I like Sunset magazine and think most new homeowners would get a lot from a subscription. If you aren't familiar with Sunset you can stop by the library and check it out.

Sunset is fine but there is not much gardening content. Much of it is taken up with food and decorating articles.

Two other mags to consider are Horticulture and Organic Gardening. I haven't looked at either lately but both were good magazines when I read them a few years back.

I would probably pick Organic Gardening if he is at all into growing veggies and fruit. Why not have a look at a book store and see which you think would be best?

Fine Gardening is probably the best choice among the more prevalent ones. As mentioned Sunset is not a gardening magazine, making it a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. Sunset Publishing does produce gardening books, but the magazine covers a wider range of subjects that includes gardening. A given issue may have only a handful of gardening articles.

I agree with bboy, Fine Gardening!

The benefit to Sunset is that as a regional publication, it will have a distinctly NW approach to whatever gardening articles it includes, but they don't tend to be numerous or very detailed. OTOH, the decorating, remodelling and food/entertaining articles that predominate may be of interest to a new homeowner as well :-)

But for a good, all-round gardening magazine, I also recommend Fine Gardening. And is does have some regional forums in each issue. It's about the only one I bother with anymore. Horticulture is more advertising than content these days.

What about a gift of just a book rather than a subscription? The Sunset Western Garden Book and its companion, Western Landscaping would make a great housewarming gift for a new homeowner/gardener.

Maybe get a gift certificate from a local nursery. Good advice from locals that know what's going on.

I think that Fine Gardening is written for garden lovers and more experienced gardeners and may not be as helpful for newbies. Perhaps I'm wrong....

Sunset would be good for new homeowners with it's decorating, cooking and other topics. Especially if the person is new to the PNW as well as homeownership.

I like them both but only subscribe to Fine Gardening at the moment.

Do love the Sunset Western Garden Guide and when I moved here from Phoenix it was very helpful. It was our textbook in horticulture class in high school there though a much older version.

That's Sunset Western Garden Book. I've heard it called "Guide" before, for whatever reason quite a bit more than one person remembers it as "Guide".

Perhaps they changed the name since it was my horticulture class text in 1979?

I've advised people to purchase it hundreds of times over the years and never thought of it as anything but the Sunset Western Garden Guide.

How odd?

Thanks for all of your suggestions!

Does it strike anyone as odd that of all the gardening magazines out there, only four received mention? A quick check of the local library reveals Garden Gate (ad-free), Garden Design (meaningful content-free), Master Gardener (eye-candy-free) and many more.

I decided to go with Sunset (magazine, not the Western Garden Book/Guide) for its NW orientation and because it has other features that a new homeowner would enjoy as pointed out by sundevil, gardengal and buyorsell888. The house was built in the '30's so home repair info would likely come in handy, plus he or his girlfriend might like to try the recipes.

I do have a subsription to Fine Gardening and like it for the most part. Sunset seemed to me to have been dumbed down for some years now, but looking through the latest issue, I can see some articles of benefit. What works best for me -- here comes the flattery, watch out -- is the (mostly) sound advice, quick responses, great photographs and even a soupcon or more of wit that I get from you all here in GW land.

Thank you,

Rain

I subscribed to Fine Gardening and Horticulture for years but now only read Gardens Illustrated. It's an expensive British publication, but it's gorgeous and I look forward to getting it. There's a US subscription service and rate that's cheaper than having your copy shipped over from England. That said, it's expensive ($72/year or so). I stopped buying other magazines and books so I could justify the cost.

While I still subscribe to Sunset myself, I greatly miss the larger garden content it used to have, and find myself resenting the more simplistic garden content it now presents, as well as the emphasis on pointers labeled as "Ideas to Steal"... It was a lot more informative, garden wise 20 or 30 years ago, and I notice a lot more mistaken plant identifications in photos these days.

I also subscribe to Garden Design Magazine, and while I like the photos and many of the featured gardens, the writing often seems to be puff pieces meant to help sell the garden furniture and/or accessories, or promote the various caterers/stagers/etc who were part of the photo shoots.

One magazine that was not mentioned that is consistently good about educated discussions of plants, gardens and garden philosophy for West Coast gardening is Pacific Horticulture Magazine, usually purchased as a benefit of joining one of the West Coast Horticultural Societies. No doubt some may think it is too California-centric, but it is another one to consider. The Mediterranean Garden Society also puts out a quarterly magazine included as part of the price of membership, but absolutely no photos in the magazine, just line drawings. This quarterly mostly addresses gardens in the Mediterranean Basin proper, but does have the occasional USA West Coast article.

Hmm, Gardens Illustrated sounds intriguing (but what does that say about my champagne taste?), as does PHM. Will check in the library to see if I can "rent" a few before I buy.

Rain

Yes: Pacific Horticulture should be re-named California Horticulture.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon.com: Sunset Western Garden Book New Edition 1967: Editors of Sunset Magazine, Sunset Books

Looking at the October Fine Gardening much of it appears to be aimed at beginners or the casually interested.

I'm not sure I'd necessarily agree with that assessment. While it may not have much 'meat' of interest to a professional horticulturist, I think the content is very appropriate, appealing and informative for the average gardener. There is always some sort of discussion about new plant introductions or less common plants, good design tips, interesting plant combinations and various gardening techniques, all well illustrated. I quite liked the article on some common myths or fallacies regarding organic gardening practices and brought a dose of realism into what is often a blindly followed practice just because it seems like the environmentally correct, "green" thing to do, especially pointing out the high toxicity of some organic pest controls that many average gardeners are not aware of. Many think that because it is labeled 'organic' it is 'safe', which is not necessarily true.

Same is true of produce, organic certification having been neutered by now.

I'd recommend the ad-free Garden Gate magazine, especially for someone starting out in gardening. The photos and drawings are very clear, and instructions are simple, clear, and easy to follow. They always have a good mix of articles, too.

Thanks for the recent post, Daphnexduck. However, in the roughly 1 1/2 years since the thread was started, my business associate lost his job (a banker) and had to sell his house and move to California where he had some job prospects. Perhaps I should have gone for Pacific Horticulture after all!

Rain

I saw Garden Gate at Barnes & Noble, flipped through it. Looked pretty good.

I rely primarily on my local library. I can read a number of current mags while in the library and often find mags I want in their "for sale" stack...at a whopping 10 cents per issue. That sure makes the $$$ go further! If there are any articles I want from the current read-in-library-only issues, making copies at 10 cents a page is pretty reasonable, too.

Except we now know that those stinky photocopies (and register receipts etc.) are as toxic as they smell.

I would have definitely said fine gardening mag. until feb. 2011 . That months cover - Huge letters ' get sowing! have your best seed-starting year' I thought that as usual some great article with interesting content. It shows seed growing (so do my 4-6 year old grandchildrens books), and a idea to grow seeds in egg shells.Oh yes use a heat mat and a fan! Expected a quite a bit more indepth article out of finegardening, especially with the front page hype. So think its time to look to other magazines for actual advice.

I think some print media is beginning to ape web sites in layout and tone.