Books on Gardening

Books on gardening have brought my husband and I many hours of enjoyment.Not only are the pictures often inspiring, but the knowledge gained is invaluable. Many can be bought for only a few dollars and some can even be downloaded for free.

Click here for online resources on the best gardening books we have found. If you have ever bought the wrong plant for your area that later died, or have paid a professional to do the work and been unhappy with the results, you know how frustrating it can be. Knowing a little about plants and what you wanted could have saved you and your contractor a lot of time and money. Professional landscapers can be a tremendous help, but it's better if you can know a thing or two yourself. This is where books on gardening will help.

A local book store may have some of these gardening books, but some aren't typically stocked because they are too specialized for some gardeners. If you have trouble finding them, or like the convenience of shopping online, feel free to go to www.amazon.com for your purchase.

Great Books on Gardening For Basic Reference

Armitage, Alan. Herbaceous Perennial Plants. Athens, Georgia: Varsity Press, Inc: Portland Oregon: Timber Press Inc., 1989 (Great for Upper and Middle South)

Chaplin, Lois Trigg. Southern Gardener's Book of Lists Lanham, MD Taylor Trade Publishing, 1994 (This is a wonderful book that lists all types of plants for specific growing conditions.)

Dirr, Michael. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Champaign, Illinois: Stipes Publsihing Company, 1990 (Another great one for Upper and Middle South)

The Gardening Year. Galley Press. Orbis Publishing Limited 1985. (A wonderful book on the basics of gardening)

Halfacre, Gordon R. and Anne R Shawcroft. Landscape Plants of the Southeast 5th ed. Raleigh, North Carolina:Sparks Press, 1992 (Especially helpful for the Carolinas and Piedmont.)

Smith, Miranda. Complete Home Gardening: Growing Secrets and Techinques for Gardeners A Division of Federal Marketing Corp 2001

Whitside, Katherine. The Way We Garden Now Random House, Inc. 2007(This is a delightful book about the basics of gardening with easy to do projects included)

Books on Gardening- Specialty Books

Armitage, Allan M. Armitage's Native Plants for North American Gardens Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc., 2006

Hill, Madaline and Barclay, Gwen with Jean Hardy Southern Herb Gardening Fredericksburg, Tx: Shearer Publishing, 1987

Rice, Graham and Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc., 1993

Thomas, Graham Stuart. Perennial Garden Plants , or, The modern Florilegium Oxford: The Alden Press Ltd. 1976

Books on Children's Gardening

Kite, L. Patricia. Garden Wizardry for Kids. Hauppauge, New York: Barron's Educational Series, 1995 ("Exciting, safe projects for home and school, plus fascinating folklore that will surprise any kid")

Tell Us What Book You Love Below

Gardeners love their books just about as much as they love their gardens. We all have our favorites. Although we have hundreds of gardening books, we can't have them all. Help us pick some that you think are great.

It can be on any gardening subject, and it can even be a great fiction book like The Secret Garden, The Harvester, or my very favorite Girl of the Limberlost. The last two mentioned are by Gene-Stratton Porter.

Please tell us your favorite below.