Here is a list of the best gardening books that were reviewed in 2024 in the Washington Gardener Magazine. These 10 selections are listed below in no particular order.
(Note that if you click on the links, it takes you to the book's Amazon page and we get a few pennies if you order it from there through our affiliate link. We have also included the Bookshop.org link from our account for those who do not use Amazon.)
1. What Makes a Garden: A Considered Approach to Garden Design
Author: Jinny Blom
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Order Link: https://amzn.to/44PiJEF and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9780711282957
Cost: $50.00
Reviewer Marsha Douma wrote, "Jinny Blom’s newest book is a comprehensively fascinating and uniquely thoughtful book on garden design. This is not the more usual, practical garden design book which has suggestions and templates for the beds and various flower combinations. Quite the opposite. What Makes a Garden is about the myriad elements to consider when creating a garden. ."
2. The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise
Author: Olivia Laing
Publisher: W.W. Norton and Company
Order Link: https://amzn.to/404y2sH and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9780393882001
List Price: $27.99
Reviewer Beth Py-Lieberman wrote, "In January of 2020, Olivia Laing, a British essayist, novelist, and memoirist, discovered a Suffolk home with an abandoned garden formerly owned by designer Mark Rumary, known for his work at the award-winning nursery Notcutts. Laing had recently married poet Ian Patterson; and their combined income afforded the third-of-an-acre property, located about two-and-a-half-hours northeast of London...In this magnificent read, essays featuring a vast tapestry of classic literature, the decorative arts, and histories both classic and contemporary are set against Laing’s own hard labors to rediscover Rumary’s horticultural vision."
3. The Galanthophiles: 160 Years of Snowdrop Devotees
Authors: Jane Kilpatrick and Jennifer Harner
Publisher: Orphans Publishing
List Price: $62.10
Order Links: https://amzn.to/3O8zIKK
Reviewer Jim Dronenburg wrote, "This book is an historian’s look at the cultivation of Galanthus (snowdrops), primarily in Britain. It starts with the species as they came into the country, and then the cultivars and hybrids—through the lens of the stories of the people who grew and promoted snowdrops...Admittedly, if you want a hands-on, 'do thus and so' snowdrop book, this isn’t for you, but if you want to know how you came to get the ones you have (or could get; snowdrops do well here), this is a book well worth the reading. "
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4. The Geriatric Gardener 2.0
Author: Duane Pancoast
Publisher: The Pancoast Concern, Ltd.
Order Link: https://thepancoastconcern.com/the_geriatric_gardener
List Price: $19.99
5. From Wasteland to Wonder: Easy Ways We Can Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape
Author: Basil Camu
Publisher: Leaf & Limb
List Price: Free/$10.75
Order Links: https://www.leaflimb.com/wonder/
Reviewer Zachary Intrater wrote, "This book is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to do their part in helping heal the planet. Camu does a great job of explaining some of the specific issues with our current environmental practices in a manner that is thorough yet easily digestible, while also providing solutions. Another great thing about this book is that all of the potential solutions and recommendations that Camu offers are things that can be easily done by your average reader. From Wasteland to Wonder is practical, informative, and useful—do yourself and our planet a favor and give it a read!"
6. Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden: Innovative Techniques for Combining Bulbs and Perennials in Every Season
Author: Jacqueline van der Kloet
Publisher: Timber Press
List Price: $35.00
Order Links: https://amzn.to/3LsRoPz and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9781643264028
Reviewer Josh Panepento wrote, "The author uses her experience as a garden designer in North America, Europe, and Asia to create an intriguing mix of personal stories, pictures, and how-to guides...I recommend this book to anyone growing bulbs, no matter how much experience you have because it can inspire a new project. I also recommend it to anyone who enjoys flipping through colorful flower photos. "
7. Nature at Your Door: Connecting with the Wild and Green in the Urban and Suburban Landscape
Author: Sara A. Gagné
Publisher: Stackpole Books
List Price: $29.95
Order Links: https://amzn.to/3Umr6nk and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9780811772266
Reviewer Teri Speight wrote, "This is quite the informative book, filled with usable information, relevant to urban, as well as suburban settings. Many times, it is hard to address both conditions with one reference. However, author Sara A. Gagné has done an excellent job of assessing the needs of the total landscape and beyond."
8. Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape
Author: Jen McGuinness
Publisher: Cool Springs Press
List Price: $27.99
Order Links: https://amzn.to/3XNRE2L and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9780760382110
Reviewer Marsha Douma wrote: "If you want to attract more birds to your garden or invite them to visit your balcony, this is the perfect book to help you do that. The subtitle, “Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape,” is an accurate description of the generous instructive offerings in this book...I enthusiastically recommend this book to all bird lovers who want to attract them to where they live. Also to all gardeners who want to not only have plants in their garden that are beautiful, but ones that can support more birds at the same time."
9. Bonsai Master Class: Lessons and Tips from a Japanese Master For All the Most Popular Types of Bonsai
Author: Kunio Kobayashi
Illustrated by: Mai Ly Degnan
Publisher: Tuttle
List Price: $24.99
Order Links: https://amzn.to/49a8iMa and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9784805317433
Reviewer Cassie Peo wrote, "As a beginner gardener myself, I had very little bonsai knowledge, but this book provides a great introduction to the art and inspired me to do more research about the history of bonsai. This book would make a great gift for anyone looking to get into bonsai or for longtime fans. Kobayashi’s love for bonsai is evident on every page and will inspire all audiences."
10. A Gardener at the End of the World
Author: Margot Anne Kelley
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
List Price: $28.95
Order Links: https://amzn.to/4bC00iN and https://bookshop.org/a/79479/9781567927344
Reviewer Beth Py-Lieberman wrote, "Four years have passed and we can’t keep ourselves from marking the traumatic moments in those perilous first weeks when reports trickled in of people in China sickening from the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2...Kelley has penned a vivid reminder of that year in her new book...Kelley’s evocative memories gently compel the reader down that perilous road on a necessary journey to revisit the multiple traumas of the year 2020. The author’s deep dives into past pandemics, human disease transmission, global trade, and the origins of crops and plants are viewed through the lens of the garden that Kelley and her husband Rob maintain on their one-acre homestead. As the couple hunkers down for what would become more than a year of isolation, Kelley, a cancer survivor with a weakened immune system, envisions the process of gardening as a 'defiance.' Her 2020 garden would become 'a way to propagate life and health and pleasure and optimism when death feels terrifyingly present.' "
Here are our past year's listings of our Top Garden Books:
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