Today’s guest post comes from JudyBusy in south Minneapolis:

Two of my greatest loves are reading and gardening. A common refrain of my childhood was the order to “Get your nose out of that book and come do [insert tedious household task here.]” Sometimes, this included weeding, watering, and harvesting our large vegetable garden.

So, when I grew up, the template was set: I am a reading gardener. I am not ashamed to admit that I have had to set a timer when reading so that I do go out and weed, water, and harvest. So, when I really began to garden, around 1989 in borrowed plots, then in my own garden (which has a convenient house attached) it is no surprise I turned to books.

I read for pleasure and instruction.

I subscribed to Organic Gardening and Gardens Illustrated, a high-end English publication. For some reason, I was drawn mostly to British writers. Oh, maybe because they are nearly without peer?

Robin Lane Fox taught me to be choosy about varietals in Better Gardening; John Brooks had loads to say about creating structure first, then plants. I am forever indebted to Rosemary Verey and Penelope Hobhouse for the look of my sweetly chaotic beds, with wave after wave of blooms. Elliot Coleman taught me how to plant in patterns of 2:1:2 instead of rows to maximize space, and how to plant tomatoes laying their stems in a trench. My perfect, dream gardens inhabit the two books by I have by Graham Rose, Small Garden Design and Romantic Gardens.

Then there are reminisces by Ms. Verey, Amy Stewart, Mirabel Osler, and George Schenk, who gave up his nursery and spent time living and gardening with various friends. (He also took me from despair when I had nearly nothing but shade, in his straightforward Shade Gardening. Years later, I cried when I lost my shade and had to rescue my poor, seared hostas and recreate eleven years of effort.) I have an absolutely beautifully produced book edited by Jamaica Kincaid, in which writers and gardeners share their favorite plants: My Favorite Plant. The typeface alone is worth the read.

More recently, I picked up Gardens for Small Country Houses by Gertrude Jekyll and Lawrence Weaver. First published in 1912, it was re-released in 1981. They spent two years traveling around England, drawing up plans of existing gardens, taking pictures and writing about the gardens. In it, she advocates for native species of evergreens, as they do so much better than the exotics.

But what would we have in our gardens without the efforts of families such as the Veitch family of Scotland who sent plant collectors to all ends of the earth? I read about them in Sue Shepard’s Seeds of Fortune: A Gardening Dynasty. They had a profound impact on gardens, greatly expanding what is available.

I could add another dozen titles, but I also have learned to open my ears and close my mouth: What books and authors have inspired you? What would you recommend to new gardeners and old to further their love of this wonderful art we call gardening?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 10:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.