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HOW TO GROW WILDFLOWERS AND WILD SHRUBS AND TREES IN YOUR OWN GARDEN by Hal Bruce

HOW TO GROW WILDFLOWERS AND WILD SHRUBS AND TREES IN YOUR OWN GARDEN

By

Pub Date: Feb. 1st, 1976
Publisher: Knopf

The title is, happily, misleading; this is no trowel-and-frame manual on how deep to dig or how soon to prune, but rather a pleasurable exhibit of plants which too often waste their sweetness on our suburban backlots and shrinking wilds. The author's plant selections are mainly confined to the eastern half of the country--trees and flowers in various environments. ""Nature,"" he insists, ""is the greatest gardener of all."" Color combinations, for example, along a New Jersey roadside--Swamp Milkweed, Joe-pye, Boneset and Flat-top Goldenrod--are ""varied but pleasing,"" and there is a balance of order and disorder. Bruce sadly observes the Daniel Boone syndrome--the urge to ""clear"" the land: houses squat in ""perfect squares or rectangles hacked out of the forest,"" a few trees are left for shade or done away with altogether, and exotic, not native, plants are brought in. Throughout there are appreciations of generally hardy wild plants with casual tips on planting or transplanting. With 22 pages of color photographs, this is for those who prefer a lusty dandelion to an acre of Astroturf.