dictionary” of the 100 plants, and a wealth of lists. The how-to
material covers planning and planting perennial gardens and directions
for dividing different types of perennials. The lists are invaluable in
that they enable the gardener to successfully customize a perennial
garden to specific conditions and needs. There are lists of perennials
suitable for shady areas, wet spots, dry spots, acidic soil, alkaline
soil, for growing from seed, for planting in the spring, for rock
gardens, for dried flowers, for cut flowers, for fragrance, for ground
covers, for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies, to grow on slopes
or in filtered light. There are lists of plants by color of bloom, by
height, by length

of bloom. There’s a list of perennials that deer won’t eat and a
list of those with interesting foliage.

This copious cache of information—illustrated with color photos—is
only the start. The core of this remarkable guide is a section detailing
the 100 perennials. The plants are presented alphabetically by common
name, with two to four pages devoted to each. For each, there’s its
botanical name and other popular names, height, spread, bloom
characteristics, planting and growing information, recommended
varieties, general comments (including bits of history, traditions, and
nostalgia), helpful tips, and three or four color photos. The photos
include both a closeup and a broader view of the plant in a garden
setting.

This book is outstanding for both the quality and the quantity of
information it provides. It is beautiful to browse through and an
excellent reference work.