Gardening

Yesterday I bought a bag of second-hand books. Since I buy so many books, I do like getting books that have been lovingly used.

The first three book I am going to play with are :

1- Perennials - from Sunset (thin, paperback book, publ 2000)  121 pages plus index and climate zone info.
        Table of Contents -  Perennials in the Garden, Planting and Caring for Perennials, Encyclopedia of Perennials
      My thoughts - It's a nice book. Not a large book but lots of pretty pictures. Sometimes my books do double duty and this would be a great book for an artist looking for samples of flowers to paint. Not big pictures with details but great for getting the color and general shape of the flower.  Each entry in the encyclopedia part has a picture and a nice paragraph about information about the plant.

2- Yard and Garden Projects - from Time/Life How To Books  (spiral bound, thick, publ 1998) 309 pages plus index/glossary
    Table of Contents - Getting Started, Planting and Transplanting, Propagating Techniques, Maintaining Your Garden, Creating a Healthy Lawn, Alternative to a Lawn, Creating a Beautiful Landscape,  Designing for All Seasons, Designing with Color, Designing Around Features, Designing for a Special Style, Basic Landscape Projects, Designing to Conceal, Enhancing Difficult Terrain, Tackling the Elements, Improving Important Spaces, Accenting Your Landscape (lots of sub-categories but I've listed the big titles)
    My thoughts - a nice, big book. Lots of info. Lots of pretty pictures. Lots of series of pictures showing you step by step how to do something. Just looking through it, I saw several sections on how to prune assorted plants, how to build a walkway, and one on mulching. I think this would be one of those great books to read, study, and plan a spring garden during those long, dark winter days and nights. It would cheer you up with the bright colors and interesting ideas.

3- Gardening Color Guide - easy mix and match to annuals and perennials - by Graham Strong and Alan Toogood  (big hardbound/spiral inside book, publ 2008) 215 pages including index and glossary
    Table of Contents - The Perfect Planning Scheme, Introduction, Practical Gardening, Effective Planting, Plant Projects, Mix and Match, Shrubs, Plant Index, General Index, Acknowledgements, Gardens to Visit, Seed Suppliers, Glossary, Zone Map (lots of sub-categories but I listed the big titles)
     My thoughts - interesting book. lots of pretty pictures. Main section is the mix and match. They took a page and cut it into 4 horizontal rectangles. Each is a picture of a certain type of flower. It's a group shot so you get the effect of a large planting. The top section is the tallest plants, the second section is the slightly shorter ones, the third section is the next shortest plants, and the last/bottom section is the shortest plants. It gives you a visual sense of what the plants would look like put together in your garden. There are many to choose from and you can flip them back and forth to arrange to your liking. On the back of the rectangle is the kind of info you get on a seed package - Latin name, short paragraph about the plant, when it blooms, what conditions it likes and how tall it grows.
    The front part of the book is interesting, too. It has info about several things. Lots of pictures - with series of pictures included to show you how to do something step by step. Another great book for winter reading. Another great reference book for a plant artist.