Our top gardening books for Christmas include a mix of practical growing, making and cooking guides, and some splendidly illustrated gardening volumes released this year, to inspire you over winter.
Our pick of some of the finest gardening books to be released in 2017. Perfect for the gardeners in your life who are difficult to buy presents for!
Big Ideas Small Spaces by Kay Maguire and Tony Woods
This book will appeal to DIY enthusiasts looking to get stuck into some big weekend projects. The ideas feel fresh and stylish and there is an emphasis on garden features that can be added to walls and balconies to maximise the space available. Seemingly aimed at those with a casual interest in gardening but a big interest in making things, there is much of interest for the budding woodworker.
The Great Dixter Cookbook by Aaron Bertelsen
Great Dixter gardener Aaron Bertelsen discusses how he grows over 30 different crops at the famous garden, revealing his own habits and time-tested advice. Sixty-eight recipes follow the crop-by-crop advice. The recipes are uncomplicated and best of all, the homegrown crops are the main ingredient in most of them. The recipes come with a good helping of whimsical anecdote, both of the author’s garden memories and Christopher Lloyd’s experiences of the recipes he created himself.
Essential Pruning Techniques by George E Brown and Tony Kirkham
This manual is an update of George E Brown’s authoritative The Pruning of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers, released in 1972. A definitive work in itself, it has been brought up to date by Tony Kirkham, Head of the Arboretum at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The book contains many ‘how to’ pictures of pruning plants and the A-Z of how to prune plants by genus is exhaustive. The fine images of mature trees and shrubs in the book also make it an illustrated tree and shrub encyclopaedia in itself.
Secret Gardens by Claire Masset
This is a useful guide for the garden visitor who has long had all the classic gardens ticked off their wish list of gardens to see in the flesh. The ‘secret gardens’ are split into five categories: ‘Gardens on the Edge of the World’, ‘Town Gardens’, ‘Arts and Crafts Gardens’, ‘Writer’s Retreats’ and ‘Modern Masterpieces’. There are some delightful stories included that relate to the gardens, including that of Otto Overbeck, whose dubious invention – the age-defying, electro-therapy ‘rejuvenator’ – allowed him to collect a vast range of plants in his Devon garden, now known as Overbeck’s.
Originally published in 2002 as Beth Chatto’s Woodland Garden, this is an updated version of a modern classic. Full of timeless wisdom that will stand any gardener in good stead, it is perhaps the ultimate guide to gardening in shade. The main body of the book is a tour of the woodland garden through the year and Chatto makes for a fine guide for the journey. Once the tour is complete, an A-Z of Chatto’s recommended plants for shade, complete with notes on their quirks, will – in the author’s words – ‘dispel the myth that gardening in the shade is a curse rather than a blessing’.
Orchid: A Cultural History by Jim Endersby
In this all-encompassing history, Jim Endersby holds nothing back, blending botany with horror fiction, theology and theatre. Almost anything orchid-related is included. From the significance of the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, to the history of the Badianus Manuscript from the 1500s, held in the Vatican library and the first record of the orchid from which vanilla is derived. Endersby draws on some cracking material in telling the story, with room for the role the orchid has played in so many different aspects of life.
Edible Flowers: A Global History by Constance L Kirker and Mary Newman
The current vogue for edible flowers to be included on the menus of leading chefs is given close examination in this brief history of their use. The findings put a concept that may be considered new today into its proper place. So often contemporary novelties were yesterday’s staples. Broad in scope, Kirker’s work explains the use of edible flowers from ancient times to the present day. It is a whistlestop tour that stays engaging and the history doesn’t simply cherry pick the sentimental stories, chronicling famine in the Netherlands during the Second World War, when a type of porridge was made from ground tulip bulbs to stave off hunger.
The Garden Photography Workshop by Andrea Jones
This practical book will help anyone – from the casual iPhone-wielding garden snapper to the enthusiastic hobby photographer – learn how to take better garden photos. The book is full of pictures taken by the author Andrea Jones and her commentary on the images is full of practical suggestions. Give a few pages a quick scan or pore over the technical notes – regardless, readers are bound to take better pictures of their garden as a result of the easy-to-follow help in this book.
The Salad Garden by Joy Larkcom
First published in 1984 The Salad Garden is full of detailed and anecdote-heavy advice on how to grow scores of salad crops. It was a truly pioneering work at a time when any salad leaf other than an ‘Iceberg’ lettuce was considered unusual. Coupled with growing advice that is far more comprehensive and practical than many of the ‘grow-your-own’ books that have followed in the intervening years, it has now had a welcome update. A section of salad recipes to use once the ingredients are harvested is especially useful, allowing the reader to work in reverse by picking a recipe and then growing the appropriate ingredients for it.
If ever there was a book designed for an indulgent browse over coffee, this is it. A compendium of 250 famous gardens, it is a visual feast of showpiece horticulture from around the world. Some 1,300 garden images form the backbone of the book and among them are some astounding garden pictures that will stay in the mind. An introduction to each garden manages to provide context succinctly and goes some way in acknowledging that this is a volume for which admiring the photography is the main use. Every image is captioned and many plants within the images are named; a priceless addition to a volume to treasure.
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Searching for further Christmas inspiration? Why not browse the extensive Christmas archive from our sister title, The English Home? Filled with beautiful decoration ideas and interiors inspiration fit for the festive season, this eclectic guide to the festive season provides all the information you need for dining, decorating and entertaining this Christmas.
Fancy turning your hand to some festive craft this Christmas? Find out how to make a Christmas wreath from our sister title, The English Home.
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