Books to give as gifts to your gardening friends…after you’ve read or reread them yourself
You’ve just checked off the last items on your gardening to-do list and stashed your gardening gloves and boots in the closet. Hurray! But, now what? Review that list of preparations for Thanksgiving? Write to family and friends you’re inviting to holiday festivities?
Hold on. Before you get too far into organizing for the holidays, how about a book break? Let me share with you 12 books that will touch your gardener’s heart and make perfect gifts for your friends who share your love of gardens and gardening.
I’ll begin with the most recent publications and work back to some beloved classics in the gardening library.
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life On Earth by Zoë Schlanger 2024
What botanists have learned about plant life; just the facts! Schlanger is a journalist who spent five years gathering information on the discoveries and insights gained by botanists in the last decade. The book is packed with amazing explanations of how plants live and fight to survive. Because Schlanger is a journalist, her prose is elegant, clear, and sometimes amusing. Read it before you gift it! (I promise not to tell. Just avoid a coffee cup ring on the cover.)
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson 1962
Reading this courageous book opened minds to environmentalism. As powerful today as it was in the 1960s, Carson’s research and carefully documented account of our careless destruction of plant and animal life reignites our commitment to doing better, less harm and more respect for the natural world. This book exposed the destructiveness of DDT and led to the banning of certain pesticides. Her exposé began the environmental movement and changed the course of history.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2020
Where we humans stand in our relationship to Nature and our codependence. Wall Kimmerer is a botanist, an author, and a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation. This book, another beautiful read, focuses on the integral dependence of human beings and plants. She shares ancient Potawatomi wisdom and explains how her ancestors applied their insights to feeding their people—planting and harvesting.
Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children’s Tales by Marta McDowell 2013
A biography focused on Potter’s love for gardens and all that inhabit them. McDowell divides the book into an initial biography, followed by a year in Beatrix Potter’s garden, and concluding with how and where to visit these gardens—perfect gift for those lucky enough to be planning a trip to the British Isles.
Sissinghurst: Vita Sackville-West, the Creation of a Garden by Sarah Raven 2014
Intriguing history of a British National Treasure as well as practical tips on gardens. Raven’s amusing and carefully researched book on the beautiful house and gardens of a major figure in Britian’s early 20th century world of letters, includes interesting photos and drawings.
Plant Dreaming Deep: a Journal by May Sarton 2014
A deeply personal account of the transformation of a farmhouse and gardens. Sarton was an internationally recognized poet and novelist. Her connection with nature was personal and beautifully expressed. In this journal Sarton explains the gratifying and difficult work of refurbishing a derelict New England farmhouse and its gardens. This is one of her most popular works.
The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects On a Century in the Garden by Stanley Kunitz 2005
Poetry, reflections, and photos from a brilliant and passionate poet-gardener. One of my favorite books, published just a year before his death at 100. Kunitz speaks elegantly about the braid of life, which is experienced by each of us who love gardening. The poems included are elegant, plain spoken, and wise.
My Garden (Book) by Jamaica Kincaid 1991
A personal recounting of Kincaid’s deepening love of gardening and gardens. This popular novelist writes with easy grace of her garden in Vermont and recollections of her childhood gardens in Antigua. Lots of charming anecdotes about specific flowers, shrubs, and vegetable plants given to her by friends and what those plants brought to her life.
Planting: A New Perspective by Piet Ondolf & Noel Kingsbury 1993
An intriguing explanation of the “New Perennial Movement” in public and private gardens. If you’ve walked the High-Line Park or Battery Gardens in New York City, you’ve experienced Dutch garden designer Ondolf’s vision of the garden. With clear prose and wonderful photos, this book explores the spare and architectural style Ondolf developed.
Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katherine S. White 1958
Amusing and timeless short essays on seed catalogues, gardeners, and anything else White chose to say about gardening. This is one of my favorite reads. White was a New Yorker magazine staff writer who wrote 14 columns on gardens, published in the late 1950s and early 1960s. An excellent bedside table book—such lovely prose to fall to sleep with.
The Well-Tempered Garden by Christopher Lloyd 1971, revised & in paperback 2003
Practical advice on gardening delivered with British wit and elegance. Lloyd was a renowned 20th century gardener. His designs were lush, cottage gardens filled with color and foliage. This is a great resource for practical tips and solutions to common garden problems.
And while we’re considering bedside books:
The Gardener’s Bed Book: Short and long pieces to be read in bed by those who love green growing things. Edited by Richard Wright and taken from House & Gardens Magazine 1929
365 short essays on wide-ranging topics of interest to anyone… and particularly to those of us who garden. This is definitely a book to read and then leave on the bedstand in your guestroom for others to enjoy. (Get a second copy to give as a hostess gift when you are a houseguest.)
Happy reading!
