GARDENING NEW BOOK VALUABLE TO SERIOUS HORTICULTURISTS.

Byline: JOSHUA SISKIN

With the recent publication of ``Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens,'' it is clear that Joan Citron, the book's guiding light and editor, has made a historic contribution to the local horticultural scene.

Bold is the word that best describes this paperback volume, published by the nonprofit Southern California Horticultural Society. Inside, you will find descriptions of some 2,700 species and cultivars, the vast majority of which will be unknown to all but a handful of botanists and horticulturists.

Some people will undoubtedly wonder about the value of a book that lists plants seldom seen and virtually impossible to find in nurseries. But it is precisely this documentation of the rare and the rarer that makes this book so valuable. You never know when records might be lost; a book keeps those records intact forever. You never know when the enthusiasm required for such a venture - as exhibited by Citron and her associates - will come again. In the meantime, we are the beneficiaries of what appear to be, due to their rarity, newly discovered horticultural treasures.

``Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens'' has taken the delightful approach of including hands-on gardening experiences, presented anecdotally in a table-talk format. These experiences are described in casual or even humorous tones, their importance as horticultural testimonials notwithstanding.

Virtually absent from other plant books of this genre, the personal observations of gardeners offered here become the highlights of the book. Gardeners from 13 different Los Angeles locations - including Canoga Park, Reseda and Pasadena - relate their horticultural successes and failures.

Valuable information on familiar plants such as the bearded iris (Iris germanica) is given. ``Local lore says don't water when the temperature is above 85 degrees, which is a good idea since that's when the various soil fungi are most active.'' Another iris grower, who has clay soil in a coastal garden, says, ``I let mine go completely dormant on the back hill. No summer water.'' A third iris grower chimes in with ``usually short-blooming. 'White Lightning' is an amazing exception. It is vigorous and blooms from February to fall.'' ``Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens'' can be found in the bookstores of local arboreta such as Descanso Gardens (La Canada), Los Angeles County Arboretum (Arcadia), Theodore Payne Foundation (Sun Valley) and Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden (Claremont). It is also available at Builders' Bookstore in Canoga Park. You can also find a book order form at www.socahort.org that you can print out and send in.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Anyone with more than a passing interest in plants should attend at least one meeting of the Southern California Horticultural Society. The meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in Friendship Auditorium, near Griffith Park, at 3201 Riverside Drive. Not only will you rub shoulders with the most knowledgeable plant people in Los Angeles, but you will be amazed by the wealth of unusual and exotic plants on display.

GARDEN WONDERS

GARDENER: Mary Jane Taylor

RESIDENCE: West Los Angeles 

PLANT OF INTEREST: Strawberry

WHAT MAKES THIS PLANT AMAZING: In June, Taylor planted eight strawberry plants in pots and boxes, because she didn't have enough yard space to plant them in the ground. She had tried growing strawberries before, with varying results.

This year, they overtook her patio, with runners crisscrossing from chairs to boxes to saucers with some soil in them, and back.

``I have strawberries everywhere,'' she says. ``Some of them are being put in bigger pots. Some I've put saucers under. They just start popping runners out, propagating and cascading out, looking for a place to land. We have a brick under one, a chair under another. There must be at least four dozen plants.''

MAINTENANCE: ``There's one pot sitting behind a pine, and then one long box with seven plants on the patio. They get morning sunlight. The ones on the patio need chairs put in front of them, or they fry.''

WHAT JOSHUA SISKIN SAYS: ``The plants spread by runners, with little plants attached to the runners. The runners will root, and the plant propagates itself. It's just the nature of the strawberry.''

- Mike Chmielecki

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Strawberry plants run amok.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

Box: Garden Wonders (see text)