From: Lee Poulsen <wpoulsen@pacbell.net>
Reply-To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: PBS Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [pbs] Garden Bulbs for the South, 2nd Ed.
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:43:06 -0800

Well, I just received my copy of Scott Ogden's Garden Bulbs for the
South, 2nd Edition, (Timber Press) yesterday and have now managed to
skim through as well as read a few sections. For all those who find
Thad Howard's Bulbs for Warm Climates a must-have reference, this
will be an indispensable complement to that. It's not quite twice as
many pages as the 1st Edition, and there are many more photos, that
are on the pages where the species are described, plus there seem to
be many more species in each family described, and in greater detail
it seems. For those who liked his almost story-like style of writing
in the 1st Edition, you will be disappointed by the new edition. I,
however, am not. That was the one thing about the 1st edition that
made it difficult for me to use; I had to read through the text to
find the description of a species I was looking for, and it was often
buried in the middle of a narrative about several different species.
This edition is much better about describing each species in a genus,
one by one. I also think he has done a good job of incorporating a
huge amount of new data and knowledge that he has accumulated over
the past 13 years since the 1st edition including the greatly
increased ability to hunt down many of these barely mentioned species
around the world and try them out (in Austin, Texas of all places, my
hometown!). I especially love how he tells the stories/origins of the
more well-known species or cultivars in each genus, including the
best guess on what the parent species are.

It's also one of the very few books that tells you what will and will
not grow in the sometimes difficult warm humid, as opposed to the
warm dry (mediterranean), regions. And it tells you how to get them
to grow and flower.

And it's very up to date. In his sources (which almost looks like he
stole it from Jim Shields website), he lists a number of nurseries of
members (or former members?) of this list like Kevin Preuss, Kelly
Irvin, Bill Welch, Roy Sachs, Russell Stafford, Tony Avent, Ellen
Hornig, Jim Shields, Diana Chapman, Cameron & Rhoda McMaster, Dirk
Wallace, Lauw de Jager, Dash Geoghegan, Paige Woodward, Rachel & Rod
Saunders, as well as listing the Pacific Bulb Society, Mary Sue
Ittner, and the list subscription email address!

He even describes how evergreen Hymenocallis seeds will sprout soon
after planting them, whereas deciduous species seeds will just sit
all winter until it gets warm again before they sprout...

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a

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