Dig Into Gardening Books for Holiday Gift Ideas



Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2007

by
Park Seed Company

Gardening is an ancient activity–important, even necessary for our very existence. But it is also an activity that many people enjoy just for fun. Horticulture is a beautiful marriage of science and art that attracts the passionate and curious alike. Being an accomplished gardener requires an eye for aesthetics, knowledge of design and color theory, and general artistic ability--but it also benefits from a strong understanding of botany, organic chemistry, molecular biology, entomology, geology, and even a little zoology. To absorb all this knowledge for success in what most people consider "just a hobby," you'll need either good study habits or at least an extensive gardening library. Luckily for you, many gardeners love to write about what they do, and they all have very different interests and specialties.

I don't know an accomplished gardener who doesn't have at least a bookshelf or two devoted just to books about gardening. Gardening books can be used as inspirational guides or troubleshooting manuals. Pamphlets, casually read for pleasure, or extensive tomes, poured-over and scrutinized thoroughly. Gardening is such a broad topic that an individual's gardening library can be a very personal and unique collection. Every gardener has different interests, and gardeners all around the country deal with different climates and grow very different plants. But with very little effort, you can find a book for every specialty and situation.

Some books focus on specific plants and growing techniques associated with particular climate conditions. One great example is the line of Month-by-Month gardening books from Cool Springs Press. You can give your garden-loving friends all over the country a book that targets what to do in the garden each month in their specific state. Cool Springs Press also has a companion line of state-by-state gardening guides that deliver locally relevant plant descriptions and horticulture tips.

Gardening books can be focused on a specific season like Ondra and Coden's Fallscaping, a book full of useful tips to keep any gardener busy from late summer well into the cold winter months. Or they can focus on a specific aspect of gardening like Park's Success With Seed, by Karen Park Jennings, or Lewis and Nancy Hill's Flower Gardener's Bible. Books like these are very thorough. For example, Park's Success With Seed is an encyclopedia of seeds, with pictures of seed, seedling, and mature specimen for more than 400 genera, plus in-depth germination instructions for both common and rare seeds. The Flower Gardener's Bible, as the name suggests, covers everything you need to know about flowers, from the science behind seed germination and soil combinations to the art of designing a beautiful colorful flower garden.

So if you are searching for gifts for the gardeners in your life this holiday season, don't be afraid to think outside of the flower pot and get your knowledge-hungry gardener a handy book with pretty pictures. Or you could just opt for the pictures, as in Stafford Cliff's striking 1000 Garden Ideas. Gardener's always love inspiring pictures of other people's gardens.

Honestly, books are great gifts for anybody, no matter what their hobbies are. (But then, a writer like me would say something like that, right!?) Dig into the many gardening books available, and you'll unearth a holiday gift that will inspire and delight the whole year through.
 
Thomas Andrews is a garden writer for the Park Seed Company.
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