I can't resist posing this question.I am not a writer but a lurker.Banish me from this forum if you must and I will go quietly, but I have to ask.Pam

Only one!!?? Do you garden? OK, Emily Dickinson's poetry because inspiration makes magic!

1954 printing of America's Garden Book by Louise Bush-Brown. It was printed in 1939, 54, the '80s, and '96. I have the 1954 printing.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden Forum

What a question. I used to really like the Bush-Brown book. But things have changed. That book, as good as it is, was about gardening in America back then. There is plenty of good information on upscale foundation plantings and the like.
But seriously, I'd have to say The Principles of Gardening, by Hugh Johnson (the old edition, not the new one). This is still a good book for a creative person venturing... Tons of topics -- each with a two-page spread -- like a magazine or TV documentary, but there is a taste of everything (and everything in good taste).

The American Man's Garden book by rosemary Verey runs a neck and neck with the natural garden I love them both

Thanks everyone for your responses.Your choices sound interesting.Ken when you said you'd take the old edition of The Principles of Gardening,what is the date it was published?Amazon has a 1997 edition.Is this the new or old?Thanks again,Pam

Siftings by Jens Jensen - a sweet little book about seeing and creating landscapes.

Gosh, I am really excited about the books mentioned here. I have an old edition of the New Western Garden Book that suits my purposes just fine. As long as I have a good grasp on a plants needs for living healthy, I am good to go. I have two other reference books on native Texas plants that are secondary references, but I'll stick with my Western Garden book if push comes to shove!

The Hillier Gardeners guide to Trees and Shrubs. Can I only take one????

Only one? It would have to be Perennial Garden Plants by Graham Stuart Thomas. This is both a mine of information and an excellent read.

Assuming this is like deserted island time, no question. Only one. The Essential Earthman, Henry Mitchell.

That's torture! Don't do that to me! A laptop is out of question, I supppose? Has got many pages though...
Well, if you'd really force me to decide, I would take "With Goethe through the Garden", a collection of Goethe's poems, aphorismens and remarks about gardening and everything referring to it. Goethe wasn't only a poet, a theatre director, a scientist investigating nature and form, but also a passionate gardener. He had a garden rich in varieties, he loved roses and collected specialities like the gingko tree, he named several plants and praised them in many poems. For him the garden was the symbol for the unity of art and love. And less I wouldn't take.
Susanne

Susanne, We share a love of Goethe. He was truly remarkable and his observations of nature - imaginative and inspiring. You must know his "Metamorphosis of Plants". He coined the word morphology ...he is a perfect example of one combining two loves (though he had many more -a theory on color,weather, bones... etc.) gardening/nature and writing - his poetry is filled with his direct experience and love of the plantworld. I wrote an essay about his ideas in Metamorphosis of Plants and it was published in a local magazine. I do not know the book you mentioned. Could you give all the important info so that I could find it.

As for what I would take - "The Fragrant Path" by Louise Beebe Wilder - but I hope it never comes to that choice.

Carol,
the collection of Goethes "garden-works" (original title is "Mit Goethe durch den Garten") has been put up by Claudia Schmölders and was published by Insel Verlag as a pocket book (ISBN 3-458-33512-9). The first edition came out in 1989 on the occasion of the German Federal Garden Show in Frankfurt / Main. I'm afraid, it is only available in German language. But the content is all true Goethe, taken from his complete works, nothing else added. And of course, it also shows the Metamorphosis of Plants.
What I love most about Goethe is the way, he indulged himself in life and his ability to transport this joy through words: "A pleasant day is like a grey one, if we meet it without sympathy."
It's raining wet snow outside, I'm afraid it will take at least three pullovers and some thick woolen socks of sympathy to make it a pleasant one...

Ken - why the old version of Principles of Gardening rather than the revised? (I believe it was revised in 1996). Not sure the older one is available any more. Do you recommend the new at all?

Thanks,

Toni

Susanne,You have made me want to learn German to read With Goethe Through the Garden.Not being a writer myself I am naive about how books are translated from one language to another.With your writing ability,you strike me as someone who could do a beautiful job translating this gem into English.I would be your first customer. In the meantime ,I'm going to get to know Goethe as a gardener.Thanks,Pam

Susanne,

I second what Pam wrote.To be able to read Goethe in German!I would be your second customer. Pam, you could hopefully find "Goethe's Botanical Writings" translated by Bertha Mueller - University of Hawaii Press- I have a 1952 edition but I am sure there must be a new one. A great way to start the New Year. Happy Happy to All.
Carol

Carol, Pam,
thank you so much for your nice words, I've grown at least an inch by it! In fact I used to work as a translator for a Japanese company (must be hundred years ago), but that was all about economy and industry and nothing about flowers or poetry. I never really learned how to translate the way it should be done when making an attempt at Goethe - maybe it's better to leave this job to professionals! Poor Goethe, he wouldn't have a chance to stop me...
Thank you again and best wishes, Susanne

Perhaps we should stop this here. Surely there is only one gardening book we would take. The one we are all working on at the moment! Complete with notes, research, computer files, database, ideas, and those memories of warmer days.

On the other hand maybe somone said it better. If so please continue.

I'd never make it from the wreck to the desert island John with all that tied around my neck. Also the chances of finding a publisher here are slim enough let alone on a desert island! My choice would be Russell Page's 'The Education of a Gardener' much lighter, AND yes,he said it better.

Gosh--Would it be Hudak's "Gardening with Perennials Month by Month"? Or maybe Peter Beales' "Roses" for all the purty pitchers? No, it would have to be Donald Culross Peattie's "A Natural History of Trees" (Houghton Mifflin).

Clearly I am more boringly practical than most...the single most comprehensive gardening book I have on a given topic is Sylvia Thompson's "A Kitchen Garden." I wish someone would write equally well researched books on perennials, evergreens, ornamental grasses, landscape design, etc. She is specific down to types of manure (poultry, rabbit, horse, etc.) best for a given crop, and doesn't exclude often used edible herbs or less known greens (often deemed weeds)from her volume. Besides, wherever we are going, we usually want to eat!

pessimism is not in my nature. I live day by day and enjoy every moment - that includes getting my hands on as many gardening books as I can afford (at the expense of more practical things, like new clothing). So many subjects, so many things to learn and to enjoy. What a wonderful, marvelous live it is, so don't ever limit yourselves!
Ellinor

Hi Pam!

I am not a writer either and in fact in finding this forum I am in awe of the names I see posted here... I figure I should probably be banished myself. But then when I saw your post, I just couldn't contain myself. I needed to respond. If I only had one book to choose it would be We Made A Garden by Margery Fish, mostly because she is my gardening idol. I saw her gardens while in England. They were in the process of renovation, so they weren't quite as lush as some of the other gardens I visited while there. But they were beautiful, nonetheless. Just walking the same paths as once did Margery Fish - I was in heaven.... Well, I guess it's how Elvis fans feel the first time they go to Graceland ....ha - ha!

But seriously, Margery Fish is how I first became hooked on reading books by "garden writers", not just "help" books. I love her style of writing. Reading a book of hers always makes me feel that I am with her wandering through her gardens and chatting over a cup of tea... :-)

Eileen

Hugh Johnson, absolutely. In either edition.
How can we get the Goethe published in English?
How can we get the Russell Page book re-issued?

Abby,
amazon.com has about 164 listings of Goethe in English, "Goethe's Botanical Writings" were published last in 1989, both paperback and hardcover, by Ox Bow Press. Maybe you'll find it at your local library, too.
Regards, Susanne

No bount adout it. Henry Mitchell gets my vote. I have all of his books and have reread them many times.

For me, an easy answer---Mirabel Osler's "A Gentle Plea for Chaos"
This was put back in print by Little Brown in '98
-Pure inspiration!

If I could only take one book it would have to be the 1989 classic by Frederick McGourty, The Perennial Gardener. No, wait. I think it's The Gardener's Monthly, Vol. 2-3, 1860--"tips on preserving pears and quinces together."

Nah, it's Alice Morse Earle's Old-Time Gardens, 1903. Then there are all those back issues of the Illinois Prairie Farmer. Say it ain't so...

Cheers.

Mike Dirr's MANUAL OF WOODY LANDSCAPE PLANTS. I can craft all the clever metaphors and astounding alliterations I need in my own mind and dredge enough poetry from my own heart to satisfy any reasonable need for creative writing, but that one book of practical, opinionated advice ought to be every gardener's and garden writer's companion.

I would surely bring my old, alomst wrecked, like the ship that dumped me on the island, Flore Laurentienne by Frère Marie Victorin.

It's about the flora of Quebec province, but Marie-Victorin also talks about the folklore around the plants.

I hope my desert island is in Quebes province, so it could be handy.

My favorite garden writer is James Underwood Crockett. He writes on a level that is understandable by everyone, and most of the gardening processes are illustrated and arranged monthly. Each month is broken down as to what should/needs to be done during that month, and he lists the topics on the side of the cover page so that you can see at a glance the information covered in the text.

James U. Crockett was the host of the TV garden show called the "Victory Garden," which is aired from Boston. Unfortunately, James U. Crockett met an untimely death due to cancer, and the "Victory Garden" show is now made up of various garden hosts, one that comes to mind is Richard Swain.

Could I take my entire magazine collection of Gardens Illustrated ? I love each and every issue, Reread them over and over again from the earliest to the latest issue. To me its simply the best garden magazine on the market (Sorry Lee Anne White of Fine Gardening , I like your mag. too but its no match for Gardens Illustated. )

"Botanica"..The illustrated A-Z of over 10,000 plants and how to cultivate them...got mine at Sam's...
Larkie

Sorry, came to this question only today - and found myself wondering is Osler's title inspired by Freud's comment "a plea for a measure of abnormality"?? Which makes me think about his most gardener oriented essay: On Transience. A real gem, and quite possibly the one I would choose. If, in the past you found you just couldn't bear reading Freud, this may be the essay that changes your mind - and besides, only 3 pages long.

Good gardening.

I'm with you, Chris: Dirr's Woody Plants Manual. Don't know how I ever managed without it!

I'm not a garden writer either, unless the volumes written over the years to my clients about organic gardening counts.
The A-Z encyclopedia is my pick for info, and Ruth STout's gardening without work , for fun .

How about a blank journal, well bound to withstand weather. You could record everything you observe on this exotic island and posterity would find it and translate it and you would be part of history.

The garden book I'd take with me is the one that I use every year in my garden. It's not in print but it contains my month by month to do lists, my plants listed with notes, landscape ideas, the wish list of plants that I want to try in the garden and the lists of plants that I think need to be removed from the planet -- like mint and Creeping Charley. It also contains my recipes for mixing potting soil and and and ... Not a book that's in print, but my personal Bible that I've created for my garden. Can't get through a season without it.-- Helen

"Tropical Garden Design" by Made Wijaya. That book is so beautifully photographed and colorfully written it is scary.
"The Natural Shade Garden" by Mr. Druse comes a close second.

Have to be two. Victory Garden month by month (Crockett's version) and the most recent updated, new method version of whatever is out there that is written by REAL gardeners and not by someone out to make a fast dollar and fills the book with "fluff". Helen