Recommended Garden Books: From Reference to Pure Enjoyment

I owe much to my Aunt Elizabeth, especially her annual reading gifts. As a young teen, she gave me a Boy's Life subscription and enrolled me in a "Book of the Month" club—I'd hang around the post office until the postmaster chased me off to farm chores.

I love reading anything—cereal boxes, catalogs, books, junk mail. I have many books, but gardening books fall into two categories: reference and pleasure. I use Dr. Dirr's "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" and Dr. Armitage's "Herbaceous Perennial Plants" almost daily—great for a pro, but they'd put most folks to sleep faster than benadryl and whiskey.

Some garden books are both entertaining and informative. Here are favorites for gift-giving:

Top Picks

• The Southern Living Garden Book edited by Steve Bender – Best basic book for Southern gardeners (other than my own!). Clear writing, excellent plant lists.
• Southern Living Garden Problem Solver edited by Steve Bender – Covers nearly all diseases, insects, and pests.
• Bulletproof Flowers for the South by Jim Wilson – Easy-to-grow flowers with cultural info and lists.
• Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden – Amazing amount of Southern bulb information.
• Gardening in the South With Don Hastings by Don Hastings – Practical advice and illustrated tasks from the dean of Southern gardeners.
• The Essential Earthman by Henry Mitchell – 25 years as Washington Post garden columnist; died with dirt on his hands planting daffodils. Funniest, most observant writings.
• Earthly Pleasures: Tales from a Biologist's Garden by Roger Swain – Naturalist, botanist, gardener, storyteller, host of "The Victory Garden." Wonderful essays on simple garden observations.
• Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Dr. Michael Dirr – More accessible than his exhaustive Manual.
• Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Dr. Michael Dirr – The bible of woody plant info, with witty personal comments.
• Armitage's Garden Perennials: A Color Encyclopedia by Dr. Allan Armitage – Easy-to-read descriptions of hundreds of perennials.
• Herbaceous Perennial Plants by Dr. Allan Armitage
• Manual of Annuals, Biennials and Half-Hardy Perennials by Dr. Allan Armitage
• Common-Sense Pest Control by William Olkowski – "Sliding scale" of control options from organic to chemical; pest life cycle insights.
• Tulipomania: The Story of the World's... by Mike Dash – Enjoyable read with insight on stock market psychology.
• Sex in Your Garden by Angela Overy – Fascinating primer on plant propagation; cocktail party conversation starter!
• Legends in the Garden: Who in the World is Nellie Stevens? by Linda Copeland and Allan Armitage – Stories behind plant namesakes, including Georgia's Jane Bath ('Bath's Pink' dianthus), Vince Dooley ('Dooley' hydrangea), Jane Symmes ('Symmes Select' magnolia).
• "Tough Plants for Southern Gardeners" by Felder Rushing – Eighth-generation Mississippi gardener's guaranteed-success plant choices.
• "Gardening Through Your Golden Years" by Jim Wilson – Tips for creaky backs, like using a hoe to climb up from kneeling.

Colleagues at UGA Horticulture, Armitage and Dirr have authored five widely used landscape references—all side-by-side on my shelf.