The Complete Kitchen Garden
The Complete Kitchen Garden: An Inspired Collection of Garden Designs & 100 Seasonal Recipes, by Ellen Ecker Ogden, is a delightful book that combines vegetable garden design, organic gardening tips, and recipes.
Book Review
The Foodscape Revolution
Interested in growing vegetables but lack space or are concerned your local homeowner association will frown on edible landscaping? If so, The Foodscape Revolution — Finding a Better Way to Make Space for Food and Beauty in Your Garden by Brie Arthur may help.
The Art of Gardening
The Art of Gardening—Design Inspiration and Innovative Planting Techniques from Chanticleer by R. William Thomas and others, is the next best thing to actually visiting Chanticleer Garden (Chanticleer), an amazing public garden in Wayne, PA. Filled with fabulous photographs and detailed descriptions, the book is both inspirational and practical.
Planting in a Post-Wild World
lanting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West (2015) provides concrete advice for designing, planting, and managing sustainable landscapes based on what we know about how plants grow in nature. While written for professional landscape designers, it is full of ideas and practical tools for anyone interested in sustainable landscaping.
Two Of My Gardening Book ‘Faves’
Master Gardener Judy Funderburk reviews two of her favorite gardening books: Tracy DiSabato-Aust's The Well-Tended Perennial Garden and The Homeowner's Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook by Penelope O'Sullivan.
American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid-Atlantic
American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic, a recently published book intended for both artists and gardeners, was created by a local nonprofit group, Botanical Artists for Education & the Environment. This group is composed of botanical artists who participated in painting classes offered by Anne-Marie Evans in Falls Church, VA. The BAEE undertook the publication project with the intention of stimulating an appreciation of native plants and encouraging their use in home landscaping. The introductory text includes a contribution from the renowned entomologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy on the vital role of native plants in local ecosystems.
Smithsonian Encyclopedia of Garden Plants for Every Location
Members of the 2015 Master Gardener training class and proctors supporting the class recently had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Smithsonian horticulturist James Gagliardi on herbaceous plant selection and usage. Those who were not able to attend the lecture can still benefit from his knowledge in a book to which he was a major contributor. Smithsonian Encyclopedia of Garden Plants for Every Location, a 2014 Dorling Kindersley publication, features information on over 3,000 plants.
Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Gardening
While it’s time to put many of our garden beds to rest for the winter, some gardeners may enjoy perusing Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Gardening by Katie Elzer-Peters to help them plan their plantings of edibles for the spring growing season.
Paradise Lot
In Paradise Lot, two self-described plant geeks, Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates, tell the charming story of their efforts to build a backyard food forest in the city using permaculture practices which had been implemented successfully in Europe and the tropics.
Powerhouse Plants and Derek Fell’s Grow This!
Book Reviews: Powerhouse Plants by Graham Rice, and Derek Fell's Grow This!
Beautiful No-Mow Yards, The Edible Front Yard, and Why Grow That When You Can Grow This
Book reviews: Beautiful No-Mow Yards by Evelyn Hadden, The Edible Front Yard by Ivette Soler, and Why Grow That When You Can Grow This? by Andrew Keys
Founding Gardeners
George Washington was an obsessive gardener; Thomas Jefferson, a stealthy seed smuggler; and John Adams, so taken with manure, he once examined a pile of it while on a diplomatic excursion in Europe.