Gardening Books - Some Ideas for Christmas

On a seasonal theme here are some ideas for any keen, wannabe or even armchair gardener in your life.

For both ideas on colour and plant combinations as well as practical information almost any book by Christopher Lloyd will be both well written and illustrated but three that particularly come to mind are ‘Colour for Adventurous Gardeners’, ‘Christopher Lloyd’s Gardening Year’, based on experiences at Great Dixter and a new compilation of his newspaper articles ‘Cuttings – A year in the garden with Christopher Lloyd’.

For inspiration on shade or woodland gardening try ‘Woodland Garden – Shade Loving Plants for Year-Round Interest’ by Beth Chatto or ‘Gardens with Woodland Plants’ by Karen Junker. Another good read from Beth Chatto is her ‘Gravel Garden’ which is full of good ideas, particularly if your garden has a hot, dry area.

For seasonal perennial combinations, with irresistible photographs, try ‘Plant Partners’ by Anna Pavord. If growing flowers for the house is an interest then one of Sarah Raven’s books such as ‘Grow Your Own Cut Flowers’ would be a good choice.

Modern naturalistic planting theories, which focus on form, texture, light and movement are covered in books by Piet Oudolf or Noel Kingsbury, who also sometimes collaborate as in ‘Designing with Plants’ which covers the subject well.

For lots of information on particular plants then the ‘Gardener’s Guides to Growing’ are a good range, titles include Hellebores, Clematis, Lilies, Orchids and many more, these are for people with an interest in specific plants groups. They are also useful for identification purposes as are the admirable Pan Garden Plant Series by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix whose paperbacks cover a wide range of specific plant types including Perennials, Bulbs, Fungi, Shrubs and Trees.

For practical, how to, guides then various Royal Horticultural Society Manuals are good hard working reference books; Propagation by Alan Toogood and Pruning by Christopher Brickell are detailed and well illustrated. There is also a new pruning guide ‘How to Prune’ by John Cushnie. The Expert Series by D G Hessayon are small paperbacks that cover specific areas of garden practice such as Flowering Shrubs, Containers, Lawns, Fruit, Bulbs, Pests and Weeds in an approachable way.

For the beginner take a look at Alan Titchmarsh’s ‘How to be a Gardener’ which seems to be very clear, well illustrated and covers a lot of ground in an easy format.

CAF