The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Grasses
- Publisher
- TouchWood Editions
- Initial publish date
- Mar 2024
- Category
- Lawns, Canada, General
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781771514309
- Publish Date
- Mar 2024
- List Price
- $15.00
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781771514316
- Publish Date
- Apr 2024
- List Price
- $9.99
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Description
In the tenth book in the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series, lifelong gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau take on the very prairie subject of grasses.
Was ever there a prairie-er subject than grass? Important providers of habitat and food for numerous wildlife species, grasses also serve an integral role in erosion control. For the gardener they can open up a bounty of landscaping options, from the lawn to the pond. In the tenth installment of their popular gardening guide series, lifelong gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau give you the skinny on everything from sod to sedges and raking to rushes.
Following a primer on what exactly defines a grass, Sheryl and Janet take your questions on matters like clumpers vs spreaders, mulching and fertilizers, how to tackle problems like chinch bugs and fairy rings.
The pair dedicate a chapter to lawns, providing a wide selection of alternatives to the tried and true commercial lawn species and answer questions on raking, aerating, laying sod, mowing, and dealing with dogs and all the damage they seem hardwired to do.
Taking your questions on aquatic grasses, as well as edible species (like wheat, rye, and corn), and finishing up with a hall of fame of the best grasses for your every plan and purpose, the authors are sure to expand your knowledge on this truly homegrown topic!
About the authors
Janet Melrose is the co-author of the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series. She is a garden educator and consultant, and an advocate for Calgary’s Sustainable Local Food System. She is a life-long gardener and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate. She has a passion for Horticultural Therapy and facilitates numerous programs designed to integrate people marginalized by various disabilities into the larger community. She is a regular contributor to The Gardener for Canadian Climates magazine. She lives in Calgary where she runs her education and consulting company, Calgary’s Cottage Gardener.
Sheryl Normandeau is the co-author of the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series and author of The Little Prairie Book of Berries. A life-long gardener, she holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Certificate and is a freelance writer specializing in gardening writing with hundreds of articles published. She is a regular contributor The Gardener for Canadian Climates, The Prairie Garden Annual, Herb Quarterly, and many more. She lives in Calgary.
Excerpt: The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Grasses (by (author) Janet Melrose & Sheryl Normandeau)
INTRODUCTION
Grasses are a varied group. There are tall ones, short ones, ones that grow in water, and those that prefer dry land. Those that we walk on and those that we eat. Some are bulbs and most are not. Some have what we instantly recognize as flowers, but most do not. In short, they are as diverse a group as you could hope for.
Grasses serve many purposes in natural ecosystems and in our gardens. They provide habitat and food for wildlife and insects, and, in some cases, places to reproduce and raise young. Grasses can help with erosion control by providing a living cover. They beautify our spaces. Many grass species can tolerate drought in landscapes where water use is restricted. In The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Grasses, we explore the fascinating and complex world of grasses, from the turf (or turf alternatives) that make up your lawn to annual and perennial ornamental grasses that make statements in your garden as focal points, in borders, or planted in containers to showstopping effect. We even give you some ideas about grasses that you can eat!
Confidently designing a landscape that incorporates grasses takes a little inspiration and know-how, and we’re here to guide you through the whole process. And when it comes to caring for and maintaining your garden grasses, we offer useful tips that will lead you to success. Most importantly, we encourage you to have fun growing this exciting group of plants and experimenting with different varieties in your garden. Let’s get started! —SN&JM
SIDEBAR
Botanically speaking, as well as strictly speaking, grasses are relatively low, green, non-woody plants that belong to the 10,000-species strong grass family (Poaceae). Many definitions of what grasses are include members of the rushes (Juncaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae) families as they are closer botanically to Poaceae than other plant families.
The reason is because members of these families are all monocots, with distinct morphological differences from dicots, those plant families we usually favour for our gardens. A monocot seed contains an embryo with one cotyledon (seed leaf) instead of the two that dicot species have. Hence the names, monocotyledon and dicotyledon, or monocot and dicot for short. Monocots also have roots that are adventitious, developing from nodes, whereas dicot roots develop from a radicle root and branch out from there. Monocots are all fibrous rooted, but dicots have a taproot. Monocots have stamens and petals in groups of three; dicots have stamens and petals in groups of four or more. Leaves in monocots have parallel veins whereas dicots have leaves arranged in a network. Monocots seldom have secondary growth (widening of stems and roots, especially in woody species) but dicots usually do. There are other differences, but these are ones we can easily see and recognize. By the way, there are other monocots, ranging from orchids to lilies, palms to bananas, and asparagus to onions, but these plant families are not considered to be grasses.
All in all, about one quarter of all plant species are monocots. Not an insignificant number, and they are major contributors to the world’s biomass, not to mention sources of food for us humans as well as the rest of the animal kingdom.
So, for the purposes of this book, we have had to make some hard choices as to where to draw the line when talking about monocots, or the book would be twice as large! For us, as a definition, grasses (as an arbitrary line in the botanical sand) include those families and species that belong to the true grasses, along with rushes and sedges. We apologize to those monocots left behind (at least in this book).—JM
Editorial Reviews
Praise for the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series
"This guide to a very Prairie topic is a great resource for gardeners everywhere." —Quill & Quire
"Herbs offers highly local advice on how to grow herbs for your kitchen in our climate." —Savour Calgary
"This go-to paperback addresses many issues of perennial plants that will prove extremely useful to gardeners." —Calgary Horticultural Society
"Helping gardeners across the prairies succeed in growing food, flowers and everything in between." —Medicine Hat News
"Melrose and Normandeau answer all the questions that the two experts could think of when it came to horticulture on the prairies." —Edify Edmonton
“The Prairie Gardener’s series offers knowledgeable yet accessible answers to questions covering a broad range of topics to help you cultivate garden success. Get growing!” —Lorene Edwards Forkner, gardener and author of Color In and Out of the Garden
“This is a beautiful and incredibly well-written series of books on earth-friendly gardening. Lavishly illustrated, with photos in every segment, the books are a pleasure just to leaf through, but the accessible writing and level of expertise makes them essential to any gardener’s library. Although they’re geared to prairie gardeners, I found great information that transfers anywhere, including where I live, in the Sierra Foothills, and will enjoy them for years to come. Well-indexed, to help you find solutions to elusive problems. Highly recommended!” —Diane Miessler, certified permaculture designer and author of Grow Your Soil!
“All your gardening questions answered! Reading the Prairie Gardener’s series is like sitting down with your friendly local master gardener. Delivers practical guidance that will leave you feeling confident and inspired.” —Andrea Bellamy, author of Small-Space Vegetable Gardens
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