By H. Byron Ballard
The natural world offers a season of rest for both Mother Nature and her acolyte, the gardener. For most gardeners, winter is a time of exile from the smell of new-turned soil, the satisfaction of germinating seeds and the delicious victory of the first harvest. Never fear! You can soothe your loamy soul or delight the gardener on your gift list with a dream of spring in the form of beautifully illustrated how-to books and inspirational writing about the dirty work of growing things.
I have been a gardener as far back as I can remember. The how-to books from the library were one of my early joys—how to install a pond, lay a brick walkway or plant a rose hedge. I dug a hole in the front yard and put an old tin washtub in it as a mini-pond. A few days later, my father stepped into it and the pond was no more. But it didn’t dampen my determination to alter my surroundings through landscaping and hardscaping.
My first forays into reading about gardening (as opposed to the doing of the deed) were the books of Beverley Nichols. As an Anglophile, I was swept away by the language and the stories of creating new gardens in pre-World War II England. These books are an excellent choice for gardeners, cat lovers and those who can’t resist anything British.
They are witty as well as informative. The first one I read was Down the Garden Path, which is available in an illustrated edition from Timber Press. We learn as Nichols learns, and the introduction to important garden plants is impressive. I encountered Garden Open Today a few years later and found it equally inspiring. Most of Nichols’ books are still available, thanks to Timber Press.
January in the Carolinas requires inspiration if one is to recall the glory days of July. The seed catalogues start arriving and a beautifully photographed coffee-table book is just the thing to turn our minds to spring. Perfect for the experienced designer, the passionate digger, even the armchair gardener, The Garden Maker’s Manual (by Rosemary Alexander & Richard Sneesby) is a richly illustrated reference guide for building a garden from the ground up.
Gordon and Mary Hayward’s The Intimate Garden—Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden is an insider’s look into the renovation and re-creation of a New Hampshire garden. The Haywards give us the benefit of their experience in trial-and-error design and the result is a series of gardens and garden rooms, water features, even outdoor art. The writing is crisp and evocative and the photos gorgeous.
I love the new trend in stonescaping that is sweeping through Carolina gardens, and our neighbors at Lark Books, known for their how-to arts-and-crafts titles, have several offerings on the subject. David Reed—a potter who lives in Haywood county, NC—has authored two: The Art & Craft of Stonescaping: Setting and Stacking Stone and The Art and Craft of Stonework: Dry-Stacking, Mortaring, Paving, Carving, Gardenscaping. Both are excellent how-tos, generously illustrated.
Attention to infrastructure makes for a livable city and a sustainable landscape. Barbara Pleasant and Deborah L. Martin have created a guide to compost that is readable and full of information. The Complete Compost Gardening Guide is a gold mine of facts about how to make, use and benefit from compost.
As we get more information about our impact on the earth around us, many gardeners are looking for sustainable solutions in the landscape, and one of those is the use of native plants. Look to Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy for commonsense information about this important addition to the garden.
It isn’t all dirt and mulch, though. Modern gardens call for points of interest, whether ponds, gazebos or artful paths. Lark Books also gives us Creative Garden Mosaics: Dazzling Projects & Innovative Techniques by Jill MacKay. This book is full of funky, imaginative projects for a winter afternoon or a rainy spring day.
More ambitious artisans may want to check out Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden: Making Pots, Planters, Birdbaths, Sculpture & More by Sherri Warner Hunter, a book that features fountains, tables, wall art and includes detailed instructions.
Every gardener needs a little book for the garden tool bag, and here’s the one I carry in mine. Simple Pleasures of the Garden: Stories, Recipes & Crafts from the Abundant Earth is a paperback from Conari Press, written by Susannah Seton. Chock full of stories, recipes and garden tips, it’s the perfect gift for you or the gardener you love.
A cup of mint tea and a good book on the addictive pleasure of gardening can go a long way towards shortening the time between the last harvest and the first planting. As one gardener to another, I highly recommend both.
