SUMMER GARDENING
Warm greetings to you all. Because of the heat I'm going to give you a small list of books on gardening that the Citrus County Library has(or has ordered) so that you can have fun in your cool inside reading about what you'll do outside once it is cooler. Some of the books have a wait so you know that others in Citrus County are doing their reading while it is so hot outside.
Yes, one can do(and should do) some work here and there in the garden in the early morning or later in the day before the mosquitoes come out, but like the snowbound winter loving people who read their gardening catalogs in January, NOW is the time for the Florida person to do the reading.
The Floral City Library isn't listed as having any of these books, but they can get them for you if you put in a request---usually by the next day if the book isn't on a wait list. They'll call you when the book comes in to the FC library so that you don't have to drive to the Central Ridge or Homosassa Library to pick it up. I found these books by going to the Citrus County Library site and clicking Catalog then putting in Gardening for the search engine. There were MANY more, but just wanted to give you a few to picque your interest.
This book is on order but sounds great: Time-saving Gardener: Tips and Essential Tasks: Season by Season by Carolyn Hutchinson. Put your request in early for this one.
The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face by Barbara Ellis---one copy at Homosassa
Low Maintenance Garden by Jenny Hardy Wait is 5 days
Designing with Succulents by Debra Lee Baldwin Wait is 14 days
Hardscaping: How to Use Sstructures, Pathways, Patios, and Ornaments in Your Garden by Keith Davitt Two copies @ Central Ridge and Homosassa
Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainable in the Garden and Designed Landscape One copy at Central Ridge
Natural Florida Landscaping by Dan Walton Two copies@ Coastal and Homosassa
This one is for the gardener who enjoys mysteries, but the wait is 14 days---Death in the Orchid Garden, a Large Print book by Ann Ripley
Bird by Bird Gardening: The Ultimate Guide to Bring in Your Favorite Birds Year after Year by Sally Roth---Central Ridge Library
Monica Brandies has several gardening books out so just check her listings and you may find one that you like. She is a Florida writer who really knows her gardening.
There is an article in the National Gardener Summer magazine about Designing a Healing Garden. It mentions that viewing natural scenes decreases stress.
The article advises gardeners who may be making a healing garden that using the principles of design can help achieve the goal. Using simplicity, contrast and variety, Balance, whether symmetrical or asymmetrical, Emphasis(for a focal point), Sequence or transitional areas, and Proper scale.
Our club may or may not ever vote to create a Healing Garden, but perhaps we can all create our own healing garden whereever we garden utilizing all of the above principles as much as possible.
I saw a photo of my experiment with the masses of petunias and although they did very well for the spring, the hot summer did them in. Not sure just how well the alyssum and blue-eyed grass are doing for in the photo the weeds obscure everything else except the coontie. Naturally by my not being there to weed, feed, and water may have compromised my experiment, but for a while the MASS was lovely. Changing the mass to a more summer proof plant may just have been what was needed. Hope that your experiments are going well for you and that we can all share our findings when the club resumes in September.
That's all for now so happy reading, dreaming and weed free gardening. llb
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