~Chinese Proverb
Gardeners are readers. They read for inspiration, for knowledge, and for entertainment. An eclectic ten . . .
American Horticultural Society New Encyclopedia of Gardening Techniques, American Horticultural Society. Garden books come and go each year, but this reference tome may be essential to any gardener, newbie and green-thumbed alike.The book offers more than 2,000 illustrations and 200 color photos covering everything from the nuts and bolts of soil makeup and digging techniques to weed control, compost piles, containers, growing edibles, water gardening and garden design. (Chicago Tribune )
Bulb, by Anna Pavord . ". . . garnered from notes taken over years of cultivating her own gardens in Dorset, is a selection of 600 plants, organized alphabetically, along with tips on cultivating "the most glorious group of plants on earth."(NY Times Book Review)
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpenter. Carpenter farms in Oakland, California - "on a dead-end street in the ghetto," as she puts it. Her field of dreams is the vacant lot next door. A gutsy life storied with chubby bees, humping rabbits and the trials of slaughtering fowl ("It was a solemn moment.") (Excerpt from Ketzel Levine in 2009's Crop of Great Gardening Books: NPR)
Flora Mirabilis: How Plants Have Shaped World Knowledge, Health, Wealth, and Beauty, by Catherine Herbert Howell. A collaboration between National Geographic and the world-renowned Missouri Botanical Garden, Flora Mirabilis blossoms with legend and lore as it culls the most engrossing mysteries and adventures of plant exploration, science, and discovery and garlands them with astonishingly beautiful illustrations. (Amazon review)
Garden Lover's Puzzle & Quiz Book, by The Puzzle Society. Garden puzzles galore, including crosswords, word searches, word ladders, code words, pathfinders and logic problems. Compact and the perfect size for a bit of constructive time-wasting.
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odale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener, edited by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara Ellis and Ellen Phillips. Completely new section on earth-friendly techniques for gardening in a changing climate, covering wise water management, creating backyard habitats, managing invasive plants and insects, reducing energy use and recycling, and understanding biotechnology
Seed Art -The Package Made Me Buy It, by Irwin Richman. "As any gardener knows, those enticing catalogs we all get should be labeled as controlled substances. Who can resist the picture-perfect produce and the bodacious flowers that can be ours for placing an order. . . . However, as author Michael Perry has observed, "Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Playboy combined." (excerpt from Seed Art -The Package Made Me Buy It)
Sibley Guide to Trees by David Sibley. Yes, it's David Sibley the bird artist and author. "Our lives are intertwined with trees in countless ways," Sibley writes, "and they remind us that we are not simply neighbors, but part of an integrated community." (NY Times Book Review)
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire, and the Birth of an Obsession, by Andrea Wulf. In 1733, a humble American farmer, John Bartram, sent seeds of plants native to the American colonies to a London cloth merchant, Peter Collinson, who went on to lead a dedicated group of British enthusiasts in introducing American species to Britain. (excerpted from "The New Yorker")(paperback in March 2010)
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, by Amy Stewart. Bram Stoker meets Agatha Christie in this sophisticated little brew of botanical boogiemen. Charming illustrations. Less a warning than a history of plants that have, . . . "insinuated their perilous tendrils into our unsuspecting lives." (Excerpt from Ketzel Levine in 2009's Crop of Great Gardening Books: NPR)
