Wait for growing season with a good gardening book

Whenever someone asks for a recommendation for a gardening book to offer as a gift, especially for a beginner, I suggest Barbara Damrosch’s “A Garden Primer.” It was first published in 1988 and has in recent years been revised. It’s a very thick paperback and will take the gardener from soil, to seedlings, to growth, fertilizing and harvesting.

Not only that but she lives in cold Maine and manages to produce food for 12 months. It covers ornamental and edible plants. Imagine my delight when I saw that Santa had brought me her newest book called “A Life in the Garden,” a memoir of her life as a gardener.

At my stage of life, I am not buying many new gardening books but there are some classics from extraordinary plants people which never go out of style. Like Damrosch, many have updated their particular classic. 

Here are a few that I have referred to in recent years.

“Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs” is the bible for this subject. He has included his own photographs and knows his subject well.

For wildflowers, I turn to William Cullina’s “Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada.”

You can’t go wrong with any of Ken Druse’s books on various aspects of gardening, propagating, shade gardening and passion for gardening. He’s personable and I’ve heard him speak. In signing my copy of a book, he mentioned that I was appropriately named. 

Any books by the late Christopher Lloyd of Great Dixter in England or Daniel Hinkley who founded Heronswood Gardens will delight you, I promise. 

There are a few books that are interesting not so much for techniques but for historical facts. Alex Pankhurst wrote “Who Does Your Garden Grow?” This fun volume fills you in on who the people are that some plants commemorate. Did you know Nora Barlow columbine was namded after Charles Darwin’s granddaughter? How about Miss Willmott’s ghost? Why is she important?

William Stearn has compiled a scholarly source called “Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners.” For those with a fondness for the proper Latin names and the sources for those names, this is your book. I use it to check spelling constantly. 

Andrea Wulf wrote “The Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation.” Perhaps very timely? I enjoyed learning about the early leaders who also happened to be great gardeners. Jefferson, Washington and others of that period are highlighted. 

Books that follow Frederick Law Olmsted’s accomplishments are especially interesting to city planners. He was a fervent abolitionist though not outspoken. He designed so many of our revered public spaces, including Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, Grounds in Washington, D.C., and Yosemite. He wrote too many books and papers to name, but they are accessible on line. 

Marta McDowell has a book called “All the Presidents’ Gardens.” This is a fun tour through the history of gardens on the White House grounds. Interesting details. 

There are specialty books for certain species such as hosta, dianthus and roses. The late Wayne Winterrowd wrote one on annuals and also one on roses. Diana Grenfell covered hostas.

Allan Armitage, whose day job is at the University of Georgia, is another favorite. He wrote two books I cherish, “Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens” and “Field Guide to Specialty Cut Flowers: A Growers’ Manual.”

Many of these books can be bought second hand from on-line sources, so even if out of print, they are still available. 

I listen to a couple of podcasts that feature gardening. Margaret Roach has a weekly one called A Way to Garden,” which is also the title of her gardening book, newly revised. She began as Martha Stewart’s horticultural expert. By the way, her “Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook” is full of serious info and lovely photographs.

Another podcast is “Gardener’s Question Time.” This is British and light-hearted. Ordinary gardeners ask questions of a panel of three experts, and I’ve learned a lot. 

Since we can’t be out in the soil for a few months, one or two of these volumes might help speed the time along till we can get our hands dirty again. I have a library of garden books and if anyone wants to borrow one, I am happy to oblige. Mention by name or come and see what you might enjoy.