Great Gifts for Your Gardeners!

Do you garden in December?  Many gardeners do; a most important step to gardening in early winter, the planning for next years garden.  So this time of year is the perfect time to get a couple of great books for the gardeners on your Christmas list.    

I was contacted by Quarto Publishing Group to review some gardening books and I choose a couple that would make fantastic gifts for the gardener on your list!  The first book I reviewed was Royal Horticultural Society Companion to Scented Plants By Stephen Lacey with photographs by Andrew Lawson.

This book is a gardening classic, which is a comprehensive catalog that describes over 1,000 of the best plants to grow for their fragrance as well as their beauty.  Stunning photographs by Andrew Lawson throughout the book give you visualizations of the scented gardens you can reproduce.                                                                                                                  

The book has a garden planning guide which can help you put to paper the best choice of plants to create a scented garden for your own enjoyment.

The book doesn't leave out any type of scent producing plant you could enjoy.  It addresses trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, annuals, water gardens, Alpine plants, rose gardens, herb gardens, and indoor plants.

The beginning of each chapter starts out with the choosing of your plants and the fragrance you will experience from each plant's blooming phase and how to incorporate that into the garden.  The end of each chapter is laid out in encyclopedia style with an extensive list of the varieties of plants that are highly scented options for you to plant. 

Can't you just smell the honeysuckle wafting off of this wall planting?  What a fabulous plant to have in your garden.  I highly recommend the Companion to Scented Plants.  I haven't noticed a gardening book's focus being on scented plants before but, if planting something beautiful to look at that I can't eat I would want it to smell good, so this is the gardening book reference I would love. 

The next gardening book I reviewed was the Veg Journal by Charles Dowding.  Mr. Dowding has been growing organic vegetables for thirty years with the no-dig method.  

Using no-dig beds creates better soil and less weeds for the organic gardener.  Mr. Dowding gives you the how, why, and detailed instructions to reproducing your own success with his no-dig method. 

A great book for the planner in all of us.  This book is filled with tables for planning crops, second cropping for maximum yield of gardening space, crop rotation, and results from his no-dig method.  

This book is laid out in a month-by-month format to help you accomplish the gardening jobs that will give you great success with your vegetable gardening.  I also like how he has blank journal pages in each month for you to write what works for your gardening and suggestions for what you might try next season.

So, sipping on that tea dreaming of my spring garden with buzzing bees and ripe strawberries, I am going to be in the planning stages of my garden soon. This is the perfect present for the gardener you know that loves to grow their own food. 

My teacup is made by Roy Kirkham and the pattern is Alpine Strawberry.

Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group USA for supplying me with the books for review.  The opinions and review were entirely my own.

Sherry

I will link this to:

  

Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage 

A Return to Loveliness  at A Delightsome Life 

Tea Cup Tuesday at Martha's Favorites

Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations

Tuesday Cuppa Tea at Antiques and Teacups 

Friends Sharing Tea at Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Say G'Day at Natasha in Oz

Your Going to Love it Tuesday At Kathe with an  E
The Scoop at Confessions of a Plate Addict

Totally Terrific Tuesday at Live Randomly Simple

Project Inspire at An Extraordinary Day

Do Tell Tuesday at Maybe She Made It

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home