Great Gardening Books

What are your favorite gardening books? Inspirational,  How- to or Reference? I’ve got books in each category that I consider top of the line.

Reference Books and How-to:

Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally by Robert Kourik was first written in 1986 and is still absolutely essential for anyone wanting to have an edible landscape at home. Robert has done his homework and you will find everything from designing parameters to edible plants, planting zones and organic solutions in his book.  I’ve been using it myself for 25 years. This book is neither out of date nor out of print. Get it today!

 

 

Sunset Western Garden Book by the Editors of Sunset books and Sunset Magazine, is the must have reference books for plants and plant selection for the Western United States. It has climate zones, plants selection by theme, and difficult landscaping situations, a western plant encyclopedia and a resource directory. I really couldn’t live without it.

The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy, first written in 1982 and updated in 2010 is also full of excellent information.

Inspirational

Green Thoughts by Eleanor Perenyi.  First published  in 1981, this masterpiece has now been updated as part of the Modern Library Gardening Series. Perényi’s lively and engaging essays address topics of infinite interest to gardeners (azaleas, onions, mulch, and pests among them) and offer a timeless glimpse of the exhilarating, opinionated world of gardening.  I really love this book.

Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate, by Wendy Johnson. For more than thirty years, Wendy Johnson has been gardening and meditating at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in northern California. She has a wealth of practical and thoughtful information on gardening, both the garden in the soil and the garden of the soul. This book is destined to be a classic in the tradition of nature writing. She is a wonderful evocative writer, and has no lack of humor.