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Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas



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1997
176 pp, 30 drawings
Paper: 
$21.00
0-87745-584-8
978-0-87745-584-4

“Gardeners new to Iowa and Iowans new to gardening will find Veronica Fowler's Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas a valuable resource. The monthly checklist provides suggestions and helpful, timely reminders for activities specific to Iowa's gardening season. Fowler's recommended 'bests' give new gardeners a place to start when planning their garden or landscape.”—Linda Naeve, Iowa State University Extension Horticulturist

Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas is filled with practical horticultural advice. Written in an easy-to-read, down-to-earth (no pun intended) style, Fowler's book should serve as a handy reference for all gardeners. The bits of information supplied by Federated Garden Club members from around Iowa are excellent in their content and, more important, engender the type of warm, friendly feeling in the reader that is created when gardeners 'talk plants.'”—Matthew S. Rosen, Horticulture Manager, City of Des Moines

On the East Coast, so the story goes, newcomers are asked where they come from; on the West Coast they are asked what they do for a living; in Iowa people ask them, “How's your garden doing?” Maybe this is not a true story, but it does epitomize the importance of gardening for Iowans, blessed as they are with the rich glacial soil so hospitable to corn and soybeans. Rural and urban Iowans alike start planning next summer's garden in midwinter, when their plots are still snow-covered and deep-frozen; by state fair time their trees, shrubs, vegetables—including the ubiquitous zucchini—and flowers are thriving. Veronica Fowler's month-by-month guide to gardening in Iowa is a concise, valuable resource for all novice and experienced gardeners.

Beginning in January, Fowler presents a monthly checklist to allow gardeners to prioritize seasonal tasks. Her winter chapters focus on garden design, cold-weather gardening, and starting plants from seeds; in spring she moves into soil preparation, shopping for plants, wildflower and rose cultivation, and lawn care basics; summer brings landscaping, flowers for cutting, and organic gardening; and fall involves cold frames, winter-harvest vegetables, forcing bulbs and perennials, trees and shrubs, and ground covers and vines best suited for Iowa's climate as well as information on mail-order suppliers, gardens to visit, where to go for help, and garden club memberships. Tips from some of the more than two thousand members of the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa round out this plentiful harvest of useful advice.

On a day in February when the wind chill is, well, chilling and the forecast calls for more of the same, the arrival of the first garden catalog of the season brings warmth to any gardener. Veronica Fowler's accessible, information-packed book will become part of every gardener's life both indoors and out.

Table of contents: 

Contents

Foreword

Preface

January

Checklist

Garden Design

Plant Hardiness in Iowa

Gardening by Mail

Gardening Records

 

February

Checklist

Cold-Weather Gardening

Starting Plants from Seeds

Basic Tools

 

March

Checklist

Preparing the Soil

Vegetable Gardening

Trees and Shrubs for Iowa

Pruning Basics

 

April

Checklist

Shopping for Plants

Best Perennials for Iowa

Herbs

Favorite Herbs and Their Uses

 

May

Checklist

Wildflowers for Iowa

Roses for Iowa

Rose Types

Lawn Care Basics

Plants in Containers

Shade Gardening

Plants That Thrive in Shade

 

June

Checklist

Healthy Plants

Edible Landscaping

Propagating Plants

 

July

Checklist

Watering

Renovating Your Landscape

Wildlife Control

 

August

Checklist

Spring-blooming Bulbs

Weeds

Flowers for Cutting

Best Cut Flowers

Organic Gardening

Fall Crops

 

September

Checklist

Cold Frames

Forcing Bulbs

Bringing Plants Indoors

 

October

Checklist

Fall-blooming Plants

Plants with Fall Color

 

November

Checklist

Compost

Dried Flowers

Flowers to Dry

 

December

Checklist

Winter Gardens

Gifts from the Garden

Resources

Best Bulbs and Perennials for Iowa

Best Trees and Shrubs for Iowa

Best Perennial Vines for Iowa

Best Ground Covers for Iowa

Mail-order Supply Companies

Iowa Gardens to Visit

Where to Go for Help

 

Index