The Well Tended Perennial Garden

Oh, that's nice to hear....my copy just showed up on the doorstep this afternoon!

I also ordered Your House, Your Garden on the advice of a very experienced gardening friend.

Another good DiSabato book is The Well Designed Mixed Garden.
Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs, and his Viburnum and Hydrangea books are good resources
Time Tested Plants, Pamela Harper
The Collector's Garden, Ken Druse
Newcomb's Wildflower Guide is very helpful for identification

If the logistics, history and economics of world flower trade interest you "Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers" by Amy Stewart is worth a look. Starts with the somewhat tragic story of Leslie Woodriff who bred the "Stargazer" lily, touches on one of the last sweet violet growers in America, growers in South America, importers in Miami, the Amsterdam auction houses and high line florists in New York.

For humor and some history of rose breeding, pick up Aurelia C. Scott's "Otherwise Normal People: Inside the Thorny World of Competitive Rose Gardening"

Wonderful suggestions, all! Keep them coming! :)

For general ambience of gardening and idiosyncratic gardeners, read anything by Thalassa Cruso, or anything by Beverley Nichols, or anything by Henry Mitchell.

For beautifully written and effortlessly informative books about native plants, read anything by William Cullina (formerly of the New England Wild flower Society). He wrote the best explanation I've ever read about why some plants grow well in acidic soil and others in alkaline.

Claire

In addition to those already recommended:
The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch
Color Echoes: Harmonizing Color in Your Garden, by Pamela J. Harper

The Damrosch book is a compendium which has helped this newbie gardener avoid big mistakes countless times. The newest edition also stresses organic practices.
The Harper book was truly "aha!" for me.

I love William Cullina's books and just ordered the one about Ferns, Mosses, and Grasses. Claire, why do you say that Cullina is formerly of NEWFS? Their website says that he is the nursery director.

I've taken out a few of Cullina's books too and the Library system even has that Ferns and Mosses book and I've borrowed it already. Barbara Damrosch had a wonderful garden when she and her husband had a gardening show on TV. So I know she is a great gardener, but I took her books out and never warmed up to them. Sorry. She is married to Eliot Coleman who wrote The New Organic Grower plus others. He is very innovative about organic growing methods and growing vegetables in New England.

I have taken out Highgrove which was to me, a mesmerizing coffee table quality book about Prince Charles efforts to renovate their royal property into Organic growing. Gorgeous photos. I always mention Meadows by Lloyd Christopher which is quite delicious to me. I find the photos again, very inspiring and satisfying and make me wonder how there is a gardener that exists that could create some of these landscapes. I have a real love of many gardens created by Piet Oudolf who has four books in our library system. Dream Plants for the Natural Garden was a great one. I wish someone would invite him to come to Boston and design some of our public spaces.

I'm sure I am forgetting some of my favorites. I did take a minute to see what was new in the Library system and a couple of titles...looked interesting that I have not read yet....

The authentic garden: five principles for cultivating a sense of place, by Claire Sawyers

The magic of Monet's garden: his planting plans and color harmonies by Derek Fell

If I remember the one I am forgetting I will come back.

Have fun...

pm2

terrene: I don't remember where I read it, but he's moving to the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay, Maine. He talks about the move on

his web site.

Claire

my aha book was sara stein's Noah's Garden. I just so enjoyed it after checking it out of the library 3 times, i had to go and buy it for myself. but its more about the philosphy of the garden that actual gardening. But nopw i know how to get lightening bugs in my yard and the neighborhood kids come to my house to catch them all of june and july.

yes the book by HRH Charles about Highgrove is just lovely
and full of information on a grand scale.

I liked the Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.

the book about growing Giant Pumpkins was a good read. i refer to it as backyard biggies-- but i think the title is Backyard Giants-- its a new book in the past year or so.

Buried Treasures-- its a book about rare/exotic bulbs
was interesting to read.

but i always suggest Noah's Garden.

Diggerb

One of my very favorite books is by Roy Guste, SECRET GARDENS OF THE VIEUX CARRE. Long out of print, it recently came out in second edition. Having such a lovely series of photos and text showing the courtyard gardens of New Orleans has provided me much inspiration.

Another one I liked for years, THE SCENTED GARDEN by Rosemary Verey, is OOP but Amazon has some for sale.

I am awaiting delivery of HYDRANGEAS which was recommended on this forum or on the hydrangea forum. So much variety I never imagined in these over-achieving plants.

One of my favorites was lost in Katrina, MONET'S GARDEN...don't recall the exact title. But it is the source of inspiration for my mass planting of nasturtiums which grow with reckless abandon along the drive and patio at our house in MA. It is way to hot to do that in south AL.

Cornell has 1,849 "agricultural texts published between the early nineteenth century and the middle to late twentieth century" on line below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Core Historical Literature of Agriculture

The Well Tended Perennial Garden would be top on my list and I was happy to see it was the first to be recommended. I have many other books I got to to find out about plants but this it the one to go to to find out how to really grow perennials. My asters no longer flop, my hellenium is much more to my liking and I am much better at fall and spring garden chores.

A great read is Margery Fish's book "We Made A Garden". I love forces of nature and she was one.

Three cheers for this post! You've already tipped me off to a couple more books I need to look for. . .

Let me echo the recommendations for Pam Harper, Michael
Pollan (almost everything he's written) and most definitely
HRH Prince Charles's Highgrove book. . .glanced at it in
the PHS library in Philadelphia thinking it was just another "photo-op" coffee table book and ended up tracking
down a used copy on Amazon. . .

Other favorites, especially about gardeners and the pursuit
of gardening:

- "Two Gardeners: A Friendship in Letters" a remarkable
exchange between Elizabeth Lawrence, the noted
southern garden writer, and Katherine S. White, the
legendary New Yorker writer;
- "A Gentle Plea for Chaos" by Mirabel Osler, a
charming gardening memoir;
- "Duck Hill Journal", my favorite of the Page Dickey
writings, partially because I've visited her garden
in Connecticut and this just helped you understand
how it all came to be;
- "Deep in the Green", a collection of some of Ann
Ravers best columns for The New Yorker and the the
NY Times;
- Two splendid Piet Oudolf books: "Dream Plants for the
Natural Garden" and "Designing With Plants";
- "On Garden Style" by Bunny Williams(another CT garden
I've visited) but oddly enough, I found the book
more interesting than the actual garden. . .

Carl

Reader's Digest Organic Gardening for the 21st Century, by John Fedor is one of the books that changed my gardening outlook when I was given it as a gift.

It is one of those books where the photos draw you into the text, and explains the concepts of organic gardening in an easy-to-understand way. Highly inspiring. And its reference section on growing vegetables is one that I still regularly turn to.

The Cullina books are also must-have for anybody growing native plants and learning about natural-style gardening. I love his books and his writing style is so enjoyable.