Great Book Recommendations from a Lifelong Gardner
Gardening has been an important and fulfilling part of my life for 40+ since my husband and I bought our first home. My father and grandmother maintained our garden and landscaping as I was growing up so my sister and I were surrounded by a family who had great interest in the natural world.

My interest continued and grew in married life. My husband is a botanist and taught at the college level until he retired 10 years ago. He participated and maintained interest over the years, but in a supportive role. When my sister married and moved into their first home, gardening became an obsession also. Many phone conversations and visits with her revolve around gardening.

As I do with anything that interests me, I read voraciously about it. I've read most books written by the great gardeners out there and spent a fortune on gardening books and magazines. My interest led me to the Master Gardener Program at Cornell Agricultural Extension in Rochester, NY near where we lived at the time. That experience brought me to a new level of knowledge and interest. My gardening has been in upstate New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Florida.

I thought this article would be a good way to recommend a select number of my favorite books. The subjects are across a broad spectrum of gardening subjects and the authors are ones who I thought wrote well and transferred their enthusiasm for gardening to the reader.

American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants.
H. Marc Cathey

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Barbara Kingsolver

Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia.
Michael A Dirr

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses.
Michael A. Dirr

Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes.
Rick Darke

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques.
Tracy DiSabato-Aust

Gardening with Conifers.
Adrian Bloom

Weedless Gardening.
Lee Reich

The Natural Shade Garden.
Ken Druse

The Pruning Book
Lee Reich

The New Seed Starter's Handbook.
Nancy Bubel

Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations that Make Your Garden Look Fantastic from the Start
C. Colston Burrell

American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest.
Wayne Winterrowd

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
C. Colston Burrell

The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book
Ruth Stout

Learn more about this author, Robert Mclean.
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