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This was a banner year for gardening, with Megan Markle, Pamela Anderson, David Beckham, and even Carrie Bradshaw dipping their trowels into the space. Whether you’re a master gardener, a small space dweller, or just looking for inspiration like Carrie, this year’s crop of gardening-themed releases has something for everyone. Pour yourself a cool drink, grab a seat in the shade, and tuck into these gloriously lush reads.
The New Romantic Garden
Garden design veteran Jo Thompson was recognized with a fifth gold medal at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. There, her signature mix of traditional English style and biodiversity was on full display with a moody palette of reds, plums, and pinks, softened with textural elements like ferns, grasses, and the peeling bark of silver birches. Thompson’s latest tome showcases thirty gardens that similarly combine traditional garden design with more sustainable practices that embrace nature’s will, instead of working against it. This strategy lends each space a softer, less formal feel.
$29.07 at amazon.com
How to Design a Garden: Create and Maintain Your Dream Garden
This step-by-step guide to creating a garden goes beyond planting, touching on all possible considerations for building a well-designed outdoor space. It covers everything from hardscaping and lighting to creating layouts and focal points and even selecting furniture. Wilkinson’s thoughtful approach encourages readers to uncover their garden’s potential and take honest stock of their needs, without making it feel like homework.
$15.23 at amazon.com
Roses in the Garden
Celebrated photographer and writer Ngoc Min Ngo makes roses the focus of her latest book. She traces the formidable flower’s effect on noteworthy gardens around the world, showcasing gardens across Europe, the United States, Japan, and Morocco, among others. Ngo treats each garden and its stewards with tenderness and care, revealing not only the beauty of each garden’s rose but that of the people and the history behind them.
$38.91 at amazon.com
Flower Couture: From My Garden to My House
In this follow-up to Life in a French Country House, Dior Maison artistic director Cordelia de Castellane uses the colors of her favorite flowers and garden elements as the theme and building block for each chapter. With her quintessential countryside home as the enviable backdrop, de Castellane guides readers through how she uses her garden’s bounty in everything from everyday tabletop decor to holiday entertaining, flower arrangements, wreaths, and cooking.
$30.02 at amazon.com
The Art of Fine Gardening: Craig Bergmann Landscape Design
One of the North Shore of Chicago’s preeminent landscape designers, Craig Bergmann’s debut book is an ode to the legacy he’s built over more than 40 years. Featuring twenty gardens, the book illustrates Bergmann’s ability to build layered landscapes that not only harness the color of vibrant blooms but also make the most of contrasting textural elements including lush foliage, patinated ornaments, and seamlessly integrated architecture.
$45.32 at amazon.com
Glorious Gardens: Private Edens of the World’s Leading Interior Designers
This large format anthology goes beyond the boxwood hedges of the world’s most renowned interior designers, revealing their private home gardens. Featuring outdoor retreats both urban (Timothy Whealon’s space above NYC’s Gramercy Park) and historic (Michelle Nussbaumer’s colonial refuge in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico), the book encapsulates how each designer’s unique point of view is reflected in where and how they choose to engage with nature.
$61.46 at amazon.com
Your Natural Garden: A Practical Guide to Caring for an Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden
Maintaining a naturalistic garden can differ vastly from “traditional” garden maintenance, but noted plantsman Kelly D. Norris created a guide to walk ecologically minded gardeners through every step. Norris breaks down the importance behind nurturing a relationship with the insects and animals that come to rely on your plantings, encouraging diversity in your garden, embracing the chaos (when appropriate), and understanding the critical role of succession planting.
$17.07 at amazon.com
Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook: The Essential Guide to Designing, Planting, and Growing
From the woman who famously said, “If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. And if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a garden,” comes the ultimate guide to being happy for the rest of your life. That happiness doesn’t come without some effort, and in her first truly comprehensive gardening book, Martha Stewart is clear from the outset that “careful planning and patience are prerequisites” to achieving your garden goals. She also gives tips to set readers up for success before they’ve even purchased a single plant.
$16.99 at amazon.com
For the Love of Plants: Over 150 Plants to Bring Joy to Your Garden and Your Life
For his latest book, garden designer and Gardener’s World host Adam Frost goes all in on plants, walking readers through the specifics of over 150 plant varieties in his garden and what they mean to him. Frost reveals how he’s harnessed a lifetime of memories and emotions to guide him in his work, in addition to providing practical tips and inspiration for readers as they design their own gardens.
$20.74 at amazon.com
How to Garden When You Rent: Make It Your Own *Keep Your Landlord Happy
RHS Wisely’s youngest-ever curator and longtime renter Matthew Pottage puts his considerable professional expertise to work, encouraging renters to maximize their gardening ability. With tips for balconies, gardens, front and back patios, and advice on how to keep it all strictly legal and landlord-approved, Pottage makes a stylish and low maintenance case for having no excuse not to garden.
$15.06 at amazon.com
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