I recently returned from a trip to sunny, steamy, stormy Florida (before the storm hit), where tomato seedlings were starting to appear in garden centers, and coconuts were promoted for Halloween carving as replacements for the pumpkins that turn to mush in the heat.

Walking off the plane into the crisp night air of Central Oregon felt divine and the security of knowing we don’t live in a high-risk weather-watch area felt like a security blanket wrapped around me.

Looking across my leaf-covered lawn the next morning, I realized I needed to spend some quality time with my favorite rake before I could settle in and finish reading the books I have been thumbing through these past weeks.

Legendary plants

”A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature” by Bobby J. Ward, published by Timber Press, is definitely a book-browser’s book. The book is a collection of 80 plant genera with historical references to each from literature, legend and mythology.

You can read the book in alphabetical sequence if you are an orderly reader, or pick and choose your favorite flowers, discovering how they have been used by poets, musicians and playwrights throughout history. His reference to great literature reminds us how many great books have fallen into obscurity. Regardless of your reading style, you will find treasures to ponder in every chapter.

Our noxious knapweed is actually related to the blue bachelor buttons in the genus of Centaurea, Ward tells us. He recounts a tradition that holds that wearing the bachelor button indicates a person is unmarried. Picking the flower while dew is still on it and wearing it for a full 24 hours will predict success in courtship, depending on the plant’s condition. This practice may be the origin of the expression ”true blue.”

Phlox is native to North America, with the exception of one Siberian species that made its way into Alaska. A legend recounted in Ward’s book has it that the Chickasaw and Creek Indians engaged in a fierce battle over a trespassing issue. The Creek set a fire through which the Chickasaw couldn’t escape. A little Chickasaw boy called to all his animal friends to help stamp out the fire, the legend says. While fighting the fire, the squirrel’s white coat became gray with ashes, the raccoon’s tail became ringed with resin and the deer lost its tail. The Great Spirit saw the animals fighting the fire and turned the embers to a blaze of fire-colored flowers. The Creek returned to find a wide path of green carpeting containing the flaming flowers of the Phlox subulata.

One of the most delightful chapters in Ward’s book is ”Saints of the Spade,” which describes saints protecting various aspects of gardening. Ward acknowledges that factual details vary from writer to writer and that perhaps the glories of the saints have been embellished. Nonetheless, it brings a smile to think we can invoke the help of St. Urban of Langres to guard against blight and frost, St. Genevieve will prevent drought, St. Leufredus will kill white flies and if you want to till a straight row, ask St. Isidore of Madrid to guide you through it.

Bobby Ward is a dedicated gardener and a retired environmental scientist living in Raleigh, N.C. He is a past president of the North American Rock Garden Society and winner of the Quill and Trowel award from the Garden Writers Association.

‘Penstemons’

I tend the penstemon section of the Jefferson County Demonstration Garden at the fairgrounds in Madras. I sometimes feel very guilty not bringing in bags of compost and fertilizer and not checking that all the in-ground sprinklers in my area are working.

After reading ”Penstemons” by Robert Nold, published by Timber Press, I breathe a sigh of relief and realize I am not being neglectful, but rather giving the perennials the care they require. It is comforting to know that everything the garden manuals tell you to do doesn’t apply to the cultivation of penstemons.

Penstemons can be found in every state in the continental United States, many provinces of Canada and most states in Mexico. Their relatives include snapdragons, foxgloves and veronica. Peck’s penstemon, or Penstemon peckii, is only found in Central Oregon, according to the endemic list for the Deschutes National Forest, and its habitat was a matter of concern in a 1997 land exchange in the Sisters area.

Penstemons are a valuable addition for gardeners establishing a dryland garden. You aren’t limited to size, color or limited bloom time. Varieties embrace sizes from 2 feet down to dwarfs barely visible in rock crevices. According to Nold, white colors are found in species pollinated by moths; pink, blue and blue-purple in those pollinated by bees and wasps; and red in those pollinated by hummingbirds.

Nold admits that some chapters are ”dry,” but wryly adds that after all, he is writing about ”xeric,” or desertlike, plant material. Nold’s wife, Cindy Nelson-Nold, adds to the book with beautiful photographs and botanical drawings.

The Nolds live in Lakewood, Colo. Their garden includes a collection of over 200 species of penstemons.

Bugs in bed

Did you ever think you would have to carry a garden-related book in a brown paper bag? You may feel that way reading ”Six-Legged Sex: The Erotic Lives of Bugs” by James Wangberg. Wangberg is a University of Wyoming entomologist who has explained the sometimes complicated and exhaustive reproductive cycles of the insect world with a great deal of humor. The illustrations by Marjorie Leggitt will bring as many giggles as the text.

Location, location, location is just as important for insects in choosing real estate as it is for the human race. The author explains, ”What may appear to us to be two shrubs of the same kind, to a grasshopper may be as different as New York’s Fifth Avenue and any city’s skid row. The prime real estate of a shrub is rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins that grasshoppers can detect. The second shrub or poor real estate may look good on the outside but it lacks the necessary amenities for grasshoppers.”

After the male has staked his claim to the prime real estate, the energetic calls go out, boasting of his acquisition and signaling females that the door is open. You can guess the rest of the story.

Entomology is a subject most gardeners know little of. Wangberg’s writing explains much in less technical language. In fact, you might blush a little, but you may be loath to squash the next bug you see in your garden.