Canadian Garden Words

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.

Bill Casselman loves to grab words as we utter them, pull them apart,
check out their family tree, intimidate them, and leave them gasping,
maybe even questioning their very right to exist in our language.

This is Casselman’s third book exploring Canadian words, an esoteric
field in which he has established a reputation as Canada’s designated
writer. Plant names have two sides—the awkward scientific nomenclature
and the poetic popular names. Would you prefer a bouquet of myosotis
sylvatica or forget-me-nots? Can you relate to icentra cucullaria as
well as to bleeding heart?

The names of annuals, perennials, bulbs, trees, herbs, and wildflowers
are under the author’s microscope, dissected by common name, genus,
family, and species. For most, the examination includes word lore, a few
paragraphs on history, myths, and odd bits of information relevant to
the plant or its name.

Like seed catalogues, this work is a refuge for armchair and off-season
gardeners. Casselman’s delight in the origins of words and word lore
is contagious. He has a homing instinct for anything that’s a bit rude
or crude, and he finds humor in the driest soil.

The book is illustrated with a generous sprinkling of woodcuts from the
15th to 18th centuries—a suitably cultural companion for the text.

While not as light as his previous works on words, this book still
allows humor and the unusual to surface at every opportunity. With the
widespread interest in gardening and the author’s growing reputation,
its popularity is assured.