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Tips & Techniques

Favorite GARDENING books and tv shows?

19 years ago

Winter is coming and there is nothing we can do about it. All of us in the colder climates will have extra time for tv and movies.

Just wondering what are your favorite gardening books and tv shows?

I know I am a pain but PLEASE include the EXACT title of the books and if you have it authors first and last name. (makes it much easier to get a copy of it that way).

Plus what are some good gardening tv shows? I rarely watch tv in the summer and kids seem to hog the tv but I would like to tape some shows. Heard there were some good ones on TLC and HGTV but I don't honestly know any of them. I do like Rebecca's garden what are your favorite shows and why?

Sooooo What are some of your favorite garden books and tv shows?

Thanks and looking forward to your responces.

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Comments (7)

kab121170
19 years ago
The Well Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy DiSabato-Aust is absolutely the best gardening book I have ever read. It is a wealth of well-written information and the appendices have the particular needs and characteristics of tons of perennials. They also give lists of plants by particular characteristic (e.g. drought tolerant, low maintenence, deer ressistant, etc...)
jannie
19 years ago
I used to watch two really good gardening shows on HGTV, they were shown Saturday and Sunday around 4 in the afternoon,Gardeners Journal and Gardeners Diary. Can't find them now. Does anyone know if they are still being run?
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Yes, Lisa HGTV has taken the G out of it's title. That was done long ago in my opinion. Shade, YEP, every Monday morning is a new episode. Finally. Maybe all the e-mails to HGTV from the perennial forum helped. Beside Hosta's I first collected perennials. Gardeners Diary and Gardeners Journal in my opinion are the real deal. All the rest I simply don't watch. They are great for beginners but I want to see the bones of garden. I feel more connected to Erica's show.
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I love my TIVO! I have the Series II with DVD Burner that's about 5 years old and it's great. I don't use the burner as much as I used to. But it is super if I need to offload some shows that I haven't gotten to watch. I recently was close to filling up my disk space so I offloaded a slew of gardening shows to DVDs to make room for the new seasons of Desparate Housewives, Greys Anatomy, etc. etc.. I keep recording stuff, but I have trouble getting around to watching them. I also got the lifetime membership which I think had a break-even point at around 3 years. So now I am "winning" with "free" service. I don't think they offer lifetime membership anymore. not sure. At some point though, I will eventually want to get high-def, so I will need digital cable (am only analog now) and new LCD-HDTV. (32" or 36" I hope will do). THen I will have to bite the bullet and get the Tivo HD XL (nice chart dtd, thanks!) I will lose the burning capability and I will lose the lifetime membership, plus the digital HD cable will cost me more than currently. I don't need all those shows. I wish they had High-Def-basic! For recording, I suppose I could go with cable DVR at that point, but I think once you have Tivo, its hard to be without it. This is one of my favorite subjects and I almost missed it thinking we were still lamenting the demise of the good 'ole Victory Garden and the "G" in HGTV. (both of which are certainly worth lamenting!!!)
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I'm not quite sure what you are actually supposed to observe when watching the shows. You will be mostly watching a host perform their craft. I would suspect that the thrust of your interest would be more in the capacity of a guest appearance. Most guests come off as quite overwhelmed and so image conscious that they present a poor image. Typically the guest will be dressed nicely and stand there with the best pasted on smile they can muster and stand there with the best pasted on smile they can muster and stand there... When guests finally do speak they too often only reply to the host's specific query in short, choppy bursts of data as if answering a test question. On the other hand, you occasionally see guests that have experience in television. Rather than smiling in awe at host, they are politely waiting to assume control of their brief time allotment. Quite frankly, they make it easy for the host. Rather than choppy, direct answers to questions, they see the question as their cue to take control of that time slot and tell their story. It is really much like developing good writing. For the most part, you are going to look the way you look. There isn't too much any of us can do about our physical appearance anyway. Affable enthusiasm effused with intellect is your ace in the hole. IronBelly
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Christykittrell, thank you from me as well. I also have Amazon prime but didn't even think that they would have gardening videos. Just now found quite a few. So glad to learn about this new series on PBS as well. Not yet on our local PBS but we'll keep en eye on it. One of my favorite gardening programs was "A Gardener's Diary" that was shown on HGTV long ago, when there were many gardening shows in those days, alas not any more. In each episode, Erica Glasener visited a different private garden across North America, talking to a host gardener about many interesting ideas and plants, delightfully sharing the passion for gardening with regular folks. It was both educational and enjoyable to watch.
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cathybru
19 years ago
Gardening by the Yard on HGTV is great. The host is Paul James who is very down to earth (very goofy, has fun) and gives good basic info and explanation on a variety of topics. Here it comes on Saturday morning early and on Saturday afternoon around 1 or so.

cathy
Joe_in_zone7
19 years ago
Since you asked, allow me to suggest this television show: 'Fresh From the Garden' on DIY Network. You may not get this, but it is a national show. DIY Network is a sister station to HGTV. This show is all about vegetable gardening, from seed to harvest. I may be partial though, because I'm the host of the show. If you'd like more info. check out www.diynetwork.com, and look up the show by title, or do a search. You can also google me (Joe Lamp'l) to find out more. Hope you get to watch.
juliaw
19 years ago
I also like "Gardening by the Yard" (I don't get DIY network, sorry Joe).
swanz
19 years ago
"I used to watch two really good gardening shows on HGTV,
they were shown Saturday and Sunday around 4 in the
afternoon,Gardeners Journal and Gardeners Diary. Can't find
them now. Does anyone know if they are still being run? "
Gardener's Diary was on this morming on HGTV about 7am .
Showed a lovely Napa Valley Garden.

Go Red Sox

Swanz
Iris GW
19 years ago
Yes, Gardener's Diary has changed to Mon-Fri at 7 am. It is not on Saturdays anymore (I was too busy to watch it then anyway).

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