14 Best New Gardening Books to Buy This Spring
Just in time before the planting season!
Whether you’re an avid “armchair” gardener or can’t wait to pull on your gardening gloves each spring, leafing through the latest gardening books is one of the delights of the season. Gardens always have been a healthy escape that lift the soul and spirits. But in the past several years, interest in all things green has skyrocketed as more people have discovered the satisfaction of gardening. Whether it’s popping a perfect cherry tomato into your mouth straight off the vine or snipping a few fresh flowers for your nightstand, plants bring us joy. In fact, research has shown that even gazing at photos of nature can reduce stress!
Filled with gorgeous images, history, and techniques, the latest gardening books pay homage to designers such as the legendary Beatrix Farrand, as well as offer inspiration for ways to upgrade and rethink your garden spaces. You’ll visit gardens around the world and learn about the best annuals, perennials, and shrubs to include in planting beds and containers. Whether you’re growing a cut flower, herb, or cocktail garden (or all of the above!), you’ll find ideas for making your garden more inviting to pollinators, more welcoming to people, and a place you’ll want to spend all your free time. Here are the best new gardening books to add to your collection this spring:
The Gardener's Palette: Creating Colour Harmony in the Garden
From buttery yellow to deepest amethyst, colors have personal meaning to all of us. The author explains there’s no “good” or “bad” color, but rather that we interpret and react to color on an individual basis. The book is a fascinating study of how to combine the colors you love in the best possible ways throughout your garden.
Beatrix Farrand
Beatrix Farrand, one of the first female landscape architects in the world, designed gardens for families such as the Rockefellers, Morgans and Roosevelts, as well as on . campuses such as Princeton and Yale and public gardens such as the Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. Influenced by English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, Farrand was known for integrating large expanses of lawn with deep borders. The book, updated from its original version more than a decade ago, is a definitive look at Farrand’s life and the lasting impact of her amazing gardens.
Gardens for the Soul: Sustainable & Stylish Outdoor Spaces
If you’re looking for ideas to make your garden a more eco-friendly space, this book encourages you to think about how your choices impact your own landscape and the world beyond your garden. Whether you crave a serene urban oasis, cottagecore escape, or place to entertain friends and family, the photos shows whimsical gardens of every size and use.
The Flower Hunter: Seasonal Flowers Inspired by Nature and Gathered from the Garden
This gorgeous book showcases the talents of floral artist Lucy Hunter’s stunning naturalistic arrangements. The book traces the loveliness of her garden through every season and guides readers through tips for creating arrangements and floral-related projects. The book is equally appealing as a coffee table addition or as inspiration for growing your own cutting garden of your favorite flowers.
WILD: The Naturalistic Garden
Nature-based planting means showcasing plants that are wild and natural with a focus on sustainability and biodiversity, rather than on neat-and-tidy manicured landscapes. The book includes high-profile projects and private gardens around the world. Readers will find plenty of ideas to incorporate into their own landscapes from the beautiful images and engaging text.
Lotusland
Lotusland, a stunning public garden in southern California, is one of the most incredible botanical gardens in the world. Created by Madame Ganna Walska, a Polish opera singer and socialite who purchased the estate in 1941, the garden is home to more than 3,400 types of plants. Take a walk through this astounding garden from the comfort of your armchair, preferably while lounging in your own garden.
The Gardener's Garden
The brand new edition of this international bestseller contains more than 1,300 photographs of gardens around the world, including contemporary and historical gardens. Every garden type from courtyard, rooftop, landscapes, kitchen, and water gardens is included in striking photographs. Key details include the location, designer, date, type, style size and climate are listed for every garden. This is the gardening book to inspire, instruct and motivate both novice and experienced plant lovers.
Lilacs: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden
Perhaps no other shrub evokes old-fashioned charm and universal appeal like lilacs. This beautiful book features more than 60 varieties of this long-lived shrub, renowned for its springtime blooms and lush fragrance. The history of this plant, which became a popular garden flower choice in the 18th century, is presented along with tips for growing these beauties in gardens or containers.
The Ultimate Flower Gardener's Guide: How to Combine Shape, Color and Texture to Create the Garden of Your Dreams
Color shouldn’t be your only consideration when planning a flower garden. Jenny Rose Carey, a renowned garden designer, garden historian and former senior director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm, looks at the shape, role, presence and color, of individual flowers, the building blocks of your design. The flowers featured are beautiful and easy to grow so you’ll be able to create a garden that’s gorgeous and welcoming to pollinators, wildlife and people.
The Seasonal Gardener: Creative Planting Combinations
Featuring more than 150 plants, this book guides readers through the sometimes daunting task of what to plant together for maximum aesthetic appeal and impact. The book includes 60 design suggestions, providing a recipe of sorts for every season. Each plant is presented with its ideal partners so you can create attractive plantings in beds and containers. This revised edition, originally published 20 years ago, includes today’s most popular annuals, perennials, bulbs, shrubs and grasses, as well as new varieties.
Containers in the Garden
Planters work in every garden setting from front porches to patios and decks. This book explains how to create a beautiful container garden, even if you don’t have planting beds. The author offers plant combinations for every season, teaches you how to style a container in a multi-color or monochromatic color palette, and how to reduce maintenance and keep your pots lush and beautiful. It’s an invaluable guide to creating stylish planters for every season.
Rocky Mountain Modern
Though not strictly a gardening tome, this book looks at stunning modern residences within the landscapes of the Rocky Mountains and how they have incorporated the natural world into their designs. These homes are integrated into their landscapes, whether perched cliffside or tucked into lush valleys. Expansive windows bring the outdoors in and showcase the gardens and natural settings outside each home to celebrate the majesty of mountains and sky.
Garden Maker: Growing a Life of Beauty & Wonder with Flowers
This book isn’t like other gardening books: Part essay, part spiritual reflection on nature and God, and part how-to, the author encourages readers to embrace the wonder and miracle of creating a garden as much as for its beauty and as its soul-nurturing qualities. In a conversational tone, she offers tips for the easiest flowers to grow, along with how to start them from seed, how to nurture your plants, and how to harvest and display your flowers.
Gardening for Everyone: Growing Vegetables, Herbs and More at Home
If you’re ready to try your hand at growing your own edibles, this book walks you step-by-step through planning, building, tending, and harvesting your food. The detailed tips and techniques will teach you everything you need to know from planting to deadheading to welcoming beneficial insects and pollinators and battling the bad bugs. If you’re starting from scratch or want to improve your gardening knowledge when it comes to edibles, this book should be on your shelf.
Arricca Elin SanSone has written about health and lifestyle topics for Prevention, Country Living, Woman's Day, and more. She’s passionate about gardening, baking, reading, and spending time with the people and dogs she loves.
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