100 Best Horticulture Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

Michael Pollan

5.0

Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—s

Recommended by David George Haskell and Kenneth Cox.

David George Haskell

Through the stories of four familiar plant species–apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes–he demolishes the erroneous impression that we’re in charge. [source]

Kenneth Cox

You can’t fail to be fascinated by this exposition of the motivations of plants to cuddle up to humans. One of several excellent Michael Pollan books, it’s a fun read. [source]

2

Botany for Gardeners

Brian Capon

4.8

“An outstanding and enjoyable introduction to botany, whether the reader is a gardener, or just a garden visitor.” —Bloomsbury Review

What happens inside a seed after it is planted? How are plants structured? How do plants reproduce? The answers to these and other questions about complex plant processes can be found in the bestselling Botany for Gardeners. Written in accessible language, this mus

3

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World

Peter Wohlleben

4.7

Preview Summary

In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they

Recommended by Emma Watson.

4

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture

Toby Hemenway, John Todd

4.5

Permaculture is a verbal marriage of "permanent" and "agriculture." Australian Bill Mollison pioneered its development. Key features include:

- use of compatible perennials;
- non-invasive planting techniques;
- emphasis on biodiversity;
- specifically adaptable to local climate, landscape, and soil conditions;
- highly productive output of edibles.

Now, picture your backyard as one incredibly lush gard

5

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Amy Stewart and Briony Morrow-Cribbs

4.5

Recommended by Asher Wolf.

Asher Wolf

So @Zemmiph0bia loaned me an amazing book https://t.co/vwJmtd8qBA [source]

6

Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

Jorge Cervantes

4.5

This is the ultimate guide to all forms of marijuana growing, expanded and completely rewritten to include information on grow rooms, greenhouses and outdoor growing. Over 1100 colour photos illustrate every detail - and numerous simple cultivation solutions make for easy appeal to novice growers.

7

Pruning and Training, Revised New Edition: What, When, and How to Prune

DK

4.5

Featuring more than 800 plants and step-by-step instructions to pruning and training hundreds of trees, shrubs, and climbing plants, this comprehensive guide is freshly redesigned to help cultivate your perfect garden.

With chapters on everything from rosebushes to peach trees, Pruning and Training has advice for every garden and gardener. Using a practical A-Z approach, organized by plant type, in

8

Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens

Douglas W. Tallamy

4.4

As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity.

There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects c

9

All New Square Foot Gardening

Mel Bartholomew

4.4

Do you know what the best feature is in All New Square Foot Gardening? Sure, there are ten new features in this all-new, updated book. Sure, it's even simpler than it was before. Of course, you don't have to worry about fertilizer or poor soil ever again because you'll be growing above the ground. However, the best feature is that anyone, anywhere can enjoy a square foot garden - children, adults

10

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer

4.4

Preview Summary

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celeb

Recommended by Oliver Sacks Fdn. and Sarah Taber.

Oliver Sacks Fdn.

As a writer, Oliver Sacks found gardens essential to the creative process. Check out our year-end newsletter, devoted to some beautiful books by botanist-writers that would make great gifts for all your plant-loving friends. https://t.co/2U8iEv4L1x https://t.co/IK1cgIMJhE [source]

Sarah Taber

Yeah that's because most of those books are actually just sanctimonious classists pretending they're trying to fix problems. That's why they're depressing If you want a book that's actually about moving forward, "Braiding Sweetgrass" is FANTASTIC. https://t.co/Drr1tmwhSs [source]

11

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible

Edward C. Smith

4.4

Smith’s legendary high-yield gardening method emphasizes wide rows, organic methods, raised beds, and deep soil. Succeed with fussy plants, try new and unusual varieties, and learn how to innovatively extend your growing season. With thorough profiles of hundreds of popular varieties, The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible provides expert information and an inspiring roadmap for gardeners of all skill lev

12

Permaculture: A Designers' Manual

Bill Mollison

4.4

Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possib

13

Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary

James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris

4.3

14

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting Pruning Techniques

Tracy DiSabato-Aust

4.3

With more than 180,000 copies sold since its original publication, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has proven itself to be one of the most useful tools a gardener can have. Now, in this expanded edition, there's even more to learn from and enjoy.

This is the first, and still the most thorough, book to detail essential practices of perennial care such as deadheading, pinching, cutting back, thinni

15

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Robin Wall Kimmerer

4.3

Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series o

Recommended by Caspar Henderson.

Caspar Henderson

She writes vividly about what it’s like to walk across moss in bare feet and to notice it for the first time and to notice the incredible world within moss and the creatures that live within it. [source]

16

Wilding

Isabella Tree, Eric Schlosser

4.3

For many years Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell struggled to make a go as farmers, doing everything they could to make the heavy clay soils of their farm at Knepp in West Sussex as productive as possible, while rarely succeeding in making a profit. By 2000, facing bankruptcy, the couple decided they would try something new. They would hand their 3,500 acres, farmed for centuries, even millennia,

Recommended by Ben Goldsmith and Mark Boyle.

Ben Goldsmith

@ErikSolheim Allowing nature to recover by itself is even cheaper, a la Wilding, by @isabella_tree (a book you must order and read). [source]

Mark Boyle

Wilding is about an extraordinary experiment at the 3,500-acre Knepp Wildland Project, and an example of what can happen when we learn to do the hardest thing of all: nothing. [source]

17

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener

Eliot Coleman, Sheri Amsel, Molly Cook Field

4.3

With more than 45,000 sold since 1989, The New Organic Grower has become a modern classic. In this newly revised and expanded edition, master grower Eliot Coleman continues to present the simplest and most sustainable ways of growing top-quality organic vegetables. Coleman updates practical information on marketing the harvest, on small-scale equipment, and on farming and gardening for the long-te

18

The Backyard Homestead: Produce All the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre!

Carleen Madigan

4.3

This comprehensive guide to homesteading provides all the information you need to grow and preserve a sustainable harvest of grains and vegetables; raise animals for meat, eggs, and dairy; and keep honey bees for your sweeter days. With easy-to-follow instructions on canning, drying, and pickling, you’ll enjoy your backyard bounty all winter long.

Also available in this series: The Backyard Homest

19

How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do

Linda Chalker-Scott

4.3

“Makes the science of plant processes accessible to home gardeners.” —The American Gardener

Why do container plants wilt even when they’ve been regularly watered? Why did the hydrangea that thrived last year never bloom this year? Plant physiology—the study of how living things function—can solve these and most other problems gardeners regularly encounter. In How Plants Work, horticulture expert

20

The American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

Christopher Brickell

4.3

With over 15,000 entries and updated from the original "A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants"Qwhich sold over 190,000 copiesQthis is undoubtedly the most complete and authoritative garden plant guide ever published. Includes hundreds of new plants and photos. 0-7566-0616-0$80.00 / DK Publishing, Inc.

21

Western Garden Book: More than 8,000 Plants - The Right Plants for Your Climate - Tips from Western Garden Experts

Editors of Sunset Books and Kathleen Norris Brenzel

4.3

Gardeners throughout the region will be welcoming a thoroughly updated and fresh-looking 8th edition of the "bible of Western gardening." With a new, easy-to-read design, more plant photography, larger illustrations, and more than 8,000 plant listings--500 of them new--it's THE essential book for gardeners in the Western states. What plants to grow, how to nurture them, and where they do the very

22

American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Definitive Practical Guide to Culmination, Propagation, and Display

Alan Toogood

4.3

AHS Plant Propagation is a comprehensive, essential guide to increasing the numbers of a huge range of plants. An extensive introduction explains the botany and plant physiology behind the science of propagation, and the encyclopedic A - Z section presents all the appropriate techniques for more than 1,000 different kinds of plants. Specialized groups such as orchids, ferns, palms, grasses, and ro

23

Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia

Michael A. Dirr

4.3

This bestselling encyclopedia, illustrated with brilliant photographs, describes the best woody plants adapted to cooler climates, showing both habit and details of more than 500 species, and including some 700 additional cultivars and varieties. Brief cultural information is supplied for each plant, as well as Dirr's perceptive comments and opinions.

24

The Market Gardener: A Handbook for Successful Small-Scale Organic Farming

Jean-Martin Fortier

4.3

Les Jardins de la Grelinette is a micro-farm located in eastern Quebec, just north of the American border. Growing on just 1.5 acres, owners Jean-Martin and Maude-Helène feed more than two hundred families through their thriving CSA and seasonal market stands and supply their signature mesclun salad mix to dozens of local establishments. The secret of their success is the low-tech, high-yield prod

25

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

4.3

Preview Summary

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully througho

Recommended by John Kerry.

John Kerry

I’d start with Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which looked at how pesticide use was harming, and in some cases killing, animals and humans, and really was the first book of its kind to illustrate this environmental destruction. I’ve been so involved in the environment for years and years and that has been a great guideline – it was really the awakening, if you will, to the environmental movement and to the progress we’ve made over the last quarter century or more. [source]

26

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long

Eliot Coleman, Kathy Bray, Barbara Damrosch

4.2

If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backy

27

Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs

Rodale Press, Claire Kowalchik, William H. Hylton, Anna Carr

4.2

Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs is a virtually endless source of useful information and herbal know-how. Presented in A-to-Z format, supplemented with easy-to-use charts and lists, beautifully illustrated with drawings and color photographs, it is the only book on herbs you ever need to buy.

28

The One-Straw Revolution

Masanobu Fukuoka

4.2

Fukuoka demonstrates how the way we look at farming influences the way we look at health, the school, nature, nutrition, spiritual health and life itself. He joins the healing of the land to the process of purifying the human spirit and proposes a way of life and a way of farming in which such healing can take place.

29

The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks

Amy Stewart

4.2

Every great drink starts with a plant. Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley. Gin was born from a conifer shrub when a Dutch physician added oil of juniper to a clear spirit, believing that juniper berries would cure kidney disorders. "The Drunken Botanist" uncovers the enlightening botanical history and the fascinating science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees

30

Second Nature: A Gardener's Education

Michael Pollan

4.2

This is an account of one man's experience in his garden. The book invites an exploration of unexamined feelings about nature and the place of society in the landscape, and what gardening has to teach about the troubled borders between nature and culture.

31

Blue Dahlia (In the Garden, #1)

Nora Roberts

4.2

Recently widowed Stella Rothschild has found a new love in Logan Kitridge. But there is someone who isn't happy about Stella's growing feelings for Logan: the Harper Bride, an unidentified woman whose grief and rage have kept her spirit alive long past the death of her body.

32

The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession

Andrea Wulf

4.2

One January morning in 1734, cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London’s Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram, his new contact in the American colonies. But it was not reels of wool or bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds…

Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one

33

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners

Suzanne Ashworth, David Cavagnaro, Kent Whealy

4.2

Seed to Seed is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harv

34

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis

4.2

Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life — not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic

35

McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: A Container Garden of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits and Edible Flowers

Maggie Stuckey, Rose Marie Nichols McGee

4.2

With few exceptions-such as corn and pumpkins-everything edible that's grown in a traditional garden can be raised in a container. And with only one exception-watering-container gardening is a whole lot easier. Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer, seeds and propagation, The Bountiful Container is an extraordinarily complete, plant-by-plant guide.

Written by tw

36

Red Lily (In the Garden, #3)

Nora Roberts

4.2

A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night...

Hayley Phillips came to Memphis hoping for a new start, for herself and her unborn child. She wasn't looking for a handout from her distant cousin Roz, just a job at her thriving In the G

37

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Paul Stamets

4.2

Mycelium Running is a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet. That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how.

The basic science goes like this: Microscopic cells called “mycelium”--the fruit of which are mushrooms--recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essenti

38

Botanicum (Welcome to the Museum)

Author

4.2

The 2016 offering from Big Picture Press's Welcome to the Museum series, Botanicum is a stunningly curated guide to plant life. With artwork from Katie Scott of Animalium fame, Botanicum gives readers the experience of a fascinating exhibition from the pages of a beautiful book. From perennials to bulbs to tropical exotica, Botanicum is a wonderful feast of botanical knowledge complete with superb

39

The Well-Tempered Garden

Christopher Lloyd, Charles Elliott

4.2

Wisdom and advice from a legendary gardener.

Recommended by Kenneth Cox and Penelope Hobhouse.

Kenneth Cox

The title of his book is slightly ironic, I think because he was rather more interested in making bold and daring statements. [source]

Penelope Hobhouse

He was ahead of a lot of people in doing things – to take just one example, he experimented with wild gardening in grass. [source]

40

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics Guide

John Seymour

4.2

The only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land, from harnessing natural forms of energy to raising crops and keeping livestock to basketry, carpentry, and much more. Author John Seymour, the father of the back-to-basics movement, shares his singular vision to transform lives and create communities. More relevant than ever in our hi-tech world, The S

41

Edible Forest Gardens, Volume 1: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture

Dave Jacke, Eric Toensmeier

4.2

Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations: concrete

42

Classic Roses: The Revised And Expanded Edition

Peter Beales

4.2

Updated, expanded and illustrated with more than 600 new full-colour photographs, "Classic Roses" is the authoritative history and essential manual for all serious gardeners and rose lovers. It identifies and describes all the species, cultivars and varieties that have stood the test of time, including the ancient Chinese teas, the York and Lancaster roses, the Provence and Bourbons and the humble

Recommended by Monty Don.

Monty Don

Peter Beales knows everything there is to know about roses. He has forgotten far more about roses than I will ever know. [source]

43

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession

Susan Orlean

4.2

The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice wh

Recommended by Catherine Manegold.

Catherine Manegold

Yes, this is such a fun book, all about obsession, history and botany. To a limited extent it also engages with the author’s internal experience as she acknowledges the envy she feels for people graced with this level of attachment to the world. To do this, she looks back in history – tracing the earliest orchid hunters to their roots, if you will – and then drifts among contemporary collectors who are certainly an odd and often fanatical bunch. In terms of content, this book falls almost perfectly between the first and second. It has a ton of factual material and is hugely instructive, like Ship of Gold, but also manages to focus deeply on less tangible aspects of human experience, as Griffin does. [source]

44

Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops

Martin Crawford

4.2

Offering inspiration for all gardeners, this book features beautiful color photographs and illustrations throughout, and is divided into two parts. Part One looks at why and how to grow particular crops and how to look after them for maximum health. Part Two features more than 100 perennial edibles in detail, both common and unusual, from rhubarb to skirret and Jerusalem artichoke to nodding onion

Cover unavailable

45

Edible Forest Gardens, Volume 2: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture

Dave Jacke, Eric Toensmeier

4.2

"Edible Forest Gardens" is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations: concre

46

Planting: A New Perspective

Piet Oudolf, Noel Kingsbury

4.1

47

The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants

Peter D'Amato

4.1

Just about everyone's familiar with the Venus flytrap...but did you know that there are pitcher plants that can-and do!-digest an entire rat? Or that there are several hundred species of carnivorous plants on our planet? Full-color photographs of the plants at work and play, plus everything you need to know to successfully grow your own Little Shop of Horrors.Awards1999 American Horticultural Soci

48

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Barbara Kingsolver

4.1

Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You

49

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Four Season Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses

Eliot Coleman, Barbara Damrosch

4.1

Choosing locally grown organic food is a sustainable living trend that's taken hold throughout North America. Celebrated farming expert Eliot Coleman helped start this movement with "The New Organic Grower" published 20 years ago. He continues to lead the way, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.

Now, with his long-awaited new

50

The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man

Peter Tompkins, Christopher Bird

4.1

Exploring the world of plants and its relation to mankind as revealed by the latest discoveries of scientists, The Secret Life of Plants includes remarkable information about plants as lie detectors and plants as ecological sentinels; it describes their ability to adapt to human wishes, their response to music, their curative powers, and their ability to communicate with man. Authors Peter Tompkin

Recommended by Bill Liao.

Bill Liao

The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! [source]

51

A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (RHS)

Christopher Brickell

4.1

The ultimate gardening reference: two volumes covering everything you need to know to keep your garden flourishing, from the experts at the RHS

Choose the plants you want for your garden and learn to position and care for them properly with the new edition of this perennial favourite. Detailed profiles of 15,500 garden plants: from new and exotic varieties to garden favourites, provide all the guid

52

Cut Flower Garden

Erin Benzakein

4.1

53

Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region

Sally Wasowski and Andy Wasowski

4.1

In this indispensable guide, you'll find landscape designs for every type of terrain found in Texas--from the Gulf Coast to the Panhandle, and from East Texas to West of the Pecos. This book also includes 21 landscaping design plans that are sure to inspire even the most traditional homeowner to go native.

54

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

Andrea Wulf

4.1

The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world—and in the process created modern environmentalism.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769 – 1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirtee

55

What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses: Revised Edition

Daniel Chamovitz

4.1

Plants can hear—and taste things, too!

Thoroughly updated from root to leaf, this revised edition of the groundbreaking What a Plant Knows includes new revelations for lovers of all that is vegetal and verdant. The renowned biologist Daniel Chamovitz builds on the original edition to present an intriguing look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the schedules t

56

The Man Who Planted Trees

Jean Giono

4.1

Jean Giono's beautiful allegorical tale is legendary. Written in the 1950's, its message was ahead of its time, inspiring readers to rediscoverthe harmonies of the countryside and prevent its willful destruction. The narrator, journeying by foot across the barren plains of the lower Alps, has his thirst assuaged by the well water drawn by the shepherd Elzeaerd Bouffier. Here begins the subtle para

57

Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation: Simple to Advanced and Experimental Techniques for Indoor and Outdoor Cultivation

Tradd Cotter

4.1

What would it take to grow mushrooms in space? How can mushroom cultivation help us manage, or at least make use of, invasive species such as kudzu and water hyacinth and thereby reduce dependence on herbicides? Is it possible to develop a low-cost and easy-to-implement mushroom-growing kit that would provide high-quality edible protein and bioremediation in the wake of a natural disaster? How can

58

The Language of Flowers

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

4.1

A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for p

59

The Cannabis Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to Cultivation & Consumption of Medical Marijuana

Jorge Cervantes, Foreword by Vicente Fox Quesada, et al.

4.1

A definitive guide to medical marijuana cultivation and consumption & explains all the essential techniques to grow cannabis. 2,000+ beautiful color images illustrate this book. Medical cannabis history, cannabinoid measurement & medical varieties provide a background for medical patients & caregivers. The Medicinal Concentrates & Cooking with Medicinal Cannabis chapters feature different methods

60

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

Paul Stamets

4.1

After years of living in awe of the mysterious fungi known as mushrooms-chefs, health enthusiasts, and home cooks alike can't get enough of these rich, delicate morsels. With updated production techniques for home and commercial cultivation, detailed growth parameters for 31 mushroom species, a trouble-shooting guide, and handy gardening tips, this revised and updated handbook will make your mycol

61

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System

Mary Appelhof, Joanne Olszewski, Amy Stewart

4.1

For more than three decades, this best-selling guide to the practice of vermicomposting has taught people how to use worms to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for houseplants or gardens. Small-scale, self-contained worm bins can be kept indoors, in a basement or even under the kitchen sink in an apartment — making vermicomposting a great option for city dwellers and anyone who does

62

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

Richard Louv

4.1

"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," reports a fourth-grader. Never before in history have children been so plugged in—and so out of touch with the natural world. In this groundbreaking new work, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation—he calls it nature deficit—to some of the most

Recommended by Genevieve Von Lob.

Genevieve Von Lob

Louv coined the term ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ because he was so concerned about the alienation of young people from nature. [source]

Cover unavailable

63

Meetings with Remarkable Trees

Thomas Pakenham

4.1

Thomas Pakenham's bestselling book of tree portraits. With this astonishing collection of tree portraits, Thomas Pakenham produced a new kind of tree book. The arrangement owed little to conventional botany. The sixty trees were grouped according to their own strong personalities: Natives, Travellers, Shrines, Fantasies and Survivors. From the ancient native trees, many of which are huge and immea

64

RHS Botany for Gardeners: The Art and Science of Gardening Explained & Explored

Howard Hughes

4.1

RHS Botany for Gardeners is more than just a useful reference book on the science of botany and the language of horticulture - it is a practical, hands-on guide that will help gardeners understand how plants grow, how this affects how they perform in the garden and so help them get better results.

Illustrated throughout with beautiful botanical prints and simple technical diagrams, RHS Botany for G

65

Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City

Eric Toensmeier, Jonathan Bates

4.1

When Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates moved into a duplex in a run-down part of Holyoke, Massachusetts, the tenth-of-an-acre lot was barren ground and bad soil, peppered with broken pieces of concrete, asphalt, and brick. The two friends got to work designing what would become not just another urban farm, but a "permaculture paradise" replete with perennial broccoli, paw paws, bananas, and morin

66

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening

Louise Riotte

4.1

If you want to know whether it is kosher to plant onions between cabbage plants, this is the place to look.
-- Oklahoma Today

First published in 1975, this classic companion planting guide has taught a generation of gardeners how to use plants' natural partnerships to produce bigger and better harvests.
Over 500,000 in Print!

67

Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

Brett L. Markham

4.1

Mini Farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family’s food on just a quarter acre—and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require. Even if you have never been a farmer or a gardener, this book covers everything you need to know to get started: buying and saving

68

Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists

Ross Bayton

4.1

Most of us lump plants together in one big family, and when pressed can only explain their grouping by what they’re not—not an animal, not a mineral, and so just a plant. In reality, there are hundreds of different plant families, each grouped logically by a unique family history and genealogy. This brings sense and order to the more than a quarter of a million different plant species covering a d

69

Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening

Sepp Holzer

4.1

Sepp Holzer farms steep mountainsides in Austria 1,500 meters above sea level. His farm is an intricate network of terraces, raised beds, ponds, waterways and tracks, well covered with productive fruit trees and other vegetation, with the farmhouse neatly nestling amongst them. This is in dramatic contrast to his neighbors' spruce monocultures.In this book, Holzer shares the skill and knowledge ac

70

Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine

Andrew Chevallier

4.1

Helpful to enthusiasts and professionals alike, these volumes provide extensive coverage of hundreds of conditions and their remedies, including their sources and symptoms. Up-to-date research and in-depth explanations of today's most popular alternative therapies are enhanced by step-by-step photos of typical treatments, as well as symptoms charts and remedy ratings.

71

Scentual Garden: Exploring the World of Botanical Fragrance

Ken Druse

4.1

A complete illustrated survey of fragrance in the garden by America’s leading garden writer

Popular garden writer Ken Druse offers a complete survey of fragrance in the garden, in a major work filled with new knowledge. He arranges both familiar and unusual garden plants, shrubs, and trees into 12 categories, giving gardeners a vastly expanded palate of scents to explore and enjoy, and he also pr

72

The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

Amy Stewart

4.1

"You know a book is good when you actually welcome one of those howling days of wind and sleet that makes going out next to impossible." —The New York Times

In The Earth Moved, Amy Stewart takes us on a journey through the underground world and introduces us to one of its most amazing denizens. The earthworm may be small, spineless, and blind, but its impact on the ecosystem is profound. It plough

73

Marijuana Grower's Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation

Ed Rosenthal

4.1

74

The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden

Rick Darke, Douglas W. Tallamy

4.1

“This thoughtful, intelligent book is all about connectivity, addressing a natural world in which we are the primary influence.” —The New York Times Books Review

Many gardeners today want a home landscape that nourishes and fosters wildlife, but they also want beauty, a space for the kids to play, privacy, and maybe even a vegetable patch. Sure, it’s a tall order, but The Living Landscape shows yo

75

Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!

Patricia Lanza, Jane D. Ramsey, Douglas Schneider, Elayne Sears

4.0

76

Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Pruning Techniques for Small-Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees

Ann Ralph

4.0

Grow your own apples, plums, cherries, and peaches in even the smallest backyard! Expert pruner Ann Ralph reveals a simple yet revolutionary secret that keeps an ordinary fruit tree much smaller than normal. These great little trees take up less space, require less care, offer easy harvest, and make a fruitful addition to any home landscape.

77

Lab Girl

Hope Jahren

4.0

Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.

Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncomp

Recommended by Gail Kelly.

78

Permaculture Two: Practical Design for Town and Country in Permanent Agriculture

Bill Mollison

4.0

Permaculture Two delves deeper into the concept of "consciously designed agricultural systems." Author, Bill Mollison, describes new approaches and solutions that have evolved around the world. Ways in which plants can modify climate and many forms of pollution are discussed. Highly productive, low-energy systems, are made clear, in this fascinating book that offers some concrete solutions for sav

79

The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale

Jeff Carpenter

4.0

Both a business guide and a farming manual, The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer will teach readers how to successfully grow and market organic medicinal Western herbs.

Whether you’re trying to farm medicinal plants, culinary herbs, or at-risk native herbs exclusively or simply add herbal crops to what you’re already growing, successful small-scale herb farmers Jeff and Melanie Carpenter will guide yo

80

Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard

Douglas W. Tallamy

4.0

Douglas W. Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being. In Nature's Best Hope, he takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots, home-grown approach to conservation.

Nature's Best Hope advocates for homeowners everywhere to turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wi

81

The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener: How to Grow Your Own Food 365 Days a Year, No Matter Where You Live

Niki Jabbour, Joseph De Sciose

4.0

Even in winter’s coldest months you can harvest fresh, delicious produce. Drawing on insights gained from years of growing vegetables in Nova Scotia, Niki Jabbour shares her simple techniques for gardening throughout the year. Learn how to select the best varieties for each season, the art of succession planting, and how to build inexpensive structures to protect your crops from the elements. No m

82

Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation

Ken Druse

4.0

For people who love gardens, propagation is gardening itself, the practice of growing whatever you want, whenever you want. Whether you crave healthy, vigorous plants, wish to grow new ones to share with friends, or hope to produce scores of them to fill your own beds and borders -- for free -- Making More Plants will help fulfill your most vivid garden dreams. Ken Druse, one of America's foremost

83

Gardening at Longmeadow

Monty Don

4.0

Monty Don made a triumphant return to our screens as presenter of Gardeners' World. A firm favourite with viewers, Monty's infectious enthusiasm for plants, attention to the finer details of gardening technique and easy charm have seen the ratings soar. Here Monty invites us into the garden at Longmeadow, to show us how he created this beautiful garden, and how we can do the same in our own.

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84

Plants are Terrible People

Luke Ruggenberg

4.0

The garden is a strange place. Any gardener who's been around the hedge and back could tell you that. But never has it been more absurd than within these pages. From the addled mind that brought you "Twenty Reasons Not To Garden (And Why I Ignore Them All)", comes a new volume of hilarious and heartfelt dispatches from the strangest garden in the land. Get ready for a mad dash through the weeds wi

85

The Way of Herbs

Michael Tierra

4.0

Fully updated with the latest developments in herbal science, this practical and useful guide offers comprehensive descriptions of herbal treatments for cancer, arthritis, colds, and influenza. It shows how to gain and maintain health through a holistic approach, with information on simple herb remedies, and descriptions of more than 140 Western herbs and 31 Chinese herbs.

The Way of Herbs is an es

86

The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever

H. Joseph Hopkins, Jill McElmurry

4.0

Unearth the true story of green-thumbed pioneer and activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert town into a lush, leafy city known for its gorgeous parks and gardens.

Katherine Olivia Sessions never thought she’d live in a place without trees. After all, Kate grew up among the towering pines and redwoods of Northern California. But after becoming the first woman to graduate

87

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation

Andrea Wulf

4.0

From the author of the acclaimed The Brother Gardeners, a fascinating look at the founding fathers from the unique and intimate perspective of their lives as gardeners, plantsmen, and farmers.
For the founding fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions, as deeply ingrained in their characters as their belief in liberty for the nation they were creating. Andrea Wulf reveals

88

The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse: How to Design and Build a Net-Zero Energy Greenhouse

Lindsey Schiller

4.0

Fresh, local nutrient-dense fruits vegetables are hard to find in winter in cold climates. Growing warm-weather crops like tomatoes, bananas, avocados, and other perennials is nearly impossible using conventional structures. The solution for millions of backyard and small-scale commercial growers is self-heating solar greenhouses.

The Year-round Solar Greenhouse is the one-stop guide to designing a

89

RHS Propagating Plants

Alan R. Toogood

4.0

From trees and shrubs to culinary herbs, this unequalled practical guide from the RHS offers invaluable advice on the successful propagation of all garden plants. Detailed A-Z listings on over 1,500 plants, together with specially commissioned photographs and colour illustrations show you every technique you will need. With unique tips from expert propagators, as well as general methodology, this

90

Plant-Driven Design: Creating Gardens That Honor Plants, Place, and Spirit

Scott Ogden, Lauren Springer Ogden

4.0

For too long, garden design has given pride of place to architecture, artifice, and arbitrary principles. The results? Soulless landscapes where plants play subordinate roles.

With passion and eloquence, Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden argue that only when plants are given the respect they deserve does a garden become emotionally resonant. Plant-Driven Design shows designers how to work more

91

The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest

Rick Darke

4.0

North America's eastern half, roughly from the Midwest to the Atlantic, was once a great deciduous forest. Although centuries of human intervention have cleared much of the land, the timeless forest remains in the spirit of the place. Today, even the shortest period of human neglect allows for the resurgence of the process of forest creation. The greatest gardens — and happiest gardeners — in this

92

The Herb Book: The Most Complete Catalog of Herbs Ever Published

John Lust

4.0

"I have an old copy of this book that I've had for years and would never let go of, no matter how many times I moved and thinned out my books. This is a re-release and I'm really happy to see it back in print. Part two of the book is the real treasure. It is an alphabetical list of herbs that gives detailed information about their properties, including any cautions required." — Lora's Rants & Revi

93

The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife

Nancy Lawson

4.0

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces.

Detailed ch

94

The Undaunted Garden: Planting for Weather-Resilient Beauty

Lauren Springer Ogden

4.0

From bulb lawns to the never summer garden, from perennials with fortitude to annuals that span the seasons, Lauren Springer delivers us the stalwart garden. With infectious enthusiasm, she offers down-to-earth advice and recommendations for sturdy, effortless, and beautiful plants and how to compose them with style.

95

Down the Garden Path

Beverley Nichols

4.0

Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world’s best-loved and most-quoted gardening books. From a disaster building a rock garden, to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.

96

The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to Save the Planet

Dave Goulson

4.0

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The Garden Jungle is a wonderful introduction to the hundreds of small creatures with whom we live cheek-by-jowl and of the myriad ways that we can encourage them to thrive.

The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the pavement, and in the soil beneath our feet. Wherever you are right now, the cha

Cover unavailable

97

The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medicinal Use

Greg Green

4.0

The most comprehensive guide to marijuana gardening ever written is back with all new information and updated advice for cannabis enthusiasts. Over 200 additional pages of all new information are included in this book, from all new lighting equipment and techniques, to highly advanced cannabinoid extraction techniques and detailed, step-by-step gardening guides for novice and professional growers

98

Practical Botany for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Botanical Terms Explained and Explored

Geoff Hodge

4.0

Gardening can be frustratingly shrouded in secrecy. Fickle plants make seemingly spontaneous decisions to bloom or bust, seeds sprout magically in the blink of an eye, and deep-rooted mysteries unfold underground and out of sight. Understanding basic botany is like unlocking a horticultural code; fortunately learning a little science can reveal the secrets of the botanical universe and shed some l

99

A New Look at Houseplants

Janet Marinelli

4.0

100

Old Roses and English Roses

David Austin

4.0

Covers all the most worthwhile of the Old Roses and carries this on to their natural successors, the English Roses. This text provides valuable information on rose cultivation. Written by the proprietor of one of this country's leading rose nurseries, it contains over 140 superb colour photographs.