Gardening Books
A Shelf of Garden related Books
When gardeners aren't busy in the garden they're often to be found reading books. This is affectionately known as 'having a break' from the real business of gardening.
Plant dictionaries make interesting bedtime reading, gardening magazines are great for morning tea or coffee, and rose books, naturally, are the perfect romantic read. Organic gardening books can make us feel goodly and wise, and as for those depressingly beautiful colour-themed books - the phrase 'green with envy' springs to mind.
Here is a list of my favourite books, a select list that have stood the test of time for me. If they're mine I'll only lend them to my closest friends. If they're from the library I'll borrow them over and over again.
I'll copy out their plant lists and write down their writer's wisest sayings. Occasionally I might choose to disagree with them. But I'll remember what I've read!
-
Helen Dillon's Garden Book...
- No paving stone is left unturned, no down-to-earth question unanswered in Helen Dillon's Garden Book, written in 2006. It's packed full of every 'this and that' of gardening. Information, ideas, and memories squash snugly together like plants in a mixed border...
-
Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites...
- I suspect I'd like any book that author Ken Druse published. His writing nudges gently, and it all makes wonderful sense. His words flow freely, his sentence shapes are delightfully crafted, and most of all he's talking to me. Me!
-
Building the Perfect Gazebo...
- Here's the quickest way to make your Non-Gardening Partner disappear in a puff of smoke. Present him with this book, entitled 'How To Build the Perfect Gazebo', put on your most innocent, smiling, expectant face, and block the exit. Hee hee...
-
The Gardens at Kew...
- Great excitement - a huge library book on Kew Gardens in London, to commemorate a huge anniversary (the 250th), with huge photographs. I've been to Kew - just once. I'm bound to recognise everything...
-
Alan Titchmarsh's Favourite Gardens...
- Do I like reading about other people's favourite gardens? Sometimes, sometimes not - it depends on how strong the Moosey ego is at the time. But Alan Titchmarsh's book of his English (and Scottish) favourites has turned into a winner.
-
Essential Gertrude Jekyll...
- As a colonial gardener I've always known about the great Gertrude Jekyll, without having read any of her writings. I've vaguely associated her with planting herbaceous borders with drifts of perennials, and hating the colour magenta.
-
Larnach Castle Garden...
- Wow! The very first gardening library book which speaks so forcefully and personally that I want my very own copy. And there's more - I want to send copies of The Garden at Larnach Castle to all my gardening friends!
-
Diarmuid Gavin - Outer Spaces...
- Oh dear. It's difficult for me to describe Diarmuid Gavin's book without getting into trouble. You see, I thoroughly enjoyed it, without actually liking a single garden idea enough to copy in my own garden. Am I that traditional? Eek!
-
Hebes...
- I once visited a Banks Peninsula headland garden whose gardener was in love with Hebes. She claimed to have one in flower for every single week of the year. Since then I've been watching out for books about Hebes.
-
Nancy Tichbourne's Flowers...
- Forgive me for writing a review about an older book - I picked up this beauty in a second hand book sale. This New Zealand artist and gardener chooses two of the most perfect subjects to paint - cats and flowers.
-
Lavender...
- Lavender is a wonderful shrub to grow in the garden, and this specialist book will amaze novice gardeners with the number of varieties available.
-
Trees and Shrubs...
- I keep under-rating the shrubs in my garden, but I still use this big, heavy Botanica's Trees and Shrubs book a lot. I also have the pocket sized edition, which is easy to carry around.
-
Gardening with Grasses...
- Gardening with grasses seems to me a most sensible type of garden style - so much so that I can never understand why anyone wouldn't have thought of it. Of course people should garden with grasses. So this book really appealed when I first saw it.
-
Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden...
- I love the beginning chapters of Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden. It gives me great hope for sensible gardeners who take notice of their climate. This great English gardener is really in touch with earth and weather - I wonder if I could ever be as successful as her?
-
Foliage...
- There are lots of tempting foliage garden books - this one simply called Foliage, with its striped canna leaf cover, was a Christmas present a few years back. I like it very much.
-
Gardens of Plenty...
- I know there are plenty of potager books, but this one, titled 'Potagers of Plenty' is an excellent read.
-
The No-Work Garden...
- Bob Flowerdew might just be a legend in his home country of England. His books are very popular in New Zealand, even though we don't know him as a personality.
-
Special Plants...
- In keeping with its title, Special Plants is a very special gardening book.
-
Planting Companions...
- This is a good book about plants and their combinations in the garden, which I go back to many times for inspiration and ideas.
-
Old Fashioned Roses...
- Barbara Lea Taylor is a legend in New Zealand garden writing. She gives so much life and personality to the roses she writes about in her books that you want to meet them.
-
David Austin's English Roses...
- Oops - yet another rose book high on the list of my alltime favourite books. I'm a great lover of the David Austin 'English' roses, and they grow well in my garden, so this book is a must-have.
-
Botanica's Roses...
- There are very many roses of all shapes and sizes, and there are very many rose books to accompany them all. Botanica's is my favourite reference rose book.
-
Colour by Design...
- I don't think a list of favourite gardening books can possible miss Colour by Design out. This book is amazing, if slightly daunting, for a gardener of random design habits.