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  • From: Hamptongar@aol.com
  • To: gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Favorite Gardening Books
  • Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:44:45 EST

I just reread Crockett's Victory Garden by James Crockett and it's a classic and ageless.  Think this is a great book for starting gardeners, vegetable gardeners and anyone who needs a refresher.  Crockett just had a way with words that is rare among true gardeners.  Funny thing is that I met Crockett as a result of getting to know Jeff Ball...long story...but met Crockett on the Today show roughly 30 years ago then Jeff began doing his spot years later.
 
My second choice is Botany for Gardeners by Harold Rickett (1957).  This book predates the more recent one under the same title but Rickett's book is far and away the better.  He brings Botany down to a level that is non technical and understandable by the most neophyte gardener and by the time you've read the book you come away with a new understanding of gardening and horticulture that's enough to allow you to understand the plant world as well as the plant allies like ferns.  It's truly a remarkable book and this one is also timeless and quite relevant.  Easy to read over a long weekend and a constant reference.
 
Cynthia Westcott's Bug Book is a close third and possibly tied with Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia though both are a bit dated as they refer to chemicals and practices that are no longer in use.  Nonetheless the basic information is not dated and they both make great references.
 
For tropical there's Graf's classic Exotic Plant Manual
 
For perennials it would be Allan Armitage's Herbaceous Perennial Plants.
 
A
 

Andrew Messinger
The Hampton Gardener is a registered trade mark and is published every Thursday in The Southampton Press, The Press and the Easthampton Press

 
 






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