Stocking Stuffers

Lloyd, Christopher. Adventurous Gardener. (2011) ISBN 9780711232440 $15.56
A gardening classic, Lloyd takes the reader on a tour through the garden, stopping to lecture here, to exhort there, to overturn the old and accepted when his experience prompts him. He ponders, suggests, explains, ruminates, always delighting the reader with the sharpness of his observations and the eloquence of his prose.

Hill, Lewis. The Pruning Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask. (2011) ISBN 9781603427104 $11.21
Clear, concise advice, a browsable format, a friendly tone, and how-to illustrations, the book provides everything a homeowner needs to safely achieve attractive, long-lasting, and healthy plants.

Fischer, Tom. The Gardener’s Color Palette: Paint Your Garden with 100 Extraordinary Flower Choices. (2010) ISBN 1604690844 $5.00
Features ten plants in ten color groups and offers gardeners hundreds of opportunities to mix and match. Plant profiles include a description, the common and botanical names, information about expected height and spread, bloom time, hardiness, and light and water requirements.

Urban Gardening

Taylor, Lisa. Your Farm in the City: An Urban-Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals. (2011) ISBN 9781579128623 $12.89
Upbeat manual for aspiring urban gardeners features a gritty but whimsical, graphic-heavy, reader-friendly layout and a 21st-century attitude that will appeal to a younger generation of gardeners intrigued by the idea of growing their own food while living in the city.

Johnson, Lorraine. City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing. (2011) ISBN 9781553655190 $15.95
Celebrates the new ways that urban dwellers across North America are reimagining cities as places of food production. From homeowners planting their front yards with vegetables to guerilla gardeners scattering seeds in neglected urban corners, Johnson chronicles the increasing popularity of innovative urban food growing.

Reference Books

Kujawski, Ron. The Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook: Make the Most of Your Growing Season. (2011) ISBN 9781603426947 $10.17
Authors take the guesswork out of gardening with weekly to-do lists that break gardening down into easily manageable tasks. Suitable for all gardening zones, the book offers easy instructions for setting up a personalized schedule based on your last frost date.

American Horticultural Society. Homegrown Harvest: A Season-by-Season Guide to a Sustainable Kitchen Garden. (2010) ISBN 9781845335601 $29.40
Provides lifestyle-changing advice that gardeners need for growing a year-round supply of healthy edible crops for their table. Specific local and regional advice enables gardeners to decide how and what to grow wherever they live in North America.

Gianfrancesco, Richard. How to Grow Food. (2011) ISBN 9781554078066 $21.86
Complete illustrated guide to the hundreds of plants that are easy to grow in the home garden. The author emphasizes gardening techniques that can be applied to any size of garden, from a window box to a side yard to the biggest backyard. Clear instructions and reliable advice includes the use of organic and biodynamic gardening methods.

Gettle, Jere and Emily. The Heirloom Life Gardener: The Baker Creek Way of Growing Your Own Food Easily and Naturally. (2011) ISBN 9781401324391 $18.83
Cofounders of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, offer a wealth of knowledge to every kind of gardener –experienced pros and novices alike. Friendly tone, complemented by gorgeous photographs, the authors give planting, growing, harvesting, and seed saving tips.

Coffee Table

Graham, Wade. American Eden: From Monticello to Central Park to Our Backyards: What Our Gardens Tell Us About Who We Are. (2011) ISBN 9780061583421 $23.10
For history buffs as well as gardeners. A panoramic perspective and bold interpretation of the form, function, and meaning of American gardens. Stunning color photographs of some of America’s most beautiful gardens.

Unconventional Gardening Books

Smith, Edward C.. The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible: How to Grow a Bounty of Food in Pots, Tubs, and Other Containers. (2011) ISBN 9781603429757 $13.57
Smith shows the reader how to choose the right plants, select containers and tools, care for plants throughout the growing season, control pests without chemicals, and much more. Includes plans for small-space container gardens that are perfect for urban and suburban gardeners.

Fell, Derek. Vertical Gardening: Grow Up, Not Out, for More Vegetables and Flowers in Much Less Space. (2011) ISBN 9781605290836 $14.27 Features 100 color photos of the author’s own vertical methods and showcases beautiful, trouble-free perennials, shrubs, vegetables, annuals, and fruit perfect for this new, rewarding way to garden.

Rama, Laureen. Eco-yards: Simple Steps to Earth-Friendly Landscapes. (2011) ISBN 9780865716827 $14.96 Rama, a landscape designer whose lifelong passion is beautifying landscapes in ways that enhance the natural environment, shows the reader how to have a beautiful, environmentally-friendly, low-maintenance yard.

Soler, Ivette. The Edible Front Yard: the mow-less, grow more plan for a beautiful, bountiful garden. (2011) ISBN 9781604691993 $13.57
Offers step-by-step instructions for converting all or part of a lawn into an edible paradise; specific guidelines for selecting and planting the most attractive edible plants; and design advice and plans for the best placement and for combining edibles with ornamentals in pleasing ways. Inspiring and accessible.

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