Gardening Books Gift Guide

Whenever the holidays or special events are coming, you might often find yourself asking: What’s the best gift for a friend or loved one who is into gardening?

Is there something that they would love to get their hands on or maybe a new tool that they’ve been dreaming about?

Instead of thinking about the next pruning shears or shovel set to give to your gardener friend, why don’t you try giving them some gardening books which can last for years? Gardening information never gets old, so gardening books are good forever.

Whether planning to escape into plans and inspirations of what to be planting next or simply wanting to recreate things and create a new kind of garden next year, a gardening book will surely inspire.

There are tons of different topics to choose from: From floral gardening to herbs, and creating miniature gardens to fruits and vegetables, there is always something that will interest someone so make sure you add a few books to the gift list.

If you’re not sure which titles to choose, here are a few of our favorites that would make great gifts:

Succulent Style: A Gardener’s Guide to Growing and Crafting with Succulents

A go-to reference for anyone trying to grow and maintain succulents. The ultimate guide to propagating, growing, and styling succulents and cacti both indoors and out, Succulent Style is as informative as it is gorgeous. Designed for millennials who want to stop killing their plants and for DIY types who want to learn about designing with succulents, Succulent Style is full of succulent growing techniques for beginners as well as for knowledgeable gardeners looking to expand their gardening skills. This beautifully photographed compendium makes the perfect addition to any coffee table or bookshelf.

Succulent ideas for your home and garden. Whether you want to learn how to care for a cactus indoor or how to style plants, you’ll find tons of tips and tricks inside. Start designing succulents with fun projects like succulent garlands, wall art, wreaths, succulent bouquets, potted arrangements as well as many other cool things.

Inside, you’ll also find:

• A detailed compilation of succulent varieties
• Instructions on how to propagate and plant cacti and succulents
• Tips to integrate succulents into outdoor and indoor design

Gardening Hacks: 300+ Time and Money Saving Hacks

Gardening Hacks is perfect for all gardening skill levels whether you’re starting your first garden, looking to expand your crop, or simply searching for ways to make it easier to care for your extensive plant collection. With more than 300 time- and money-saving tips, you’ll find everything you need to know to make your garden grow – indoors or out!

Gardening Hacks includes helpful tips like:

• Saving your eggshells, which can serve as everything from an organic seed starter to a natural snail and slug repellent.
• Adding a pinch of cinnamon to help prevent fungal diseases that might prevent your plants from maturing.
• Using the newspaper to help deter weeds from sprouting.
• Creating your own DIY seed packet catalog to help keep your seeds organized as your garden grows.
• And many more!

The Herbal Healing Handbook

Heal the natural way. In her latest work, bestselling author Cerridwen Greenleaf shares the healing power of plants, roots, herbs, essential oils, aromatherapy, and all things natural remedies. If you are tired of automatically turning to chemical treatments, or just want to have more plant-based care options, The Herbal Healing Handbook is the book for you.

Draw upon ancient knowledge. While health care debates rage all around us, one way to take good care of yourself and your loved ones is with the “kitchen cabinet cures” in this book. When our great grandmothers needed to attend to the cuts, bruises, colds, flu’s fevers and other illnesses their family suffered, they didn’t have a corner drugstore. Instead, these wise women relied on simple wisdom, common sense, and pantries well stocked with herbal remedies. These preparations were made from plants that grew in the kitchen garden or wild weeds gathered outside. The Herbal Healing Handbook combines the wisdom of our elders with a modern kitchen herbalist’s sensibility.

In The Herbal Healing Handbook you will:

• Learn about natural remedies you can DIY
• Treat inflammation and pain
• Build energy
• Improve your attitude and mindset
• Gain key knowledge about plants, roots, essential oils and aromatherapy

The Cannabinoid Cookbook: Transform Your Health Using Herbs and Spices from Your Kitchen

Discover wonderful uses of turmeric, basil, rosemary, flax, oregano, cloves, cinnamon, cacao, and more. It is perfectly understandable to be wary about holistic foods and their healing properties. However, when used and prepared correctly these rich foods are full of natural healing remedies that can help you ease pain, sleep better, de-stress, and so much more. Jam-packed with healing ingredients, making easy and healthy dinner ideas has never been easier.

The Cannabinoid Cookbook provides a ton of healthy recipes using healing herbs and spices that can kick-start your ECS and help you feel better each day! Learn about:

• Common herbs and spices that can create an endocannabinoid response
• How to use these recipes to heal pain, inflammation, and other bodily issues
• Easy and delicious recipes that heal you, inside and out

Natural Remedies for Your Home & Health

Revamp your entire home with natural, safer products. Natural Remedies for Your Home & Health contains a wealth of information about essential oils, what they are, how they work, and how to use them safely. In this book, find several simple recipes for clean beauty products, and even everyday cleaning products. All of these practical recipes can be used on a regular basis. Plus, discover natural health tips and learn how to make some swaps in the laundry room that will save you time and money!

100 DIY all-natural recipes, numerous natural living tips, and valuable essential oil education—this book has it all. In Natural Remedies for Your Home & Health, author Laura Ascher, the wellness advocate and essential oils expert behind the blog and YouTube channel Our Oily House, teaches you how to:

• Use essential oils safely and effectively to create a more natural lifestyle for your family
• Feel empowered to put together homemade skincare products, haircare products, and DIY cleaners
• Use essential oils for natural remedies for common ailments, and more!

The Crafty Gardener

Awakening the gardener in all of us: Gardening allows us to live in a much more human way, grounded in nature and connected to Mother Earth and all she provides. Even if your garden is just a hanging basket of cherry tomatoes or a windowsill filled with herb pots, you will still reap the benefits of gardening.

DIY crafting and gardening: Gardening adds pleasure to your life and gives you a sense of calm. With your garden, you are quite literally growing a bounty of blessings. Lifelong gardener and bestselling author Becca Anderson has put her love of crafting and of gardening together in this book of inspired DIY ideas.

More than a gardening book: Along with gardening tips and secrets for growing flowers, herbs and veggies, Anderson shares dozens of how-to’s in this delightful guide on making candles, potpourri, bath salts, essential oils, floral waters, tinctures, liquors, pickles jams and even fountains, birdhouses and fairy doors. The perfect gift for any gardener!

Readers will learn:

• Time-tested gardening secrets
• How to garden in big and small spaces
• Recipes for home-grown vegetables and fruits
• How to preserve and ferment
• How to make DIY garden decorations and fixtures
• Anderson’s own gardening stories that will inspire, motivate, and lift the spirit

A gardening book filled with DIY projects, wisdom, and joy

Olaf Hajek’s Fantastic Fruits

As in his previous books, Flower Power and Veggie Power, Hajek’s whimsical, imaginative paintings—inspired by a variety of artistic traditions—situate each fruit in a fascinating cultural context. Each “portrait” features delightful pictorial clues about how the fruits are grown and consumed. Opposite the illustrations, Annette Roeder’s engaging texts offer illuminating and often surprising facts from throughout history and contemporary life. As mouthwatering as a summer peach, and as surprising as a pomegranate’s seeds, this book serves up page after page of delicious, nutritious, but most of all fun portions of fruity knowledge from all over the world.

The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City

Whether you want to grow on a balcony, rooftop, front stoop, or a tiny urban patio, turn your growing dreams into reality and build a gorgeous and unique garden that showcases your personal style while still being functional and productive. With the ingenious ideas and resourceful tactics found here, you’ll be maximizing yields and beauty from every square inch of your space, while also making a lush outdoor living area you’ll crave spending time in.

Take inspiration from urban gardeners around the world and learn to:

• Install planting pockets on fences and walls
• Grow a rooftop garden in lightweight grow bags
• Tips for designing small spaces that feel BIG
• Build a salad table for growing lettuce and greens
• Utilize garden structures and plants for decorative screening
• Support pollinators by creating a small-scale habitat
• Design a pet-friendly urban yard
• Employ climbing plants and vines to add privacy and reduce noise
• Plant in layers to maximize yields and add beauty

Whether you’re growing edible plants or beautiful flowers, the 101 amazing growing ideas found in The Urban Garden will turn your tiny urban yard into a treasure trove of green you’ll be proud to share with family and friends.

The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard

Modern Homesteading is a lifestyle focused on living lightly on the land and increasing self-sufficiency. It doesn’t matter whether “home” is 50 acres in the country, a suburban corner lot, or an apartment in the city. All you need is a desire to reduce your footprint on the earth and live a more sustainable life. To be a modern homesteader, you don’t have to live off-grid and you don’t have to give up contemporary conveniences.

For most modern homesteaders, it all starts with making the conscious decision to reduce your reliance on the commercial food supply chain. In The Modern Homestead Garden, author and YouTube gardening star Gary Pilarchik of The Rusted Garden walks you step-by-step through the process of building a homestead garden. From laying out the planting beds, nurturing the soil, and starting seeds, straight through to cooking and preserving the harvest, Gary serves as your warm and accessible guide, no matter how large or how small your homestead is. With the guidance found here, you’ll move at your own pace, learn, share, and enjoy the journey as you slowly transform your home into an edible landscape.

• Practical advice to site and build your very first homestead garden
• Crop profiles to get you growing quickly 
• Cost-effective ways to source seeds and plants 
• The low-down on feeding plants in an earth-friendly way
• Methods for preparing planting beds and containers
• Soil prep advice every homesteader can use 
• All natural trouble-shooting solutions 
• How to include berries, cane fruits, vine crops, and fruit trees in your homestead plans
• Food preservation advice that’s easy and delicious

Backyard Farming

Grow, raise, and store your own food with this simple and easy guide to creating a self-sustaining farm right in your backyard!

These days we are all looking for ways to become more self-sufficient. Now with Backyard Farming, you can create your very own micro farm right in your backyard — no matter where you live! Now you can discover ways to grow, raise, and store your own food year round whether you live in an urban environment, in the suburbs, or out in the country. From raising chickens and beekeeping to growing vegetables and planting fruit trees, this guide to homesteading will help you become more self-reliant in no time!

Four-Season Food Gardening

Unlike most other vegetable gardening books on the market, this one approaches the subject through the lens of what you can grow during each of the four seasons, even if you live in a cold climate. Using season-extension techniques, such as cold frames, mini hoop houses, and thick mulches, combined with a thoughtful mixture of annual and perennial crops, you’ll discover that eating from your backyard through all 12 months is possible.

With a hearty dose of enthusiasm and expertise, author Misilla dela Llana of YouTube’s Learn to Grow channel presents this season-by-season guide to growing edible plants, covering everything from what tasks and what crops are best for each harvesting season to step-by-step DIY projects for structures and methods to temper weather extremes. With Four-Season Food Gardening you can keep on growing, no matter what challenges Mother Nature presents.

Inside, you’ll find info on:

• Veggies you can harvest in the dead of winter
• Foods that come from perennial plants you harvest from for many years
• How to build and use cold frames and other season extenders to prolong your harvest
• Tips for incorporating layers of edible plants to maximize space
• Pruning, planting, and maintenance advice for dozens of crops
• Seasonal maintenance and harvesting know-how from a pro

The First-Time Gardener

In The First-Time Gardener: Raised Bed Gardening, you’ll learn how to select the best-raised bed for your space, what to fill it with, and tips for staking and trellising plants to save space and improve yields.

Additional advice found inside includes:

• DIY plans for building quick-and-simple beds
• Info on the best soil mixes for filling raised beds
• How to mulch, water, and fertilize your new garden
• Illustrated planting plans to help you determine how many plants fit in each bed
• Step-by-step project plans for unique raised bed trellising systems
• The best beginner-friendly crops to get you started
• How to maximize production from a small raised bed garden
• Tips to get growing in a way that won’t leave you feeling overwhelmed halfway through the season

Raised bed gardening is perfect for beginners, as long as you have a pro like CaliKim sharing her essential know-how and cheering you on to veggie-growing victory.

The Regenerative Garden: 80 Practical Projects for Creating a Self-sustaining Garden Ecosystem

Discover how to work with nature, instead of against it, by employing permaculture techniques to create a garden that is not just more beautiful and productive, but also more resilient.

While the word permaculture might sound intimidating, the principals behind it are not. The main goal of permaculture is to turn your space into a functioning ecosystem that’s less reliant on external resources and better able to sustain itself through many seasons of growth and change as it resists pests, diseases, and climate extremes. Whatever the size of your space, from a tiny patio garden to a big backyard, and whether you grow food, flowers, shrubs, trees, or a combination of all, The Regenerative Garden is here to help you become a better, more eco-conscious gardener.

Through 80 DIY projects, author Stephanie Rose of the popular website Garden Therapy introduces you to basic backyard permaculture concepts in an easy-to-follow, logical way. Each of the six chapters represents a living element of the garden, capable of playing a valuable role in its constant regeneration, including soil, water, plants, climate, ethics, and community. As you check these projects off your to-do list, you’ll find you’ve reduced your long-term work load, conserved water and other resources, turned your yard into a habitat for wildlife, and learned to grow perennial foods in creative ways

The 80 featured projects include step-by-step instructions on how to:

• Employ intensive planting to reduce weeding and watering chores
• Use living mulches to amend the soil
• Build self-watering planters and wicking beds to reduce water use
• Install a rain garden to catch runoff
• Plant a wildlife hedge to support creatures and create a windbreak and noise buffer
• Compost projects and systems to repurpose waste on-site
• Make a butterfly migration station to support pollinators of all sorts

The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City

Whether you want to grow on a balcony, rooftop, front stoop, or a tiny urban patio, turn your growing dreams into reality and build a gorgeous and unique garden that showcases your personal style while still being functional and productive. With the ingenious ideas and resourceful tactics found here, you’ll be maximizing yields and beauty from every square inch of your space, while also making a lush outdoor living area you’ll crave spending time in.

Take inspiration from urban gardeners around the world and learn to:

• Install planting pockets on fences and walls
• Grow a rooftop garden in lightweight grow bags
• Tips for designing small spaces that feel BIG
• Build a salad table for growing lettuce and greens
• Utilize garden structures and plants for decorative screening
• Support pollinators by creating a small-scale habitat
• Design a pet-friendly urban yard
• Employ climbing plants and vines to add privacy and reduce noise
• Plant in layers to maximize yields and add beauty

Freestyle Bonsai: How to pot, grow, prune, and shape

Learn the tools and techniques of bonsai to get started potting, shaping, and caring for your own collection of tiny trees, all while learning it’s okay to bend the rules along the way.

Though bonsai is steeped in ancient traditions and techniques, it doesn’t have to be intimidating and difficult. A new generation of bonsai enthusiasts are discovering the joys of growing these miniaturized works of living art, and in Freestyle Bonsai, bonsai artists and growers Jerome and Mari Kellerhals of The Bonsai Supply show you how you, too, can grow beautiful bonsai trees without judgment or the stress of perfection.

You’ll learn:

• Which tree species are the best for beginners
• A breakdown of bonsai tools and how to use them
• How to successfully pot a bonsai tree
• Easy bonsai styling, including clipping, training, and wiring techniques
• Care and maintenance tips for your bonsai collection
• Step-by-step shaping instructions to create ten different bonsai styles

The Elegant and Edible Garden

Stylish and celebratory, The Elegant and Edible Garden takes food growing to a higher plane. Host of The Potager Blog (@potagerblog), author and garden stylist Linda Vater, shares her vision for creating a garden space where food and flowers grow side by side.

Inside you’ll learn:

• How to grow flowers, fruits, veggies, and herbs together en masse
• The function of symmetry in a potager garden
• Ways to create visual harmony and match the style of the garden to its surroundings
• Tips for blending your family’s needs and lifestyle into the garden
• Advice on how to utilize focal points and garden ornaments in your garden’s layout
• The importance of rhythm, repetition, and harmony in potager design
• How to position garden structures with practicality and purpose in mind
• Where to put your potager for not just convenience but also to create a destination
• Best practices for growing your beautiful new garden organically

Create a garden that rejoices in seasonality while still allowing your style and personality to shine. The Elegant and Edible Garden is a vision of the very best things a garden can offer: food, beauty, connection, and a place to breathe.

What’s Cooking in Flowerville?: Recipes from Garden, Balcony or Window Box

Young cooks will learn about the edible gifts that each season brings in this warm and inviting collection of recipes from the author of What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street. In lush double-page spreads featuring Sala’s gorgeous watercolor illustrations, we visit the yards, balconies, and rooftops where the citizens of Flowerville grow their vegetables. Each month features a different member of the town, and a delicious recipe inspired by a fruit or vegetable.

The recipes, which include savory and sweet pies, soups, sauces, pancakes and croquettes, embrace a wide array of cultures, and feature fresh flavors and easy-to-source ingredients. Kids will learn not only how to incorporate fruits and vegetables into meals, but also how they grow and when they ripen. The book also includes charmingly illustrated tips and tools for growing your own food. 

Audubon Birdhouse Book

The Audubon Birdhouse Book is the most authoritative book available for creating safe, sturdy, and easy-to-build homes for many of North America’s favorite birds. This updated second edition includes important new and timely topics including impacts of climate change on birds, nestbox monitoring for citizen science, native plants for native birds, and how birders can help birds.

A visit to almost any home or garden center presents birders with numerous cute and colorful contraptions that are sold as bird homes. But the fact is, many of these products provide anything but a safe refuge for your feathered friends. Produced in association with the National Audubon Society, Audubon Birdhouse Book explains how to build and place functional DIY bird homes that are safe and appropriate for more than 20 classic North American species, from wrens to raptors. Each of the easy-to-build boxes and shelves within is accompanied by cut lists, specially created line diagrams, and step-by-step photography, making the projects accessible to those with even the most rudimentary woodworking skills.

In addition, this practical and beautifully presented guide is packed with color photography and information about the bird species covered:  Wrens, Warblers, Bluebirds, Flycatchers, Swallows, Titmice, Owls, Flickers, Kestrels, Chickadees, Ducks, Mergansers, Swallows, Doves, Swallows, Robins, Finches, Phoebes, Loons, Swifts, Herons, and Ospreys.

Grow Your Own Mini Fruit Garden

Even beginners become successful fruit “farmers” with the techniques and advice offered by author Christy Wilhelmi, the force behind the popular gardening website, Gardenerd. Selecting the best small-scale fruit trees, bushes, vines, and plants for your climate, siting them properly, and pruning your compact trees for health and productivity are some of the many topics covered in the pages of this bible of small-space fruit growing.

You’ll also discover how to:

• Turn your urban, suburban, or rural garden into a fruit factory, no matter its size
• Maximize production from edible container fruit gardens
• Grow more food in less space
• Limit your family’s synthetic pesticide consumption
• Choose varieties with increased disease resistance
• Select plants that grow well in your climate
• Maintain your fruiting plants correctly to encourage years of prolific harvests

The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook

Climate change and newly introduced insect pests are changing the world of gardening. Pests that once produced a single generation per year are now producing two or even three, and accidentally imported pest insects have no natural predators to keep them in check. These leaf-munching critters can cause significant damage in short order, reducing your yields and costing you time and money, especially if your garden is out of balance or your plants are stressed and vulnerable.

Whether you’re a new or seasoned gardener, author and garden pro Susan Mulvihill shows you how to handle pest issues by growing healthier plants, properly identifying the culprit, and nurturing the overall ecosystem of the garden. With easy-to-use charts, you’ll learn how to identify common vegetable garden pests based on both the damage they cause and their physical appearance.

DIY pest-control projects, coupled with up-to-date info on the best natural products, physical pest-control tricks, and tips for managing pests with the use of traps and barriers, all lead to a garden where beneficial insects and pollinators are preserved while pest populations are kept in check.

Learn how to:

• Get rid of squash bugs with minimal effort
• Screen out root maggots 
• Keep cutworms at bay
• Nurture the good bugs that help control tomato hornworms
• Tackle an infestation of mites, thrips, or whiteflies
• Send cucumber beetles packing
• Limit cabbage worms with a simple, inexpensive trick
• Learn about the best earth-friendly product controls for home vegetable gardeners

Tropical Plants and How to Love Them

Tropical plants are energizing. They awaken a tired summer garden with lush, sensuous foliage and fascinating flowers and turn a suburban patio into a sophisticated, late-night paradise. But if you garden in a temperate climate and have been reluctant to commit to what you’re sure will be too much work, it’s time to let Tropical Plants and How to Love Them author Marianne Willburn act as your tropical matchmaker.

Using five relationship types to help you understand the different levels of care required for many common (and uncommon!) tropicals, Marianne introduces you to an impressive array of outstanding tropical plants by providing care instructions, easy tips for seeing these tropical beauties safely through the winter, and advice for designing a tropical paradise of your own.

Tropical Plants and How to Love Them gives you permission to jump headfirst into:

• A summer romance that ends with the first frost.
• A long-term commitment to beautify indoor and outdoor spaces.
• A friends-with-benefits relationship that yields exotic flavors and fragrances.
• A breakup with that high-maintenance beauty.
• A best friend relationship that lasts a lifetime.

A Woman’s Garden

Gardens grow more than just pretty flowers. They grow well-being and a deeper connection with nature. Gardens can also produce plant material for creating homemade skincare, natural dyes, artisan crafts, delicious foods and beverages, and medicines—homegrown ways to create a wholesome lifestyle.

Making things with your hands and heart, and then sharing the fruits of your labors with friends and family, is both satisfying and soul-stirring. Learn how to grow dozens of plants and then transform them into gorgeous items to nurture yourself or gift to others, including:

• Using onion skins to dye wool
• Alkanet root and lavender soap
• Soapwort multipurpose cleaner
• Rose petal facial mist
• Edible flower frittata
• Healing calendula skin salve
• Paper mache leaf lanterns
• Chamomile tincture 
• Gardening projects, including a herb spiral, strawberry pallet planter, and more

Grow Bag Gardening

Grow bags are perfect for urban, container, rooftop, balcony, and patio gardeners—but those with lots of property will find them useful, too. Grow bags fold flat for easy storage and are 100% frost-proof, so there’s no lugging heavy pots indoors for the winter. They can be used for many seasons and their mobility means you can easily move these pots around to maximize sunlight. Fabric grow bags offer gardeners a great way to grow that’s cost effective, simple, and beneficial to plants.

In the pages of Grow Bag Gardening you’ll learn:

• Why gardening in these special fabric planter bags results in big yields 
• How this no-weed, no-mess method of gardening is a real game changer 
• What makes this method so good for your plants (hint: no root circling!) 
• Where and how to set up your grow bag garden to reap the biggest rewards 
• Step-by-step instructions for continual harvests, sewing your own grow bags, building a specialized trellising system, caring for your grow bag garden, and more.

How to Grow Your Own Food

Take your love of plants to the next level and start growing some food with this modern, easy-to-follow guidebook that shows you everything you need to know to grow edible plants all year round!

Did you know you could grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs in containers? Well, now you can take your houseplants to the next level by growing home-grown produce and seasoning that will taste delicious in all of your favorite dishes.

How to Grow Your Own Food identifies 50 common, easy-to-grow edible plants from herbs to vegetables, along with detailed care instructions and beautiful illustrations of each plant. You’ll find everything you need to know about building your container garden including:How to choose the right size container for each plant.

• How to water (and feed!) your plants for optimal growth
• When to harvest your crops for the best flavor
• And much more!

No-Waste Composting

In No-Waste Composting, you’ll discover the hows and whys of composting and find over a dozen practical step-by-step plans for building both indoor and outdoor composting systems that require a minimal amount of space. 

If any of these is your excuse for not composting, then this is the book for you!  Small-space composting has never been easier, more efficient, and more eco-friendly.  Composting keeps millions of tons of waste out of landfills and creates carbon-sequestering, nutrient-dense compost that can be used to help fuel plant growth (including houseplants!) and build soil health. 

• Build a DIY worm-composting system for a cupboard or garage
• Craft a layered, under-the-sink composting system from terra cotta pots
• Construct a simple outdoor compost bin from repurposed wooden pallets 
• Use upcycled wire fencing to build a mobile composting system on the driveway
• Learn how to compost larger sticks and branches to build new food and flower gardens
• Upcycle a plastic bucket to make an indoor compost fermenting system

Sustainable Gardening

Take practical steps to protect the Earth for future generations by creating a sustainable home landscape that is also beautiful, budget-friendly, and low-maintenance.

In this updated edition of Grow More With Less, author and horticulturist Vincent Simeone shows us that gardens are living laboratories where we can experiment, grow, and connect with other living things.  There are tens of millions of gardeners across the globe. Together, we can create a huge and lasting positive impact on the planet and all the creatures who share it with us.

With the well-researched plan found in the pages of Sustainable Gardening, gardeners and homeowners are taught how to: 

• Grow more plants while using fewer resources
• Conserve water through plant choice and proper landscape care
• Stop the disposable mindset
• Mitigate the effects of climate change through intelligent landscaping
• Plan and plant with low-maintenance in mind
• Build healthy soil to sequester carbon and grow healthier plants 
• Create a garden that supports wildlife and soil life
• Design your garden for resiliency and a long, healthy life
• Banish synthetic pesticides and herbicides for more eco-friendly choices
• Reduce plastic waste in the garden and the landfill
• Set your garden on a schedule to reduce maintenance needs
• Harvest rainwater for future use
• Adopt a sustainable lawn care program that requires less work and fewer resources

Stanley Jr. Gardening is Awesome!: Projects, Advice, and Insight for Young Gardeners

Kids can jump right in with an introduction to gardening. A complete basics section on vegetables, fruits, flowers, trees, and shrubs kicks things off. You’ll also learn how to make super soil and keep plants happy with the right amount of sunlight and water. A complete garden gear guide gets you ready for growing. The rest of the book is all about things to do.

Chapters and projects include:

• Gardening How-Tos shows you how to test soil drainage and start plants in an egg carton.
• Great Bed Gardens sets you up for success when planting a row garden, a colorful summer flower garden, and more. 
• Container Gardening shows you how to grow strawberries in a 5-Gallon bucket and create a beautiful bulb box.
• Raised Bed Plots feature a square foot garden, uplifted herb garden, and even a vertical garden!

Woodland Journal

Whether you’re in the forest or just dreaming of woodland wonderlands, immerse yourself in the little miracles of nature with the Woodland Journal.

Charming original watercolor illustrations of mushrooms and wildflowers, frogs and ferns, and butterflies and rabbits fill the pages of this lined journal.

The foil-stamped cloth cover complements the whimsical endpapers, and a ribbon marker keeps your place.

The Woodland Journal is a sanctuary for writers, poets, and journal keepers who wish to enter the magical forest world to escape the everyday in their own imagination.

Growing Flowers

Revel in flowering plants.  This beautifully photographed book features simple, and engaging know-how enabling you to grow, harvest, and arrange a cutting garden of flowers. An instructional guide to gardening for beginners or if you’re looking to hone your botanical skills, Growing Flowers teaches everything from caring for a cut flower garden to making simple-yet-gorgeous flower arrangements and botanical bouquets.

An indispensable gardening guide for homebody horticulturists and floral foragers.  A flower book with a whimsical twist, Growing Flowers is a go-to reference for those new to herb and flower gardening. Discover flower arranging techniques using blooms, greenery, and even artichokes, vines and berries. Learn about tools of the trade. Get down and dirty with dirt, seasonal rotation, starting from seeds and/or seedlings, and more.

Inside find:

• Explanations of soil types and soil preparations
• A list of seasonal flowers such as peonies or garden roses for the spring and sunflowers and dahlias for the summer and fall
• Basic knowledge to create flower bouquets that include things like sprigs of greenery and even attractive weeds

Tiny Plants: Discover the Joys of Growing and Collecting Itty-Bitty Houseplants

Longing to nurture your houseplant addiction without cramping your space or style? If you can’t squeeze another giant leafy friend onto your plant shelf, author Leslie Halleck is here to inform you that tiny is the new BIG! In Tiny Plants, you’ll discover a fascinating array of perfectly petite houseplants you can collect and grow—in a minimal amount of space.

Yes, Tiny Plants is the ideal solution for plant keepers who don’t have much space, but even if you’ve got all the room in the world, their adorableness is reason alone to grow these mini wonders. These are the eternal puppies, kittens, and babies of the plant world — they never grow out of their cuteness because their genetics keep them itty-bitty for their entire lives.

Beyond a few small succulents, most houseplant parents aren’t aware of the extensive array of tiny plants they can collect and display on windowsills, on tables and desks, and in terrariums.

Prepare for cuteness overload with: 

• Profiles of dozens of miniature houseplants, including aquatic, carnivorous, flowering, succulent, and tropical varieties
• Detailed growing information and tips for success
• A fascinating look at the botany of miniature houseplant varieties
• Advice on how to stylishly display your tiny plant collection
• How-to lessons on the basics of propagating mini houseplants to share with friends
• Details on the best tiny houseplants for terrarium growing

Cocktails, Mocktails, and Garnishes from the Garden

Step inside a bartender’s apothecary, forage for garnishes, and craft some of the most popular cocktails, mocktails, and beverages. This beautifully photographed compendium of craft cocktails includes examples of garnishes and interesting ingredients to give any drink a botanical twist.

The go-to reference for classic and modern cocktail recipes.  Whether it’s adding a basil sprig or infusing gin with peaches;  Cocktails, Mocktails and Garnishes from the Garden gives you the ability to make classic cocktails and the confidence to craft innovative concoctions. Alongside recipes of some of the most popular cocktails come new-fangled libations, non-alcoholic equivalents, and instructions to create gorgeous garnishes.

Creating your very own herb bar and garnish garden for craft cocktails.  A cocktail recipe book from the wild; Cocktails, Mocktails and Garnishes from the Garden features examples of garnishes and general know-how. With a reference guide of herbal and floral flavors that complement different spirits, and details about what to plant and how to grow your very own herb bar, you can craft cocktail recipes alongside nature.

Inside, learn about herbs and their uses as well as:

• General instructions on creating a garnish garden
• The difference between a high ball and a coupe glass
• Which bar tools are “must haves” for a home cocktail set-up

If you are not sure what to give, a gardening book could be a great choice.

So grab a book from this list and watch your gardening friend or loved one’s face as they enjoy your gift.

Do you garden, too? If so, what is your favorite gardening book? Leave a comment below so we can all take a look.