{"id":1474,"date":"2006-05-02T03:59:00","date_gmt":"2006-05-02T03:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2014-10-01T03:44:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T03:44:22","slug":"books-for-plant-geeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=1474","title":{"rendered":"Books for plant geeks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/5615\/1846\/1600\/IMG_0054.1.jpg\"><span style=\"font-size:85%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/IMG_0054.1-130x300.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size:85%;\"> When I was a newly-minted master gardener I went out and bought two great reference books so that I would sound smart when answering questions on the helpline or during community events where we volunteer. My dear friend Debbie likes to tease me that I am never able to answer any of her gardening questions. She says that my answer is always the same, &#8220;but I don&#8217;t grow that.&#8221; Which is true; she and I have very different tastes in plant material.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:85%;\">I guess she thinks that I ought to know everything there is to know about plants. Th<a href=\"http:\/\/search.barnesandnoble.com\/booksearch\/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&amp;isbn=0881924040&amp;itm=2\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/dirr1.1.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>e fact is, most master gardeners are just people who have an interest in gardening and are willing to volunteer their time. We&#8217;re trained in certain aspects of horticulture, but we&#8217;re not expected to know everything. Most of us have a particular interest or area of expertise, but the rest of the time our answers come from books. Knowing where to find answers is important.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-size:85%;\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-size:85%;\">Two books I use often are &#8220;Dirr&#8217;s Hardy Trees and Shrubs&#8221; and its companion &#8220;Manual of Woody Landscape Plants&#8221;. Michael Dirr has many excellent horticulture titl<a href=\"http:\/\/search.barnesandnoble.com\/booksearch\/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&amp;isbn=0875637957&amp;TXT=Y&amp;itm=3\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/dirr2.1.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>es, but these are the most popular. The first contains lovely glossy photos and minimal information on care; the second volume is much more detailed (and intimidating) and includes info on propagation, culture, pests and diseases, and landscape value. It also includes Dirr&#8217;s personal comments and growing experiences with each species covered. His comments and growing tips are the most enjoyable part, in my opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a newly-minted master gardener I went out and bought two great reference books so that I would sound smart when answering questions on the helpline or during community events where we volunteer. My dear friend Debbie likes to tease me that I am never able to answer any of her gardening questions. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=1474\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Books for plant geeks<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}