Subject: Re: Gardening Books

From: [email-masked] (Greg Tillman)
Date: 12 Jan 1996 17:06:29 GMT

Sue St.Charles ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I am buried in snow, and the only way to cope is reading gardening
: books, looking at the pictures and planning this year's garden.  To
: anyone, what is your favorite gardening book- either reference, or the
: "coffee table" type. 

Let me once again take this opportunity to recommend Noah's Garden,
by Sara Stein.  It is a gentle plea to make your garden a little more
part of the natural landscape, and a little less - from a bird or a
bee's perspective - barren.  It is not overbearing, and Stein in fact
traces her own years of manicuring and mowing, and subsequent efforts to
undo some of what she'd done.  I enjoyed it a lot.  There's a longer
review available from my web page, below.

- greg tillman
http://www.prairienet.org/gpf/homepage.html      Grand Prairie Friends
http://www.prairienet.org/gpf/reviews.html       Prairie Pen: Book Reviews

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From: [email-masked](Richard A. Ifft )
Date: 12 Jan 1996 21:32:20 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Sue
St.Charles) writes: 
>
>I am buried in snow, and the only way to cope is reading gardening
>books, looking at the pictures and planning this year's garden.  To
>anyone, what is your favorite gardening book- either reference, or the
>"coffee table" type. 
>
>Thanks-
>
>Looking forward to availing myself of the responses- Sue

My favorite, though it is neither a reference nor a "coffee table"
type, is Henry Mitchell's "The Essential Earthman."  He died a few
years ago, and there are still some of us who can quote chunks out of
his books such as, Washington would be a better place if everyone would
stop what they are doing and plant a camellia.  I get tears in my eyes
when I look around and see all the plants I planted just because he
wrote about them and loved them.  He had cancer, and he died helping a
neighbor plant daffodils.  Anyway, he's quite knowledgeable and
opinionated, and writes beautifully.

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From: [email-masked] (Julie B. Weinberg )
Date: 14 Jan 1996 03:33:48 GMT

>Looking forward to availing myself of the responses- Sue

Try "The Undaunted Garden" by Lauren Springer (Fulcrum Publishing) -
Julie.

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From: Susan Lyell <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Jan 1996 14:02:29 GMT

I just got "English Cottage Gardens for American Gardeners" don't 
remember the author, but will look it up if you're interested. It is a 
"coffee table book" but also includes plans and plant information. I will 
definitely use some suggestions and plantings I found there. It wasn't 
cheap ($35) but kept me busy for several weekends, planning and 
dreaming!