Garden Books

I thought garden book recommendations could be it's own subject, especially those specific to the PNW. Here are a couple of my favs:

PNW: Gardening with Native Plants, by Art Kruckeberg. Very thorough discussion of natives, with suggestions how to incorporate them in landscapes. I have a fond spot in my heart for Dr. Kruckeberg, having worked with him at the UW many moons ago.

Any of the stone books by Dan Snow - Listening to Stone, In the Company of Stone, etc. Very cool pictures of stonework done by a master, with well written commentary.

PNW: Anything and everything written by Ann Lovejoy. I think I have nearly all of her works. At this point, my favorite is Naturalistic Gardening. I feel like I'm wandering around her yard with her when I read her books.

The Rodale Herb Book. I've had this since 1980 and still use it as my 'go-to' book even though I have others that are more picturesque.

Encyclopaedia of Herbs by Nico Vermeulen. Just bought this, and it has me engrossed. Brief description and color photo of tons of common and not-so-common herbs. Some I will search out simply for their name, e.g., Melittis melissophyllum, common name basta*d balm.

Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health by Rosemary Gladstar. Easy to follow instructions for making teas, tonics, oils, salves, tinctures.

Good idea for a thread!

Oh! I was thinking I needed more gardening books, as I don't have many, so this is perfect for me to watch.

So far the two I have for our area are Herb Gardening for Washington and Oregon and Container Gardening for Washington and Oregon. I have another in the "series" on my wishlist, it's Edible Gardening.

I also like The Bountiful Container, since I'm mainly a container gardener, but I'd like to get that square foot book (not sure on the exact name.)

Tiki, if you are doing edibles and/or veggies, Organic Gardening West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon was my old stand-by when I grew a huge vegetable patch.

Very good idea for a thread!

I recently finished The Informed Gardener that Gwen gave me as a hostess gift last roundup, and have really enjoyed it. It is written by Linda Chalker-Scott, and addresses several garden "myths" in a well supported and well written way. I know that there is a sequel to it as well (Pixy, was it you that was talking about it?). It is a good read and at least makes you re-evaluate some of the things you do in the garden... maybe for the better.

A reference book I find very useful is The Pacific Northwest Gardener's Book of Lists by Ray and Jan McNeilan. It basically lists trees, shrubs and plants that are best for many different specific locations. One of it's blurbs is "tired of growing plants that don't do well in your garden?" Another is "wish you had a shopping list of proven plants for specific locations or uses?"

PNWMountainGirl, I think my dad would probably like that book! He works for where we live and occasionally does some planting.

The Jewel Box Garden

Anything by Piet Oudoulf
Anything by Dan Hinkley,, just because I love his writing style. It's so intellectual and plant hoity toity and fascinating! Also pretty funny.
Anything by Ken Druse, especially The Collector's Garden, Making More Plants, The Natural Shade Garden, and his series of Eighty Great.....Plants. So, I guess pretty much anything he writes.
Beth Chatto - The Dry Garden and Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden. You can't go wrong with her stuff.

Forgot to post that some of my very favorite gardening books are by Beverly Nichols. He was such a charming writer and he tells a good story. I'm going to own them someday because they are worth reading over and over.




This message was edited Jun 11, 2010 10:44 PM

Eliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest inspired me to revamp my entire garden, putting in 30" beds with paths between them, although he recommended 12" paths and I went to 18" instead since I had the space and wanted room to maneuver a bit better. I also use some of his weeding and planting techniques. But for eye-appeal I like Rosalind Creasy's The Edible French Garden along with Georgeanne Brennan's In the French Kitchen Garden. She gardens in California now so a lot of her ideas would work for the PNW, but I like the way she describes gardening through the seasons, since I do a potager-type setup.

Has anyone found that Square Foot book useful?

Ah, g-gal, I had that exact greenhouse 2 homes ago.

Sitting here in my bathrobe without any contacts is probably a good way to come up with a short list of "go-to books" since I can't see any of the 200 volumes on the shelves. Actually, the best books probably are tangled up in my bedcovers or sitting open by the fireplace, right?

For vegetables, nothing beats Dick Raymond's standbys: "The Gardening Year" and "Joy of Gardening." They are visual, straightforward, simple & smart. Mine are on loan right now, as usual, this time to Lisa, who was thrilled to have such an extensive-yet-easy-to-use reference as she tackles her first vegetable garden.

At some point, Ken Druse annoyed me & I burned all of his books. Same with the "Edible Gardening" series -- it began to feel repetitive. Maybe sometimes we simply outgrow certain authors.

I've made the bed & retrieved some other favorites:

Pretty much anything put out by the British "Hermes House" imprint, such as "The Practical Rock & Water Garden," "Planning Your Garden" and "Growing Fruit & Vegetables." These are big, beautiful, useful books without the stock photos that seem to be recycled amongst American book authors.

Also, Sunset's "Before & After Garden Makeovers." Normally, I wouldn't bother with "series" books because they seem like rehashing of the basics, but the before & after photos really help one visualize what your own space could look like.

Another MUST HAVE: "The Garden Color Book" by Paul Williams. It's a huge flip book that allows you to compare color combinations. You can lose whole weekends in those pages!

Another great one from the HarperCollins Practical Gardener series: "Architectural Plants: what to grow & how to grow it."

And, of course, I've read "Solviva: How to Grow $500,000 on One Acre & Peace on Earth" cover to cover almost as many times as I've read "The Lord of the Rings" over the years.

Summerkid, I don't have that greenhouse anymore; I have this one instead - it's a Legacy, and the frame is brown aluminum rather than resin, with glass walls and a polycarbonate roof. The Rion was getting old and it lost some panels last winter in all the storms and snow that we had, so it was time to replace it. Do you have a greenhouse now?

I have one Ken Druse book but haven't ever gotten into it. I ordered a couple of Beverley Nichols books based on Pixydish's recommendations, along with The New Low-Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton. I was thinking of getting Eddison's Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older, but in reading the reviews one person felt that Easton's book was much more helpful and specific. So I got both....We have been trying to cut back on our gardening chores and responsibilities but it's really hard, and Eddison's book supposedly offers good ideas for how to do that.

Not yet, I've been too peripatetic. But I have a perfect fenced & graveled RV corral with an overhung shed at the end that is just crying out to become one!

I can almost hear it crying out from NJ!

I'm pretty sure I won't ever out grow Ken Druse. The photos alone are worth it to me.

I think I'll check out Eddison's book. I'm starting to feel like I cannot keep up with all of the gardens I have and I cannot afford to hire a staff.

The one I forgot to list is the Horticultural Society's book on plant propogation. http://www.amazon.com/American-Horticultural-Society-Propagation-Plant/dp/0789441160/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276753287&sr=1-1

This is a reference book with all kinds of extremely useful information.

Greenhouse_gal, I think you'll find the Beverly Nichols books charming. They are completely British and very funny.

I'll have to take another look at my Ken Druse book.

I got the Eddison book but I'm not sure it really does what I hoped it would do. She does hire helpers, and also changes the way she grows things. But it doesn't look as though she grows vegetables, which is my main time sink! Valerie Easton's book may be better for that purpose; she talks a lot about container gardening and such.

I am giving the Beverley Nichols books to DH for Father's Day. The only problem with that is that when I give him a book, he doesn't like me reading it until he's finished with it. That sounds fair since it was a present, but he has a stack of books to get through all the time and it takes him forever to get to them. Then he sometimes forgets I wanted to read the book and shelves it somewhere. By then I've forgotten about it, too!

I have a new favorite book that isn't exactly a garden book but I think it's beneficial for me - Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest by Mark Turner and Phyllis Gustafson
I often find myself wondering what this or that is growing around here and this will help me identify it so I can google it.

Wildflowers are gardens! Another good resource is "Plants of the Pacific NW Coast" by Pojar & MacKinnon. Fieldbook style with photos, info, and traditional native uses.