The full name of the book is The Crevice Garden: How to make the perfect home for plants from rocky places and it was written by Paul Spriggs and Kenton Seth. I received a copy of the book back in April (thank you Filbert Press!). That means I've been picking up and reading bits of the book for almost five months now, what a luxurious way to read a book.
I suppose I should fess up right away that this is not going to be an normal book review, nor an impartial one. Not when I've been conversing with Kenton Seth for going on seven years. I first "met" him when he granted me a phone interview for a story I was writing for the Oregon Association of Nurseries on crevice gardens—Thriving between the cracks. I've been a fangirl of Kenton's and the crevice garden since then.
But here's the thing. I don't much care for the plants people create crevice gardens to grow. Fussy little flowering things. I do like the big buns, the cushion plants. Big mounds of interesting—many times spiky—foliage, yes please! I confessed this shocking realization to Kenton when he was in town (we finally got to meet in person!) to build a crevice garden at Cistus Nursery, on the private Rancho Cistus grounds (home to Sean Hogan and Preston Pew). He didn't seem to upset by my admission, which was pretty in character. Even though he's built dozens (hundreds?) of crevice gardens and is arguably the US authority on them, he's not a stickler for what exactly defines a "proper" crevice garden. Got rocks? Great. Want to use urbanite (broken pieces of unwanted concrete) instead? No problem. Want to plant in the cracks between boulders rather than flat rocks. Yep, that works.
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| A different kind of crevice garden, at Rare Plant Research in Oregon City |
How can you not be charmed by someone who is so happy to see their craft interpreted in a way that works for the gardener, the creator of the space, rather than adhering to a set of RULES? The good news is, that feeling of joy at seeing a garden be what it's builder/owner wants it to be comes through loud and clear in the book. Kenton and Paul start the book explaining what exactly a crevice garden is, talk about natural rock gardens, and then delve into the history of what a crevice garden is and where it came from (very interesting stuff for anyone who enjoys learning about gardens and gardening styles).
The chapter titled "How a Crevice Works" was a fascinating read for learning how rock in a garden effects the surrounding plants; rock mulch helps to reduce water loss through evaporation, rocks release heat at night and dark colored rocks absorb even more heat than light colored ones (and on and on). From here you're off to learning about what is involved in building a crevice garden—which can truly be as big, or as little, as you've got the space for.
These next four photos were taken by
Scott Meyer at Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend when he visited last month. Kenton, Paul, and an assorted cast of their associates, built an extensive network of crevice gardens there, which I have not had the pleasure of visiting in person. Sections of these rocky gardens have been planted, others are so new they're still plantless.
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Having been a "student" of Kenton's for several years now there are two nuggets of crevice garden knowledge that are wedged firmly in my mind, points that are indeed addressed in the book. The first is the idea that plants growing in crevices can be compared to a weed growing in the cracks of your sidewalk. You're maybe struggling to grow plants just inches away in your garden, yet here is this thing thriving in a sidewalk crack. This is why crevice gardens are successful. Moisture is funneled down into that crack, and the plants roots grown down, down, down where they have access to moisture not available on the surface.
The second is the idea that a crevice garden—or any rock garden planting of some height—naturally creates varied topography that introduces distinct microclimates. Shady spots, sheltered spots, areas with reflected heat, areas with increased drainage. These are microclimates that a gardener can use to grow a wider range of plants, and who doesn't want that!?
So about that crevice garden at
Cistus. I took a couple photos last June, during the unveiling at a fundraiser for the
Portland Botanical Gardens...
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| Left to right: Saxon Holt, Kenton Seth, Jeremy Schmidt—at Cistus Nursery |
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| A sketch of the garden, I believe drawn by Sean Hogan and refined by Jeremy Schmidt |
But it was a busy night with lots of people mingling about. I decided to make a trip out on a quieter day last month, to snap a few photos of the magic already happening in this very newly built (and not quite complete) feature. It's worth noting a bit of man-made shade has been created for these poor plants which are enduring summer-time planting with extreme heat and no rain. Of course Sean has chosen to plant up some of the crevices with exactly the type of plants I would have planted...
I look forward to watching this Rancho Cistus crevice garden grown and develop over time.
Finally, I was chatting with a few gardening friends last weekend, one of which is building a small—highly personalized—crevice garden in her front garden, and a two others who seemed to revel in the fact they didn't have, nor were they planning, a "trendy" crevice garden. I think it's exactly that idea, that a crevice garden has to be something precious, in all caps and quotes a "CREVICE GARDEN" that this book helps to rally against. Sure it gives you the basics, the history, the how to... but it celebrates individuality and creativity while illustrating basic gardening fundamentals. I guess what I am trying to say is that you don't have to have any interest in building a huge crevice garden to enjoy and learn from this book. Two last images, photos I took of page layouts in the book. First up crevice inspiration found out in the world...
And secondly, proof you can still enjoy a crevice garden even in tiny spaces...
I'll end this post with a quote from Beverley Nichols, and his book
Garden Open Today a quote which appears in
The Crevice Garden. Had I come across this on my own I would have tried to included it in the pages of
Fearless Gardening, but it was even more wonderful to find it here: "If ever there was a place where rules were made to be broken, it is in the garden."
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All material © 2009-2022 by Loree L Bohl for
danger garden.
Far Reaches Farm images by Scott Meyer. Page images taken from the book
The Crevice Garden. I received a review copy of
The Crevice Garden from
Filbert Press, I was under no obligation to write about the book either favorably or unfavorably. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
