By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I have read and enjoyed all of Amy Stewart's books from her first From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden to her most recent, Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities.  But I heard her speak for the first time on the 17th of this month at the excellent Annual Garden Seminar of the Master Gardeners of Orange County.

Turns out Stewart is as interesting in person as she is in print.  Low-key, drily funny, full of surprising facts told entertainingly.  If she comes to your area, don't miss her.  Check her speaking engagement calendar here.

Some tidbits from her book mentioned in her talk, which was based on Wicked Plants:

.  Rye ergot, a fungus that grows on rye, especially after wet winters, may have caused the deranged behavior that lead to the Salem witch trials.  The fungus causes wild hallucinations.

.  The ghastly symptoms of pellagra, a syndrome caused by a diet containing too much corn, could have inspired the myths of vampirism in Bram Stoker's Dracula --- pale skin that erupted in blisters when exposed to the sun, sleepless nights, an inability to eat normal food, and a morbid appearance just before death.

But the most important thing I learned from Amy's lecture was that Sago palms are one of the most toxic plants your pet may encounter.  All parts of the plant, but especially the seeds and leaves, contain carcinogens and neurotoxins. I was grateful to know this because there are Sago palms all over my neighborhood.  Now I know I need to be attentive when I take Lucy, my Cavalier, for her daily walks because she thinks everything is edible.

To find out what other plants that might be harmful to your pets' health, visit the ASPCA website.

You might also want to check out our article on dog-friendly landscaping.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I caught up with fellow Southern Cailfornia garden writer Debra Lee Baldwin between presentations at the Annual Garden Seminar of the Master Gardeners of Orange County on October 17.  (If you haven't gone to this seminar before, put it on your calendar for 2010; their roster of speakers is always excellent.)

Anyway, somehow Debra and I got onto the subject of photography.  And, more specifically, about magazines and books never showing anything but young, flawless flowers and plants.  Never any spots or fading or crinkled edges or other signs of age.  As if there weren't beauty in those stages, too.  (I know, I know, Sunset perpetuates this illusion, too.)

"You'd like my post on Gardening Gone Wild about Wabi-Sabi in the garden," said Debra in response to our conversation.  And so I did. If you're not familiar with the expression, here's how Debra defines "wabi-sabi" on her post--"the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in imperfection and transience."

Below are two photos from Debra's post.  I encourage you to check out the rest.

I also found out from Debra that her second book on succulents from Timber Press, which will be titled Succulent Container Gardens is coming out sooner than I expected.  It is targeted for a January release. 

Despite our conversation, don't expect many photos like the ones above in Debra's new book.  They're going to look like the one on the cover of her new book shown below.  Gorgeous and perfect.

Also check out this short article on Designing with Succulents written by Baldwin on our website.

By Julie Chai, Sunset associate garden editor

If you love Michael Pollan’s work as much as we do, you’ll want to see The Botany of Desire, a TV special based on Pollan’s book of the same name.

Focusing on four crops—apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes—the show explores how the plants may very well be exploiting us instead of the other way around. And it’s packed with interesting factoids. Some of my favorites (that won’t spoil anything for you if you’ve not read the book):

• Most apples in the wild aren’t sweet, and are basically inedible. (And Johnny Appleseed isn't quite the person you thought he was...)
• During the Dutch “tulip mania” in the 1600s, tulips were valuable commodities that signified wealth—bulbs of one variety cost $10 to 15 million each in today’s dollars.
• Cannabis extract was found in many over-the-counter medicines and was basically available anywhere before states starting outlawing it in the early 1900s.
• We might think we have a lot of choices between Idaho russet, Yukon gold, fingerling, and red potatoes. But in Peru, where spuds were first domesticated, people still cultivate more than 5,000 varieties.

The Botany of Desire airs on Wednesday, October 28 at 8 p.m. on PBS.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Okay, I lied.  When I posted about Susan Van Atta's new book, The Southern California Native Flower Garden recently, I said I had decided on a replacement planting plan.  I had the one on the left in mind.  But, as I said in the post, this is a hard book to put down, and now I like the combo on the right just as well.

So, what do you think experienced native growers? 

Shall I go with Plan A, on the left:  Oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), Heuchera maxima, and five-fingered fern (Adiantu aleuticum)?

Or Plan B, on the right:  Spicebush (Calycanthus occidentalis), Acalypha californica (California copperleaf), and Roger's Red grape?

I live in Sunset zone 24 and the area in question gets good morning sun and is in light shade in the afternoon.  I have silty loam soil.

Please advise.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

  I always thought tri-cut gardening books--the kind where you flip pages back and forth to see different plant combos together--were just gimmicks.  So when The Southern California Native Flower Garden, which uses that format, appeared in the mail, I was fairly skeptical, even though I know and trust the author.  But there's no harm in road testing it, I decided.  And I used the book as a planning tool to come up with some alternative vignettes for a section of my native garden I'm not pleased with.

I'm still road testing.  Not that the book hasn't been useful--it's great, in fact.  It's just that it makes research so much fun, I'm having a hard time putting it down even though I'm pretty sure I've already decided on my replacement vignette.

The book is set up with plant illustrations on the right.  Tall on the top, medium in the middle, and low on the bottom.  The illustrations also show exposure, water needs, peak interest period, habitat value, and--we like this--Sunset climate zones.  And, on the left, there's a plant profile.  Most of them include companion plantings.  Using these suggestions to create vignettes is a great way to begin getting acquainted with the book's format.

The more you use the book, the better you get at making the most of it, I'm finding.  For instance, at first I was just paying attention to make sure the plants I was combining needed the same amount of sun and water.  But, then, after awhile, without really setting out to, I began combining plants that had the same origin--woodland, coastal sage, etc.--and the combinations, not surprisingly, looked like they belonged together.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised this would be a great book.  I've seen and loved many a Susan Van Atta garden--several of which have appeared in Sunset's pages.  And I know Van Atta dearly loves native plants and that the 164 species she's chosen for this book have been thoroughly vetted.  It's just the format I was dubious about.  And, surprise, surprise, it's what I like best.

If you can't find the book at your usual sources, you can order it on-line directly from Gibbs Smith, the publisher.

Last week we relayed a story about very clever squirrels we'd come across in the book Squirrel Wars. And we promised to mail the book to anyone who could top the story.  I think Kirsten Begg has done it.  Here is her story:

"We thought we had finally thwarted our squirrels (and amused our cats at the same time) by installing a window-mounted bird feeder to a bay window.  It was 6-7 ft off the ground, the seed was covered by a plastic "roof", and there did not appear to be a squirrel in sight, just birds.

Then about 2 wks in, we hear a loud thud.  A squirrel had dropped off a second-story roof onto the bay window roof and had then dropped off (not always succesfully) onto the small roof on the bird feeder, an area maybe 3" x 10", which was only attached to the window with rubber suckers.

At which point, although nose-to-nose with my cats through the glass, the chubby squirrel would sit in the feeder undeterred by bangs on glass or any kind of attempt to scare it away.  He would chomp away until either the seed ran out or the feeder fell off the window, at which point he would be joined by all his squirrel friends.

It turned out to be easier to raid the window feeder than it was to attempt the 8 foot leap from atop a nearby tree to the top of our baffle-protected, pole-mounted bird feeder.

Incidentally,  they mastered that, too, landing on a tiny bar of wrought iron, not always successfully but successfully enough that it was attempted regularly."

Kirsten sent photos to prove her tale.  Squirrel Wars is headed her way.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

The gray squirrel, says George H. Harrison, author of Squirrel Wars: Backyard Wildlife Battles & How to Win Them, is public enemy number one when it comes to America's backyards.  It is, he says, the number one suspect in half of all unsolved fires, the acknowledged perpretrator in most nonweather-related power failures, the wire chomper responsible for twice bringing stock trades on the NASDAQ to a halt, and responsible for creating its own industry, the $4-million-a-year business in squirrel-proof bird feeders.

The cute little creature requires a lot of ingenuity to foil because he is persistent, intelligent, and skillful.  As this war story from Harrison's book illustrates.

"At the Schlitz Audubon Center in Milwaukee, a bird-seed study was to be conducted to determine the food preferences of the different species of birds in the area.  A dozen bird feeders were strung on a wire, each filled with a different kind of seed.  The study was immediately jeopardized by a horde of local gray squirrels that gobbled up the experimental seed before the birds could get to it. . ..

The Audubon researchers tried to foil the squirredls by stringing beads, coffee cans, and plastic milk bottles at both ends of the wire to keep the squirrels off the feeders.  That failing, they set up large plastic walls at both ends of the wire.  But the squirrels soon learned to leap over the plastic walls, land on the rolling coffee cans, and do their balancing act all the way to the feeders.  The birdseed experiment was abandoned."

Can you top this story?  If you can, I'll send you my copy of Squirrel Wars, which I ordered after a visitor to the Sunset Celebration Question & Answer booth recommended the book.  (It also covers rabbits, deer, skunk, chipmunks, bully birds like crows and starlings, and other wildlife challenges.)  Funny some years it's rabbits most complained about at the booth, often it is gophers, but this year, for some reason, squirrels were the troublemakers we heard the most complaints about.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

"One of the best ways to get your well-gloved hands around some large and venerable fishhook barrel cacti is to get salvaged specimens saved from the developer's blade," says Tucson garden writer and designer Scott Calhoun in his latest book, The Hot Garden: Landscape Design for the Desert Southwest.

A number of cactus and succulent societies have rescue programs in which volunteers scour properties slated for development to identify plants worthy of being saved.  Usually these volunteers can take home plants for a small fee in exchange for their labor. 

Contact the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society for details about their rescue program if you live in that area. To find other chapters of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America who might have similar programs, go to the CSSA website.

Photo by Scott Calhoun

Oh, and if you're lucky enough to nab one, here's a planting tip from Scott.  "When replanting salvaged plants, remember to orient the plant with its south side (which should be marked) pointing south."

And another fishhook barrel shot, from Scott, just because it's beautiful.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Writing a few days ago about the Owen Dell garden that won a Western Garden Design Award but failed to get photographed reminded me of this great book that's been on my desk for months.

In fact, if you happened to read that post, you'll recognize the garden on this cover of Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies.

Owen Dell, the Santa Barbara landscape architect who is the author of this book, has been into sustainable landscaping his whole career -- long before the term came into existence.  He's been preaching as well as practicing a long time, too -- lectures, workshops, even a regional television series, Garden Wise Guys, which you might call a sustainable-landscaping sitcom. 

Bottom line, he knows this subject thoroughly and is used to breaking down its complexities for those of us less versed.  He's put his heart and soul into this book, and it shows.  I highly recommend it.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

The San Diego Horticultural Society is such a large and active garden club that they have the power to lure in great speakers.  On June 8th they're doing it again.

George Little and David Lewis will be the guest speakers that night and their topic will be The Garden as Companion, the story of how their world-famous garden on an island in Puget Sound came to be.  It's a process, the two say, of letting the garden speak of what it wants to be.

Little and Lewis are both artists and collaborate in the creation of concrete sculptures, such as the ones shown here on the cover of the book they wrote about their garden.  (See Jim McCausland's review for more about A Garden Gallery.)

In their own garden, they've combined these pieces with bold-leafed architectural plants, zone-pushing tropicals, and water features to create a one-of-a-kind garden that has been photographed and published often and has attracted thousands of visitors.  I just bet they're going to present one heck of a great slide show.

Space for this event is limited, and the deadline for reservations is June 4.  You can reserve online or call 760/599-0550.