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Gardening Book Recommendations
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Our Ask Helen gardening advice service receives a lot of requests for recommended gardening books. Because we all want something different, what appeals to one gardener is not always helpful to another. I've put together some of my favourites, however. These are books I use regularly, that I have found to be helpful and correct for my use, and that help me research new topics. And just so you know, none of the authors or publishers of these books have in any way paid for advertising here.
I have not included prices, because the vary wildly depending on your location. They can be somewhat expensive, however. If price is a factor, try some of the online second-hand bookstores.
This list will be updated as I find new selections I'm willing to recommend.
Happy reading!
Helen Kirkup
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN # | Description | |
| 1 |
The Botanical Garden - Volume 1 Trees and Shrubs |
Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix | Firefly Books | 1-55297-591-6 | Descriptions and photographs of whole plants and parts of plants, including seeds and roots. Great for identification. |
| 2 |
The Botanical Garden - Volume II Perennials and Annuals |
Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix | Firefly Books | 1-55297-592-4 | Botanical descriptions and photos of whole and part plants. |
| 3 | Guide to Plants and Flowers | Simon and Schuster | Simon and Schuster | 0-671-22247-3 | Short descriptions and care instructions, photos. Includes some plants not found in many other books, but organization not easy if you don't know exactly what you've got. |
| 4 | Trees in Canada | John Laird Farrar | Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd and the Canadian Forest Service | 1-55041-199-3 | Detailed descriptions, habitat, photos, illustrations, map locations. |
| 5 | RHS Good Plant Guide | Royal Horticultural Society | Dorling Kindersley | 0-7513-0532-4 | Very brief descriptions, colour photos for plants recommended by the RHS. |
| 6 | Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials | Ellen Phillips and C.Colston Burrell | Rodale Press | 0-87596-570-9 | To me, it's not an encyclopedia, but the plants it covers, it does very well. Descriptions, photos, "how to grow" information and popular varieties included. |
| 7 | Trees of North America and Europe | Roger Phillips | Random House | 0-394-73541-2 | Extremely short descriptions of more than 500 trees, but great pictures and wonderful for identification. |
| 8 | Perennials for Ontario | Alison Beck and Kathy Renwald | Lone Pine Publishing | 1-55105-262-8 | Handy, well-detailed descriptions, great pictures, recommended varieties, tips. If they did a 'Volume 2' covering more plants, I'd buy it, too. It's currently missing too many popular options to be my main reference. |
| 9 | The American Horticultural society Encyclopedia of Gardening | edited by |christopher Brickell | DK Publishing | 0-7894-9653-4 | This is a beautiful book. During the winter, I find it great for generating new ideas, researching better ways of doing everything. In the summer it's a handy reference, although massive. |
| 10 | Tree and Shrub Gardening for Ontario | Alison Beck and Kathy Renwald | Lone Pine Publishing | 1-55105-273-3 | As with most of their books, the authors have provide a Handy, well-detailed book full of real-life descriptions, great pictures, recommended varieties. In the spring and fall, this book rarely makes it back into the bookshelf, it's such a constant reference. |
| 11 | Weeds of Canada | France Royer and Richard Dickinson | Lone Pine Publishing | 0-88864-311-X | I find this a particularly good book on a particularly unwelcome topic. I've used it a few times, when something I didn't plant refuses to leave, and this helped me identify it, and decide how to either get rid of it, or embrace it. Could do with a bit better identification key, but still very useful. |
| 12 | Water Garden Plants for Canada | Alison Beck | Lone Pine Publishing | 1-55105-465-5 | This book helped me understand what I did wrong with my water garden. Perhaps the next one, if done following this book, will work out a bit better. Descriptions are clear, pictures are excellent for identification. All in all, a terrific selection. |
Email your comments or questions,
or other books you like and why you like them, to
hmkstaff@hmk.on.ca
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