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By William Scheick
University of Texas at Austin

Anthony Eglin. The Blue Rose: An English Garden Mystery. St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2005. $6.99. 320 pp.

Anthony Eglin. The Lost Gardens: An English Garden Mystery. St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2007. $6.99. 320 pp.

Anthony Eglin. The Water Lily Cross: An English Garden Mystery. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007. $23.95. 304 pp.

Anthony Eglin. The Trail of the Wild Rose: An English Garden Mystery. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2009. $24.95. 272 pp.

It's January, a time for some of us to undertake garden-bed improvements. Others, perhaps, are planting asparagus, onions and cool-weather veggies.

A considerable number of us are resting a bit, even if we compulsively peruse plant catalogs. January is indeed the right time for dreaming about possibilities in the garden.

It's also a good time to enjoy mysteries staged in gardens. In January, we can lose ourselves in such gardening-related reading without feeling like criminals stealing valuable time from the many outside chores usually awaiting us during the growing seasons.

Gardening mystery-stories, we can honestly tell ourselves, aren't just about whiling away time. They also provide horticultural information — insight, for instance, into the intricacies of grape-growing or the long-frustrated botanic quest for a true-blue rose.

Murders in gardens also serve as cautionary tales about obsession. If there is one human trait many of us know up-close and personal — we're not identifying any names here, of course — it is certain gardeners' propensity for obsession (see Seeds, 4 April 2007).

Anthony Eglin has written four "English Garden Mystery" novels: The Blue Rose, The Lost Gardens, The Water Lily Cross, and the forthcoming Trail of the Wild Rose. Each can be read independently of the others in the series, though each features Lawrence Kingston, a retired university botanist who accidentally becomes an amateur sleuth.

The Blue Rose is set in a neglected walled 19th-century garden, where its new owners discover a hidden bush with "electric sapphire blue" flowers. They know that this mystery rose is valuable — a holy grail, of sorts — and they ask botanist Kingston to study it in secret.

But this garden's secret doesn't keep. The rose disappears and is, as well, far more dangerous than anyone imagines. Considerable mayhem soon follows.

The Lost Gardens, the second novel in the series, is set in an 18th-century priory garden, which has been abandoned for decades. Kingston is hired to restore this multi-acre estate, but soon makes unsettling discoveries, including the brush-covered ruins of a chapel with a pagan healing well.

At the bottom of the well lie bones of a human hand. Dire events ensue as Kingston applies his horticultural and his sleuthing expertise.

The Water Lily Cross features a giant hybrid plant capable of desalinating seawater. Such a valuable plant could help solve the global need for fresh water.

The breakthrough hybrid's creator, though, has gone missing.

Enter Kingston, asked by the missing man's wife to find her husband. As in The Blue Rose, a secret code and various twists and turns in the plot figure in the outcome.

Of these three volumes — the fourth is to be released soon — I found The Water Lily Cross the least satisfying and The Lost Gardens the most entertaining.

Don't expect deep characterization or Jeffrey Deaver-type plot gimmicks. Do count on satisfying conventional mystery devices, such as a hooded figure in the night, ominous ruins, secret chambers, cryptic messages and timely thunder and lightening.

Consider, for example, the sinister atmospherics of this passage appearing early in The Lost Garden: "Thick strands of trees, so close together as to form a black wall; trunks, limbs and branches arching and writhing in a futile attempt to escape the strangling embrace of ivy, vines and creepers that lashed them together. It was as if the house were under siege, about to be swallowed up any day by the diabolical mass of plant life. As the light began to fade, the sight became even more menacing" (p. 32).

Kingston shivers when he first sees this scene — and no wonder, with all its diabolical writhing, strangling, swallowing, besieging and overall black menace.

With an eye for good fun, Eglin apparently writes somewhat tongue-in-cheek. He seems to know that his readers are well-versed in stock mystery-story conventions, but also that many mystery fans are willing to be pleasantly beguiled again and again by these familiar devices.

Eglin's novels remind me of Rosemary and Thyme, the British television series which ran for three seasons (2003-2006) and which can still be seen on some local PBS stations. In this series two women run a landscape service but, like Kingston, they also become amateur sleuths. They routinely find their horticultural work encumbered by messy murders.

If you happened to see and enjoy Rosemary and Thyme (available on DVD, incidentally), you'll delight in Eglin's use of practical and historical garden lore blended with tried-and-true mystery-story thrills.

Have a favorite gardening tip you’d like to share? Texas Gardener’s Seeds is seeking brief gardening tips from Texas gardeners to use in future issues. If we publish your tip in Seeds, we will send you a free Texas Gardener T-shirt. Here’s a chance to get published and be a garden stylist as well! Please send your tips of 50 words or less to the editor at: Gardening Tips.

There are several different species of fungi, called mycorhizii, that help plants with different tasks. Many actually form symbiotic relationships with plants. Some mycorhizii help with water uptake while others make fertilizer more available, etc. To encourage these beneficial fungi in you garden be sure to add lots of organic matter and avoid the use of toxic chemicals.

Austin: Travis County Master Gardeners Association will present "Rainwater Harvesting and Waterwise Gardening," 10 a.m. until noon, January 10, at the Zilker Botanic Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road, Austin. This free seminar on capturing rainwater and lowering water usage in your landscape will cover all the basics of building a non-potable rainwater harvesting system. In addition, learn how to design beautiful gardens designed for lower water usage. Don't be misinformed, Xeriscaping is not "zero-scaping." Vendors representing tank and gutter companies will be available to answer specific questions. City of Austin representatives will be available to answer rainbarrel, permit and rebate questions.  For more information, visit http://www.tcmastergardeners.org.

Houston: Urban Harvest Fruit Tree Sale will be held Saturday, January 17, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. A class describing all varieties for sale, as well as providing vital information on how to plant and care for each type tree will be held January 10 (12-2 p.m.) and 13 (6:30-8:30 p.m.) at Urban Harvest's office on Canal Street. A nominal fee of $10 is charged for the class. Register for the class by calling Urban Harvest. The tree sale is at Rice University's Football Stadium, on the concourse. For detailed information about the sale as well as about fruit trees, check the Urban Harvest Web site www.urbanharvest.org or call (713) 880-5540.

If you would like your organization’s events included in "Upcoming Garden Events," please contact us at Garden Events. To ensure inclusion in this column, please provide complete details at least three weeks prior to the event.

By William D. Adams and Thomas R. Leroy

A kitchen garden, or potager, is a celebration of the seasons: brimming with vegetables, herbs, flowers, and even fruit trees, it’s our link with nature and a source for fresh produce. The kitchen garden has always been an important part of life in the rural South, at times meaning the difference between being well-fed or going to bed hungry. In recent times, the kitchen garden has become more fashionable and now more and more homeowners are reaping the delicious rewards of growing their own food.

A kitchen garden needs little more than a small raised bed, so an aspiring gardener with only a modest backyard will have plenty of room to get started. If you have more space on your hands, then you can include some produce requiring a little more space like fruit trees, corn or pumpkins.

In the book, the authors with take you through the process of starting your very own kitchen garden from location to soil preparation to planting and then to harvest. It is also loaded with useful information on propagation, pest control and is laced with mouth-watering recipes and beautiful color photographs.

$21.30 plus shipping*

Order online with credit card at www.texasgardener.com or call toll-free 1-800-727-9020.

*Or with credit card by phone and receive FREE shipping. That is a $3.50 savings! Visa, MasterCard and Discover accepted.

Are you missing an important issue of Texas Gardener? Or, perhaps, just tired of thumbing through stacks of back issues looking for the tips and techniques you need to make your garden grow? Three new CDs provide easy access to all six issues of volume 24 (November/December 2004 through September/October 2005), volume 25 (November/December 2005 through September/October 2006), volume 26 (November/December 2006 through September/October 2007), and volume 27 (November/December 2007 through September/October 2008)*.

$16.99 per CD includes tax and shipping

Order by calling 1-800-727-9020.

(Discover, MasterCard and Visa accepted.)

*Other volumes will be available soon.

Doug Welsh’s Texas Garden Almanac is a giant monthly calendar for the entire state — a practical, information-packed, month-by-month guide for gardeners and "yardeners." This book provides everything you need to know about flowers and garden design; trees, shrubs, and vines; lawns; vegetable, herb, and fruit gardening; and soil, mulch, water, pests, and plant care. It will help you to create beautiful, productive, healthy gardens and have fun doing it.

$26.63 plus shipping*

Order by calling 1-800-727-9020 or order on-line.

*Mention Texas Gardener’s Seeds when ordering by phone and we’ll waive shipping charges. (Discover, MasterCard and Visa accepted.)

Grow-Web encourages plant growth and development, and also provides protection from insects, birds, diseases and frosts. It is also air and water permeable and allows for ventilation. Grow-Web provides excellent protection to seedlings when applied directly to the seedbed.

$30.64 per 12.3’ x 32.8’ roll (includes shipping!)

Order by calling 1-800-727-9020 or order on-line.

(Discover, MasterCard and Visa accepted.)

Texas Gardener’s Seeds is published weekly. © Suntex Communications, Inc. 2009. All rights reserved. You may forward this publication to your friends and colleagues if it is sent in its entirety. No individual part of this newsletter may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher.

Missed an issue? Back issues of Texas Gardener’s Seeds are available at www.texasgardener.com/newsletters.

Publisher: Chris S. Corby ● Editor: Michael Bracken

Texas Gardener’s Seeds, P.O. Box 9005, Waco, Texas 76714 ● www.TexasGardener.com