Books are always a good choice for holiday gifts and those shopping for gardeners’ gifts have a lot to choose from. I know the libraries and book stores divide their book sections in to fiction and non-fiction, but I would like to add a sub-category to the non-fiction. I feel there are two distinct types of gardening books: educational and entertaining.
By educational, I mean reference books like old favorites Western Garden Book by the editors of Sunset and The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy DeSabato-Aust. Both are staples on my bookshelf and the ones I turn to most often when I need help or information. I also include the Home Gardener’s Problem Solver from Ortho and Plant Propagation, edited by Alan Toogood in this educational category. If your gardener doesn’t have at least one of these books on his or her shelf, your shopping task is easy.
But there is another category of gardening books and these are ones I sit down to read on a rainy afternoon in any season. They are easy and enjoyable to read…more like literature, actually.
The first and foremost of the books on my shelves are any of the ones by Gertrude Jekyll. Gertrude – and I have read her books so often I feel as if I am on a first name basis with her although she died in 1932 at the age of 89 – was famous in the British Isles and America for her garden design. Gertrude came late to gardening. She had been a painter and photographer until her eyesight started to fail her in 1891 when she was 48. As a creative outlet, she turned to gardening which would not strain her eyes as painting or even photography had done. In 1889, Gertrude had become fast friends with a young architect by the name of Edwin Lutyens and soon they formed a partnership whereby a “Lutyens house with a Jekyll garden” became the epitome of English life. While Miss Jekyll’s gardens are known world-wide, it is her books that bring her to life for me. Her writing is descriptive but poetic, for example, “I take pleasure in picturing to myself various forms of pleasant winter gardens; of places where there shall be no discordant note of obtrusive staging or gaudy tile or blue-white paint… but where beautiful flowers and foliage should hold their own in undisputed possession.” (Home and Garden, 1900) Gertrude wrote several books, none of which are disappointing, and I would recommend any of them to any type of gardener. Since most of them are out of print, a second-hand copy may have to do, but I find it rather charming to read pages that other, long-ago gardeners have read before me. They tie me to history in a way new books can’t.
But I was given two older books recently that I enjoyed immensely and can highly recommend: The Earth Knows My Name; Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Ethnic Gardens of America by Patricia Klindienst (2007), and Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate; At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World by Wendy Johnson (2008). Both offer insights to the gardening world, sustainability of our gardens, and the importance of raising our own food. Patricia visited and interviewed gardeners all over the United States that were descendants of Native Americans or who had come to this country as immigrants at some point and still practice their families’ cultivation practices. From the Tesuque Pueblo in New Mexico to Cambodia to the Punjab, Patricia’s exploration of gardening practices points out that gardeners from other countries and cultures are not so different from each other. Wendy, a Buddhist living in Northern California, explains her philosophy of the garden as seen through her history as a gardener. Wendy includes gardening tips about composting, living with slugs and snails, with a few recipes included, so this book could be considered both educational and entertaining.
A new book, published in 2023, is The Comfort of Crows; A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl. This is a lovely book, with original color artwork by the author's brother Billy Renkl. Margaret has great insights as she moves through a year in her garden, week-by-week. Some chapters read more like poetry than prose.
As for my own Christmas reading list, a friend just passed along a book suggestion that I thought sounded intriguing. It’s called Gardening for a Lifetime; How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older by Sydney Eddison (2011), (about $20) and I understand this book is one that will guide me through gardening as I age. As much as I hate to admit it, I find myself less inclined to increase the size and scope of my gardens. I am more interested in finding time to sit and enjoy the gardens, so I will be interested in reading what Sylvia has to say.
Check local or Portland bookstores or on-line to find these selections. You may even want to place a couple of these on your own list to Santa, too.
And now for a little shameless self-promotion: My 2022 book Four Seasons in the Pacific Northwest Coastal Garden is still available on my website, with a reduced price of $24 for the holidays. This is my personal calendar journey from Spring through to Winter. I would be happy to autograph a copy for you if you explain on your order form who it is for. Shipping and handling is an additional $5, and your order needs to be in by December 15th to ensure delivery via USPS.
My 2017 book Coastal Gardening for the Pacific Northwest is back to being available on Amazon, too.
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