If you’re doing it right, a non-fiction book should take a good deal of time to research and write. The statement is also true for good, gripping, fiction, but the nature of many non-fiction books – as a thorough compilation of complex concepts, study, profiles, [often] photos, and conclusions laid out to be clearly understood, but not spoon-fed – means that time must be taken. Deep work must be done.
Good gardens and good books take time. (From The Complete Book of Groundcovers, by Gary Lewis, Timber Press)
Certainly the stretch of time taken is not necessarily proportional to the quality of the book – as authors can dither and procrastinate as much as the next person (guilty!); but in a digital age where tastes, trends and techniques change with the speed of TikTok, many authors working in the genre of gardening or horticulture are not even given a full year to finish a book lest the zeitgeist that inspired it is nowhere to be seen upon publication.
If they want to be as thorough as they originally envisioned, it’s not a bad idea to have a book fully researched and half-written by the time they sign on the dotted line. And to pray that the zeitgeist stays around for an after-dinner drink.
Whether we like it or not, trends and influencers sell books these days. And that can mean that the books that we all need and should be buying as gardeners – the deep dive reference books written by true experts in their fields – are often sidelined for sexier topics and short reads.
This is presumably one of the reasons why AHS award-winning books like Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide by Cole Burrell and the late Judith Tyler has not only, not been expanded and re-released to include the last decade’s revolutionary breeding in outfacing hybrids; but is out of print. A missing link for gardeners who would like that information from experts, not marketers. Timber if you’re reading this, gardeners need that book.
But enough of my cynical theories. Instead, I want to focus on my delight in finding out that in the midst of this changing marketplace, real time – deep work time – is still occasionally given; and the resulting book is indeed worthy of taking up precious space on my shelves. Plantsmen like Dan Hinkley, Tony Avent, and Panayoti Kelaidis agree.
The book is The Complete Book of Ground Covers: 4000 Plants That Reduce Maintenance, Control Erosion, and Beautify the Landscape by Gary Lewis; and over dinner at a Perennial Plant Conference in Pennsylvania last August I got a chance to talk to him about the book that took him nine years to write.
The Complete Book of Groundcovers, by Gary Lewis, Timber Press
Nine years to write? What is this, the olden days?
Even I can recognize that nine years is probably a year or two too many, but Lewis is an incredibly busy man intensively working with the plants he’s writing about. His original contract specified a generous three years, but each time the sword was due to drop, he was granted an extension presumably justified by his expertise, his vision, and his schedule.
The author, Gary Lewis. (From The Complete Book of Groundcovers, by Gary Lewis, Timber Press)
He’s the owner of successful retail and mail order nursery Phoenix Perennials in Richmond, British Columbia, and has many articles, talks, radio, and TV appearances to his name. Each year his nursery offers over 5000 plants to its walk-in customers and well over half that to online customers in Canada.
So yes, he’s busy. He also wanted to write the book himself, and not have it ghost written (you’d be surprised how much of that goes on). But most importantly, he wanted to compile an encyclopedia, something that will inform gardeners all over the world now, and twenty years hence.
(As long as the taxonomists cool their jets, that is.)
From The Complete Book of Groundcovers, by Gary Lewis, Timber Press
A reference for the bookshelf or bedside table
That goal of long-term reference is patently obvious in The Complete Book of Ground Covers, which does not make constant reference to, or provide apologies for, the listing of some invasive species, whose regionally subjective status changes by the day and by the region; but instead takes a common sense approach that discusses the definition and currently understood threat of invasive species early on in the text, urges readers to check with their local organizations as to status, and then gets on with it – pointing out aggressive tendencies in specific taxa if they exist. Remember when we used to do that?
High density planting is perhaps the ultimate groundcover – the ‘less mulch, more plants’ model – and Lewis picks up this baton and runs with it, moving beyond simple traditional ideas of ‘groundcover plants’. He lists species in such genera as Clematis, Euphorbia, Parthenocissus, etc. which will challenge the gardener looking for that low mat of something green to expand their box and include plants 12-18 inches high whose spread is at least double their height; or which work as well clambering along the ground as they do pulling themselves up a structure. Taller species are also included when they represent further options for genera already mentioned, in deference to those with larger properties.
From The Complete Book of Groundcovers, by Gary Lewis, Timber Press
For many genera, several species are listed. Others, only one. Regardless, each genus is given a family and common name reference, USDA heat zone hardiness, cultivation requirements, use in the landscape suggestions, and as a big bonus for the plant nerds out there – best propagation methods. Lewis also lists many of the most popular new cultivars that you’re likely to come across in your local nursery.
From The Complete Book of Groundcovers, by Gary Lewis, Timber Press
The photos are excellent and accurately convey the information you need, as well as the beauty that keeps you turning pages (that’s a tough dance sometimes); and with a few minor exceptions, they are shot by the author, which probably accounts for at least one of those contract extensions. Those photos make it both an idea book for an idle hour daydreaming, and a serious reference for serious gardeners.
Hooray for patience in publishing
Books, as Cool Springs Press acquisitions editor Jessica Walliser once said, represent a deep dive into a subject rather than a day at the internet seaside. Both wonderful, both very different. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to the trouble of buying scuba gear and renting a boat, I want the option of going as deep as my tanks will take me. Lewis’ The Complete Book of Ground Covers is that dive.
Bravo Timber for your extreme patience, and let’s see more books of the same quality for the gardeners that need them to get better at what they do. And to the gardeners out there: Please. Buy. Books. We can’t expect the publishing industry to flourish and support us if we don’t support it. – MW
The Complete Book of Ground Covers: 4000 Plants That Reduce Maintenance, Control Erosion, and Beautify the Landscape. By Gary Lewis. Timber Press. 455 pages. October 2022.
periwinkle.. one word.. periwinkle.. the best ground cover ever! No more buying, lugging, spreading mulch. Periwinkle does not climb up trees like ivy.. my unruly child. Periwinkle does not need trimming. It survives winters in Virginia and doesn’t need a lot of water. And it even has a lovely blue flower! What more could you want?
I need this book. Can you fix the link above so it links to Timber Press, not Amazon please. Thanks
Done! – MW
I d’in’t think a book review could be this entertaining. I wuz wrong! Nice job, M!
Do you really scuba dive?
Thanks John. Trying my best to bring people back to books ! As for the scuba diving – only recreationally. – MW
A nice review that should sell at least a few copies of the book. By the way, there is a reason why books go out of print: they aren’t selling. And this is probably true of the vast majority of gardening books published each year. Taking ‘Hellebores’ as an example, the book (which is something of a bible to me, with my plantings of hundreds of hellebores) tells you all you really need to know about growing the plants and about their historical background. It’s true that since its publication there have been advances in hybridization and propagation of hellebores, but do they justify a new edition? I think not. Writing garden books is a mug’s game. Most of them may repay whatever advance their authors got but sales inevitably decline soon thereafter. Spending years and years researching and writing one is not an economically sound proposition, if your time is worth anything. I wrote a garden book that was published back some 20 years ago, and spent less than a year on it. I was able to write nearly all of it just out of my head because of decades of experience with the subject. The book repaid its advance but then generated only a pittance in royalties, despite a second paperback edition; it is now out of print. Readers urged an update, but no publisher, including the original one (Taunton Press) was interested, nor was I, to be quite frank. Writing a garden book can pay off if it creates enough of a buzz to net the author speaking engagements, but with few exceptions (like ‘The Well Tended Perennial Garden’), that’s it.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, and your experience on this one Bill. I agree with you, publishers cannot be in the business of charity publishing; but then, gardeners are shamefully not in the business of buying books either, particularly in recent years. If we’re not careful, the lines between what you can get on the internet, and what a book offers, will become so blurred it will be hard to make a case for them anymore.
My aim is to highlight books that matter, that deserve a place on those shelves. And to help gardeners understand that good information is valuable, it’s worth paying for — in that it deserves our support the same way we put our money into good plants and good tools.
Honestly, I think that one of the biggest problems with sales of gardening books is one that most people don’t want to talk about. Many authors and plantspeople who know their subject inside and out and who are very busy working in their field are not naturally good promoters, much less self-promoters. They might be able to shine when talking about their subject or being interviewed, but the task of getting that interview or engagement is overwhelming when the first six months of publisher help has ended.
Conversely, many excellent self-promoters aren’t perhaps the best experts. It’s a very tough business for authors and publishers and I honestly don’t know what the answer is, I’m just illuminating the problem. I would imagine that the best option for an author is to have their book used in academic settings, where students are using it, and new editions are printed when necessary. I believe (but am not sure) that The Well-Tended Perennial Garden was used in classrooms. Mind you, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew sold over a million copies to the public in its day, so the business is not cut and dry.
I do have to disagree with you on the need for an updated Hellebores book however – Cole’s book is a bible for me too, but the new goals of a lot of breeding programs, and what consumer-gardeners think of as hellebores (the new outfacing hybrids they are coming across at big boxes, florists, and IGCs) deserve a deeper dive. The question of course is, will they buy a book? -MW
one of the biggest interference with people buying gardening books is the internet and digital readers. I am sure this groundcover book is quite pricey, whereas you can do a search for “groundcovers for sale” at no cost other than that of your internet service. I have been told that “nobody uses cookbooks anymore” in a similar vein. I do hope that public libraries will continue to buy and circulate these books, however, for those of us who would like to read or consult them, but not own them.
I am thankful to libraries for carrying good books, but I’d take issue with the idea that you are going to get the same information doing a random search for ‘groundcovers’ – particularly ‘groundcovers for sale’. The latter will give you marketing and sales information, which is very very different than information put together by someone who has direct, independent experience with the plants.
As an aside I have over 300 cookbooks, but then, like many people, do not have a high speed internet connection and live rurally. I’m more aware perhaps how tenuous our connection with the virtual world is. – MW
A worthy rant! Thank you for the review, will check it out.
The links still go to Amazon. If you’re in Canada, you can order it (autographed!) directly from Phoenix Perennials. In the U.S., I just ordered it directly from http://www.timberpress.com
Sorry, Marianne – but I’m normally at least somewhat pro-union, and currently a bit ticked at Amazon.
That’s very odd as the two links are going directly to Timber from my page. Thank you for letting people know you can order directly from the author too. – MW
About twenty five years ago, I was involved in an effort to publish gardening information that was particularly relevant to those of us in the far northern tier of states. Though “Growing Perennials in Cold Climates” was an expensive hard cover book, it did sell quite well and a revised edition was released in 2011. I never jumped into the project expecting to make money on it but did so because I saw a need for getting the information into the hands of the general gardening public. If I account for all the hours devoted to research, writing, etc., I know I didn’t really make much money. The largest financial gain came from negotiating the ability to buy copies of the book at a discounted price and then sell them as part of the many garden events that I spoke at, thus realizing a nice little profit from each copy sold.
With the internet as it is today, a book such as this would probably not be a viable project, certainly not in a hard cover format. Mind you, the level of detailed information that was in the book is not likely to be found in any internet publication. C’est la vie!
Mike, I bought your book shortly after it was published and found it so very helpful. It is one that remains in my garden library even after culling others for a move. Thanks!
I love ground covers. Thanks for the heads up on this book. I found my public library has it on order and I placed it on hold. That ground cover covering the rock in the above photo’s foreground looks like a squishy sandwort I’ve grown. You can step on it and it comes back like memory foam.
Can I just put in a word for the gardening books and assorted handbooks that are sponsored and published by university presses? These publishers are not for profit, are known for their design and production values, and most do very short printruns–they don’t need to print or sell thousands of books, as commercial publishers do. I just bought the wonderful “Plants in Design” published by the University of Georgia Press–a really beautifully produced reference book on plants for the south, well written, and with hundreds of breathtaking photographs in full color.
Wonderful book review!
Think i need to add that to my collection.
I doubt I own more than 100 gardening books. Most are older.
First go to for information is always the internet. I buy books mostly for pleasure and to support the author.
WSJ and NYT digital subscriptions to read on the phone. (Though both are getting expensive.)
We stopped supporting the local paper just this year.
Too expensive. We subscribed mostly just to say we supported local journalism.
As someone older, who works with people in their 20’s, it’s weird to think a lot of them have never held a newspaper to read it for information.
Thank you for the book review!
Marianne,
What a wonderful Garden Rant! First of all, Gary Lewis is a dear friend. I sat on the PPA Board with him for 4 years back when he was starting this book. It was always fun tracking him down in any garden we were visiting on the wonderful PPA tours where he was taking the last few minutes before boarding the bus to take one more shot! I love how you praised this phenomenal reference book.
I also love all of the comments that your rant generated. I own the book another friend discussed, Mike Heger. I am a book collector; and, have purchased Gary’s book. I agree with you that there is no comparison to the information that we all need that is in reference books written by experts.
We met at the iLandscape Show in Chicago. I feel very honored that after our exchange, that I can call you a friend, also.
I always look forward to reading your rants, your books and all of your descriptions of your gardening and horticulture adventures!
Jennifer Brennan