Great garden books, part 1

At the beginning of each year, I typically look back over the garden books I read during the previous 12 months and pick the best to recommend. But because I moved from Massachusetts to South Carolina last year, I was pretty sure that in the process, I fell off the mailing lists of various publishers and probably didn't get to see all the good garden books that were released.

So I asked garden-writer colleagues to step in and recommend what they thought were the best books they'd read in the previous year. Since there are a number, I'm breaking this into part 1 (today) and part 2 (click here).

"One of my favorite books this year was 'Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces' by Meg Muckenhoupt (Union Park Press, $22.95), says Hilda M. Morrill, columnist and editor who’s in charge of the website Boston Gardens (no connection to the book).

It has “great photos, great information and history, and introduction to gardens I had never been aware of,” she explains. “Much to look forward to! Good resource for both visitors and residents alike.”

Helen Yoest, who writes at Gardening With Confidence and twice a month here at Diggin' It, says: “I would like to recommend Bobby J. Ward's book: 'Chlorophyll in His Veins; J.C. Raulston, Horticultural Ambassador' (BJW Books, $20). Dr. Raulton is the man for whom the North Carolina State University Arboretum is now named. He had great influence on gardening and horticulture over the past quarter-century. Click here to read Helen’s review of the book.

Helen's second recommendation is: “Rain Gardening in the South,” by Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford (Eno Publishers, $19.95), which won a prestigious "best gardening book" award from the Garden Writers Association.

Dee Nash, well known for her Red Dirt Ramblings blog and articles in gardening magazines, says: “I really like the writing in ‘Thoughtful Gardening,’ by Robin Lane Fox (Basic Books, $29.95). “He doesn't advocate organic gardening (in fact, he thinks it's ineffective), but his essays are great."

Dee also recommends “Gardening for a Lifetime, How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older,” by Sydney Eddison (Timber Press, $19.95) and “The New Low-Maintenance Garden, How to Have a Productive, Beautiful Garden and the Time to Enjoy It,” by Valerie Easton (Timber Press, $19.95). They “are really good,” she says.

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