The author of this book, G.W. Shewchuk, is an Agricultural graduate of the University of Alberta. He majored in soils and plant science (horticulture). He has served as a District Agriculturist for 35 years, as well as lecturing and writing about gardening in Northern Alberta for 40 years. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta. In this book he describes his own unique method of growing tender roses in the north. With his method, he grows hundreds of roses each year with very few losses. In fact, most of the roses he has lost were older bushes and might have died simply of old age. His book covers all aspects of rose growing, from the initial purchase to cutting and showing the blooms at exhibitions.

Jennifer is the gardening editor for "Harrowsmith" magazine. Although she lives in Eastern Ontario, her book is aimed at gardeners across Canada and the U.S. It covers all aspects of the vegetable garden from the planning stage to the harvest. It is one of the better gardening books available.

Mr. Harp was the head gardener at the Morden Experimental Farm for 22 years. He has over 40 years of experience of gardener in the Prairie Provinces. His book is an excellent addition to the gardener's library.

This is Agriculture Canada publication 1575. It covers the problems and solutions to gardening in the north. It is one of the better Agriculture Canada publications on this subject and a lot more recent than many of the government publications on the north.

Jean Richard was born in Switzerland in 1918 where he was a trained fruit tree specialist. He came to Canada in 1952 and over the years he has attempted to teach the hazards of using too many chemicals in the orchard. He lives in Quebec where he has given courses on pruning and general fruit production for over 20 years.

Bart Hall-Beyer operates an ecological farm and nursery in Quebec. He has, in the past, lived in the Yukon and in North-central Alberta and is therefore quite aware of the problems one faces when attempting to establish an orchard in the north.

Together these two gentlemen have attempted to cover all aspects of fruit growing in the north, selecting the hardy cultivars, propagation, and all aspects of care including Swiss pruning. It is an excellent book for the fruit grower and is widely used by fruit growers in Northern Alberta.

Chriss Briggs lives in Yellowknife, N.W.T. and writes a gardening column for the weekly paper, "The Yellowknifer" and has a weekly program called "Let's Get Growing" on CBC in the Mackenzie area. This book is based on her own and her neigbours personal experiences in gardening in zone 0. Her book illustrates that you need not be hampered by the limited amount of hardy material for the north.

Mr. Knowles was a professor with the Department of Plant Science at the University of Alberta. He has prepared this book to educate people about the wide range of plant material that is hardy in the Prairies. It has great value to both the amateur gardener and the horticulture student. It is an excellent reference book on hardy woody plants.

Roger Vick is the Curator of the Devonian Botanic Garden at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. He is widely published and has served with many horticultural associations. In 1985 he received the Alberta Horticultural Association Centennial gold Medal for his contributions to horticulture in Alberta. This book is a good guide to gardening in the North but many of the things he discusses are also applicable to other areas of the country.

NOTE: since this thesis was written there have been more books published about gardening that are suitable for the northern areas. Some of these follow.

This series of books are aimed mainly at showing you the different varieties of plants that you can grow in the less favourable areas of Canada. Each book is on a different topic such as Annuals, etc. They contain lots of photos.

A good reference but there are many plants that should be included. Well researched and written.

An excellent series. Well worth reading.

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This page by Pat
updated August 18, 2000

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