for design inspiration?
I love anything by Penelope Hobhouse and Tony Lord. What inspires you?
what books do you turn to
Don't have too many books but I could start a magazine store for garden magazines alone. Can't get enough of them. Country Gardens, Fine Gardening, Garden Gate. BHG (regular version ... will not renew that one ... not enough gardening stuff), Birds and Blooms (used to be Backyard Living). Will not renew that one either. Too many birds, not enough blooms. All of BHG's special garden publications are great. Country Sampler (I think) puts out one called Flower Gardens. Any and all. Love them.
In fact, the cover of this one is what inspired my color theme ...
Now that's my kind of magazine. I love gardening magazines too. Now did you subscribe to that or find it locally?
Pippi,
I think I found that one at the grocery store. You'll notice it was 2007. Not sure if they still publish it. I think it was one of those once-a-year publications. I still long for a garden gate like that.
Good topic. I am kind of out of date on newly published garden books. So it's nice to know what others are up to.
Here's a link to my favorite gardening magazine "Gardens Illustrated" published by BBC : http://www.gardensillustrated.com/ Have been getting it for years as a Christmas gift from my daughter. Really indepth articles for plant junkies and people who like to go on fantasy garden tours (like me!).
One of my favorite books right now is Aust's "Well-tended Perennial Garden" which I am referring to for tips on cutting back and pruning, etc. Boring but important info, I think.
Another kind of interesting one on my 'handy' shelf is 'Plant Propagation' from the American Horticultural Society. I'm not a very experienced propagator, but I am learning step by step from this book~~taking cuttings, rooting, cloning, and so on. Kind of neat information.
Oh, and then by my bedside I have lots of essays and stories about great gardeners from the past. The English do these well.
I had to get a basket to put under my nightstand to hold all the garden magazines, catalogs, etc. Just got a new book (softcover) on Noisette Roses from the Charleston Horticultural Society. Hog heaven. (Also have a basket by my chair in the living room.)
I like Designing with Perennials
older. I go to the library and look at their books; then I check out the ones I like and order them cheap on line. It's a lot of fun.
Gloria
This message was edited Aug 5, 2010 7:54 PM
I love that Color Echoes book too.
Do you remember when we had that long long thread going about eveyrone's color echoes? I think we all bought the book!
I'm a total magazine junkie. I have them dating back for years. Husband and sons would like me to get rid of them. They whisper words like "hoarder" at me.
I have them stacked (in my middle son's closet) according to month. The theory is that I can take the stack down during that month and look at them all again. Alas, the stacks have grown so high, that's a daunting task. LOL Being a fall and holiday lover, the Sept - Dec stacks are truly frightening. I am always expecting my shelf they sit on to come crashing down from the weight.
P.S. I like books too.
I have that Best Borders by Tony Lord, too. Wonderfully inspirational pictures.
I guess my favorite is Pam Harpers Time Tested Plants, although I love her Color Echoes, and Designing With Perennials also.
My most used book is Dr. Dirrs Manual Of Woody Landscape Plants, and Mark Zillis Hostapedia.
My favorite gardening magazine is Fine Gardening.
I keep all mine, too Gwendalou. How on earth could we throw out some of those magazines with the beautiful pictures?
I have a weakness for flower garden magazines too..but that's therapy for me..sheer pleasure. I have just discovered several books on seed starting that I think I'm going to look at used library book store or Value Village for them. If all else fails, I'll order them from Amazon.com . The one I'm really liking and find is great is Burpee Seed Starter by Maureen Heffernan and Seed Sowing and Saving by Carole B. Turner. The last one mentioned is so informative and shows how to gather the seed and how to plant indoors and outdoors, and helpful tips from Master Gardeners. That one was highly recommended by Joannabanana that post here and over at Cubits.org.
Quote from Gwendalou :
I'm a total magazine junkie. I have them dating back for years. Husband and sons would like me to get rid of them. They whisper words like "hoarder" at me.
I have them stacked (in my middle son's closet) according to month. The theory is that I can take the stack down during that month and look at them all again. Alas, the stacks have grown so high, that's a daunting task. LOL I am always expecting my shelf they sit on to come crashing down from the weight.
P.S. I like books too.
Wow! I used to do the very same thing. I had a huge stack of all those nice gardening magazines in the corner, out of view. As well, I had some in the attic that I did not know I had, as I asked my husband to get the OG mags from there as a DG member was interested in them. And after he got the magazines down, I said I would find a place for them.
I was selling them on ebay, but Auctiva started charging for their (formerly free) services, as well ebay is not as easy to use as it used to be. I have not sold a thing in over a year. The reason I was selling them, was to make space, as I had little. . I never did it for profit, though sometime the money would actually cover the cost of the book. I also, from time to time, go through my bookcase...yes, ALL gardening books in there, and cull some more. Some essays, some plant info, and many others that are a bit of both.
My favorites, of which I read every year are:
Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden ~ Gertrude Jeckyll
Color in My Garden ~ Louise Beebe Wilder
Time and The Gardener ~ Elisabeth Sheldon
The Dry Garden ~ Beth Chatto
What Happens in My Garden ~ Louise Beebe Wilder
My Garden in Spring ~ E.A. Bowles
My Garden in Summer ~ E.A. Bowles
My Garden in Autumn and Winter ~ E.A. Bowles
The Little Bulbs ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
And for reference:
Sunset Western Garden Book
The Book of Annuals ~ Alfred C. Hottes
The Book of Perennials ~ Alfred C. Hottes
Park's Success with Seeds ~ Ann Reilly
The Complete book of Growing Plants From Seed ~ Elda Harding
The Seed-Starters Handbook ~ Nancy Bubel
Hortus III - Staff of the Liberty H. Bailey Hortorium
Perennial Garden Plants ~ Graham Stuart Thomas
Herbacious Perennial Plants ~ Allan M. Armitage
Four-Season Harvest ~ Elliot Coleman
Of course, there are more....I will probably go through them again this year. Last year, I gave away my magazines and some of my books to DG members, and also to my local nursery. Yes, I am a hoarder, so I need to be ever-vigilant. Some I will always keep and some are destined to go in other's hands. Now I try to find people that will truly enjoy the magazines before I give them away. That was what I used to like about ebay...especially when there were multiple bids on them. Then I knew that they were going to people that really wanted them. ( I still have some of The English Garden)
Oh, yes! The magazines were:
Horticulture
Fine Gardening
Garden Gate
Garden Design
The Garden (AHS)*
The Garden (RHS)*
Gardens Illustrated
Organic Gardening
The English Garden
Country Life and Country Gardens
many seasonal garden magazines I found in the markets
*I am not sure on these 2 titles as they are gone and I have not renewed them in years.
This message was edited May 8, 2011 7:09 PM
I love The English Garden. I would never give those away! I also really like the British version of Country Living and Country Home. My mags are a mix of cooking, home decor, and gardening. I love the special editions that come out with holiday appetizers and also the 4x a year country gardens one that always has a cute shed on the cover. Cannot resist anything with a cute shed on the cover!
Good idea to sell on Ebay. When I do get rid of mags, I take them to the library so someone else can have them if they want. I notice that the mags I take are always all gone the next time I come in. ;)
I have been taking some to the library as well as some of the books I no longer wanted, even if I bought them on ebay!
What are some more lists of books that you will always keep and re-read?
I like the books with color photos. I have one on Tasha Tudor's garden that I like a lot.
Anything with lots of cottage garden photos, veggie garden photos, gardens with lots of art, etc. I have a couple books on family gardens that are fun.
I like books in general. We have hundreds, if not thousands. To me a room without books is cold and unfinished looking. We converted our dining room into a dining room/library, but I still have books in other rooms. Most of my gardening books are in the family room which is a sunroom that we use as a family room.
I love gardening books. There are 6 book cases in my back bedroom filled with gardening and quilting books, mostly gardening. Yup save magazine too. Lol. Love: Graham, Elliot, Pam H. ( who is married to Elliot ), Alan A., Beth, Penelope, Tony, Michael D., Alan A., American Hort. Society ( Brickel I think) , Proctor, Springer ( these two are local authors). Think my absolute favs are: Gertrude, Tasha ( she worked in her garden barefoot, imagine that), Beebe ( the American Gertrude ), got magazines still in boxes (bought from botanic gardens at annual sale in Denver), + all that I have bought (such pretty pix ), videos, cds. Does anyone have Gardens of the World with Hepburn, lol, I DO. I use to record Gardening shows also, like the old ones the best, especially Vivtory Garden when they use to go and show us the English and Euopean gardens. WOW! Loved em. Any one ever remember the show out of Canada, with the older husband and wife team, they showed hands on how to's. Loved it. Now I buy magazines and turned to using all the info.. I'm creating a 1 acre garden of trees, shrubs and Flowers!!! Lol. It's all their fault, (the authors). Maybe I should have them come help. And then there's Monet's gardens, wow, would love to go to Europe and England to tour these gardens personnaly. Don't know if I'll have enough time, too busy planting at my little Sissinghurst. Yup got books. This year making arbors, paths, trellises, garden art(stained glass), hyper tufa birdbath, fences, installing sprinkler system at 6ft. (had enough of dragging towers around), figuring out ways to thwart the deer ( grrrrr), I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself for having spent money on all those books, atleast I'm putting the info to use, even took painting classes to do plen aire . Gosh anyone else as bad as me?????? LOL. Love it though, my neighbors can't figure out why I spend so much time in the garden,(she must be crazy). HaHa One book I would like to suggest for perennials and veggies, is actually just a catalog but the best is Thompson and Morgan Seeds, lots of info especially for those who grow from seed. Happy gardening. Kathy Time to go mist my babies, oh ya gotta plant about a thousand flowers plus all the shrubs and trees I got or are coming in the mail next month. OH MY!!!
Love the comments on this thread!!!! :-). Hilarious
Gwendalou, love your diningroom. It makes sense to get a much use from it as possible. I agee that books do warm up a room.