What are your garden info. reference materials?

No doubt, the Web itself is a great source of information, but what are the books that are referred by you for anything concerning Gardening? Which is the best you find? Here, the "Complete Gardening in India" - by K.S.Gopalswamiengar, is considered as the gardener's Bible. I lay my hands on it when I need any information.

I use the Wesrern Garden books a lot and Mountain Plants of the Pacific Northwest. If those fail I do a search here at DG and then if I still don't find an answer I post it as a question here and so far I have always gotten an answer from other DG'rs :) I always check the used book sales for garden books and have collected a few others but the really good ones are so expensive that they are out of my price range.

When looking for information on propagation, size, type, etc. I check the Thompson and Morgan seed catalog. They list lots of info. When it comes to soil or drainage, or composting, I usually rely on friends, since I live in Alaska where it is a little different than gardening in most other parts of the United States. I've begun compiling my own catalog of plants and I've found lots of info right here in Dave's Garden.

Like WZ i use catalogues for a lot of information. In the UK Hilliers has been my bible for shrubs and trees.
Also read books by Christopher Lloyd and Vita Sackville West. If i need specific info i go to the library for books on particular subjects, unless im totally smitten with a group of plants and have to buy a specialist book.

Do you all have good libraries?

Oh, philomel: We're a small town, so I can't say we have an extensive library, but for the average person looking for reading material, it's not bad. The internet is a godsend for people in small Alaskan communities.

I would be lost without the RHS A-Z encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Wild Flower Book of Great Britian and Europe and the New Vegetable and Herb expert. I have other garden/plant related books which I rely on as a reference too but not nearly so much as these 3.

aside from the Internet, Sunset Western Garden book, Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening and others too... ma vie

Mine is the AHS Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, and Hortus III. I also use catalogs, The Natuinal Audubon Society Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Edition, and several rose books with more coming. I use my library, but usually have to go to interlibrary loan to get what I really need. I once had a book from the library at the Brooklyn botanical gardens for a month. Lately, if I see something that I need (or want), I just buy it - if the price isn't to exhorbitant. Once on vacation, we bought a set of the wildflowers of New York State put out by Cornell U. in the early 1900s. It cost a bundle, but what a treasure. It has hand coloured photos of the plants. I also have some other "antique" gardening books that my mother and I have found at estate sales and yard sales - people get rid of the most wonderful things!

Philomel - I knew Vita Sackville-West first as a poet, how wonderful it was to find that she and I also share gardening - wish I had her staff!!LOL

I have tons of gardening books. I can't help myself - it's an addiction almost as bad as gardening itself. I agree with Kathleen about the AHS Encyclopedia. I just got the paper back version of Hortus III for $12 of e-bay. If I want a certain book I always look for it used. With the Internet you're bound to find someone selling a used copy. The AddAll book search is very helpful for pricing books http://www.addall.com/

When I first started, my Southern Living Gardening Book (and its companion, SL Landscaping) were very helpful with lots of basic information.

I'm still looking for a good price on Hortus and either the AHS and/or RHS Encyclopedia - which reminds me I need to start checking eBay again :)

I have to say our public library here is mind-blowing - we have more gardening books than most good bookstores, so I feel extremely fortunate. They're a little light on the more technical resources, but their wide variety of material makes up for any shortfall.

Taylors Master Guide to Gardening, for seed starting I use TM's website and 2 years worth of gardening mags I saved. Don't buy any new ones, it's all recycled info:)

Kathleen, of course she's gone now, and Sissinghurst is National Trust, but I used to go there as a child and she would be sitting out reading her newspaper and talking to visitors and I remember Harold Nicholson coming out to talk to her with their dog - a large alsatian.
Goodness i'm old!!

LOL, Philomel, she died when I was 10 (I checked up on it - not that encyclopaedic!)so I must be in the same "old" category. What a memory to have! Alsatian - German Shepherd, for all the non-Anglophiles. Too bad we really don't speak the same language, or maybe not. What fun it is going back and forth with we-say-you-say!

General purpose

American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

The AHS Great Plant Guide

Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening

For vines, shrubs, and trees

Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants : Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses

Dirr's Trees and Shrubs for Warm Climates : An Illustrated Encyclopedia

Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs : An Illustrated Encyclopedia

For landscaping

Taylor's Master Guide to Landscaping

Southern Living Landscape Book, Steve Bender, editor

The Four-Season Landscape : Easy-Care Plants and Plans for Year-Round Color by Susan Roth - my favorite landscaping book of all time

For southern gardening

The Southern Living Garden Book, Steve Bender, editor

Taylor's Guide to Gardening in the South

Best all around gardening book

Crockett's Victory Garden by James Underwood Crockett

In addition, the Taylor's Guide series has a large number of specialized books including ones for trees, shrubs, grasses, bulbs, shade gardening, heirloom vegetables, etc. These are all excellent books.

Kathleen, was going to say GSD for German Shepherd dog, but didn't think people would know what that was and couldn't be bothered to put it in full. Alsatian was easier - or so i thought lol. Going back to the old days again, i also remember when the Kennel Club changed the official name of aforementioned pooch from Alsatian to GSD :O

Last month when I made a round of all the book shops here, I felt really awful - none had anything of worth on the subject. :{ That prompted me with this thread. Mysore is the second biggest city in our state besides Bangalore which is the capital. Perhaps I might look for shops there when I visit there next. Some of you are lucky to have at least a few books to lay hands on.

I also collect gardening books(much to my husband's dismay-he usually has to help carry them at fleamarkets!) I also use AHS encyclopedia, Dirr's, Taylor's Guides,I find lots of organic info in the various Rodale publications. On the web the OSU factsheet database is our main source of info for Master Gardener hotline questions.I hope when I find a good book on EBay I'm not in a bidding war with a friend from Dave's Garden!! Melissa

One of my "very" favorites is Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. If you don't like his method of planting there is still a lot of information about soil. It has worked so well for me, and my soil is wonderful.

Gardening Book List
“Storey Publishing Bulletins” series (Storey Books)
 
 
“Taylor’s Guides to Gardening” series (Houghton Mifflin Co.)
 
 
Ellen Phillips, C. Colston Burrell
“Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials” (Rodale Press, 1993; $27.95)
 
 
Christopher Brickell, Elvin McDonald, Trevor J. Cole, editors
“The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening” (Dorling Kindersley, 1993; $59.95)
 
 
Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk, editors in chief
“The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants” (Dorling Kindersley, 1996; $79.95)
 
 
Ruth Rogers Clausen, Nicolas H. Ekstrom
“Perennials for American Gardens” (Random House, 1989; $50)

They all appear to be expensive?

Dinu, Gardening books are indeed very expensive! The good ones are full of years of reserch and expertise by the writer and are very photo intensive which makes them costly to print. This is why so many of us cannot afford to own them and rely on our friends here to help us locate information we do not have access to at home.

Just one more reason this site is so wonderful!

As some of you have suggested A-Z Enc. of GP, I might lean on to this. Let me see. I saw its pages on amazon.com. Seems to be useful. I'll faint if I convert $ to Rupees :{

u got mail Dinu!

Ma Vie, I've replied to ur mail.

Bumping this up to help jog the memories of those fave books - now you can rate them in the Garden Bookworm!

Yea, how much fun! I have just spent some time putting my comments on three different books. What a great addition to DG!

;~D

LimeyLisa Kay