Practical Guide to Gardening in Canada

Pleasance Crawford is a Canadian landscape and garden-history researcher
and writer, and the editor of Landscape Architectural Review.

This hefty book covers a broad range of gardening topics, including the
planning and designing of gardens, the selecting and cultivating of all
types of indoor and outdoor plants, the choosing of tried-and-true tools
and greenhouses, and the employing of sound horticultural techniques and
tricks of the trade. Included are sidebars on “Making a Watercourse
with Rigid Units,” “Testing Sweet Corn for Ripeness,” and other
inviting topics.

Though well organized and carefully illustrated, this is not the
perfect reference work for the Canadian gardener. The book began its
print life in England in 1992 as The Royal Horticultural Society
Encyclopedia of Gardening, and its English roots show. The eye quickly
senses that most of the photographs are English in origin. As for the
text, much of the know-how applies to gardeners on both continents. More
important, the lists of recommended plants include many cultivars
introduced (or at least widely available) in Canada.

The section entitled “Climate and the Garden,” however, provides
minimal Canadian content. There are two pages on cold and wind
protection and another two on gardening in different regions of Canada.
Such limited coverage of Canada’s vast range of horticultural
conditions is more amusing than informative.