Alexa's Library: 9 Favorite Classic Garden Books - Gardenista
While I’m always on the lookout for the latest small-space garden book (a very appealing topic to me of late), my best reads are usually unearthed at a used bookstore, with their covers worn out and sun faded. A compelling and personal gardening book, Derek Jarman’s Garden chronicles the filmmaker’s adventures as he built a garden across the road from a nuclear power plant in Dungeness, Kent toward the end of his life (Jarman died in 1994). Photograph by Lily Stockman from her Book/Shop Summer Reading List. Sunset Western Garden Book My college beau was a budding landscape designer and would have clutched his edition of Sunset’s Western Garden Book while sleeping if it was socially acceptable. For many West Coast gardeners, Sunset’s guide is their bible, and while new editions are published often you can still rely on a good used copy today (while accounting for climate variation in recent years). From author and aesthetics cognoscente Leonard Koren, The Flower Shop (Stone Bridge Press, 2005) is an exploration into running a small flower business told through a profile of Blumenkraft, a flower shop in Vienna. Having worked as a lead floral designer in a small shop for five years, I can attest to the timelessness of the owner and designers’ daily tasks and the struggle of mixing nature with commerce. A vintage book from photographer Anton Bruehl, who took a detailed look at native flora, í la Georgia O’Keeffe. For the tropical flower lover or the ’70s-era photography enthusiast; used versions of Tropic Patterns (Dukane Press, 1970) are available from 77 cents on Amazon. Bruno Munari’s A Flower with Love (Corraini Editore, 2008) details a set of creative flower arranging skills to inspire adults and children. Terence Conran’s Decorating With Plants from 1989 puts houseplants first in the interior design process. The David Hicks Book of Flower Arranging I always like coming across old photos of British interior decorator David Nightingale Hicks, who stylistically seemed like a 20th-century Oscar Wilde with a sort of awkward opulence. The Gardeners’ Book by Diana Craig is a more recent reference material (published two years ago) but on thumbing through it you can tell it’s an instant classic for the gardening enthusiast. The book takes a similar approach to our own site, with a mash-up of gardeners’ tales and tried-and-tested gardening tips. A photographic chronicle of gardens and their caretakers (a smorgasbord of British gardening style) from photographer Valerie Finnis. Photograph by Amy Azzarito for Design Sponge. Add to your reading list with our favorite new gardening publications detailed in our Required Reading columns, with books such as Private Gardens of Paris, The Gardener’s Garden, and Gardens of the Garden State.