With the official arrival of spring, garden enthusiasts probably can’t wait to transform their patches of soil into works of art.
Finding the right combination of plants for your garden or that perfect container can be a challenge. Having the right gardening resource can make all the difference. Here are a few books to help in the process of creating the best garden ever. After all, a garden is the best way to savour life.
Limited for space and time? Nancy J. Ondra’s Container Theme Gardens is what every gardener needs. You can create 42 eye-catching container gardens with a “five-plant palate.” A plant shopping list accompanies each design, making it an easy guide to creating the container of your dreams. Themes include Salad on Deck, Pond in a Pot, Herbs on the Windowsill and my favourite, Hummingbird Haven. The possibilities are endless.
My favourite go-to gardening books are by author Frankie Flowers. His books have a way of making gardening seem so easy. Food to Grow helps make growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs simple, bountiful and fun. Get Growing is 352 pages packed with ideas and instructional photos that provide a solid foundation for building the garden or lawn of your dreams. My favourite, Pot It Up, is page after page of inspiring, beautiful and sometimes surprising container ideas. Each incorporates Flowers’ signature technique of thriller, filler and spiller so that your pot will have maximum impact. Plant away.
The Bold, Dry Garden: Lessons from the Ruth Bancroft Garden by Johanna Silver is a stunning coffee-table book filled with lessons from Bancroft, a dry garden pioneer. The book covers the intriguing story of her life, her three-acre Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, Cal. and the benefits of water-saving plants. If you are a fan of succulents, yuccas and grasses, this is the book for you.
To have a great garden, you need great plants. Plants with Style by Kelly Norris will immerse you into transforming your garden from boring to brilliant. He shines a spotlight on the A-list plants in every category that will bring your garden into the 21st century. Beautiful photos illustrate the endless plant possibilities.
If you want to bring nature into your yard and garden, have a browse through National Geographic’s Birds, Bees and Butterflies and The Life in your Garden by Reeser Manley and Marjorie Peronto. Banishing pesticides and just a few landscaping alterations — such as planting native food and host plants, allowing some lawn areas to fill in and offering water resources, shelter and nesting sites — birds, bees and butterflies will all become frequent visitors. Both books are generously illustrated and packed full of practical information.
And finally, the book every west coast gardener should never be without: Best Plant Picks by Steve Whysall. This book is organized simply in a month-to-month sequence that will keep a garden flowering throughout the year, rain or shine. Whysall shares his wealth of horticultural knowledge on everything from describing a plant’s features to creating the best conditions for making a garden thrive. It truly is the ultimate reference guide for creating and maintaining that perfect west coast garden.
Find these and other gardening books at your local library.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Caroline Wandell works at Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Library.
