Books Make Great Gifts

Over the year's I've become a collector of things. In my kitchen, I have several contemporary cookbooks from favorite restaurants. With the flip of a few pages, I can dine "anywhere" without leaving home… I also have several vintage cookbooks and have come to think that the pages showing the greatest wear often indicate favorite dishes of past owners. To me, gardening books are much like cookbooks. Titles from our time offer a contemporary viewpoint suited to a contemporary lifestyle and are often geared to help one address the realities of a fresh faced mother nature. But the necessity of these books doesn’t mean that vintage gardening books have to be relegated to the attic. Such works can be a great source in heritage restoration given they provide clues to the favored approaches and methods of yesteryear’s gardeners. More often than not, they take stock of heirloom varieties that one can keep an eye out for today. Last spring, I returned to a place I had once lived and visited an antique shop leaving with 3 vintage books on gardening. The copyright dates allowed me to know the thoughts therein were an expression from the early 20th Century - perfectly related to the history of my Victorian home and the heirloom flowers, fruits and vegetables that would have once been grown here. If they weren’t enough of a cache, a neighbor heard of my interest and subsequently shared with me her discovery of an abandoned suitcase jammed with newspaper and magazine clippings from 100 years ago. This summer, there are some heirloom plants that I know of that hold sentimental value and so I am wondering about propagation. In one instance, there is a lilac bush that stands in the middle of a field that used to be my family’s farm. If I were to get permission and take a clipping, is it possible to root it? The Old Stone Church in the town nearby hosts several old rose bushes. Could clippings be rooted? Lastly, the Prince of Wales and Baron of Renfrew planted peonies and apple trees at two other locations during his visit in 1925. Could the former be divided and could the latter be grafted? Lastly, buttercups. The farm field is full of them. Is there any way to have them in the garden? This would be new ground for me to walk and so if anyone has any thoughts to share, I'd be most appreciative. Many thanks in advance.