I guess this is an old-ish thread, but with the holidays approaching its still relevant. As a beginner myself, I've checked out a decent number of bonsai books in the past year. Despite many recommendations here and elsewhere, I found "The Complete book of Bonsai by Harry Tomlunson" to be so basic as to be almost useless. You can find similar info all over the internet by reading any introductory material on bonsai. At least for me, it was way too basic and high level to be of much use. I did however have the fortune to be gifted a copy of Deborah Koreshoff's out of print Bonsai book, which I find invaluable and amazing. Quite accessible to a beginner, and I think it will be many years before I am at the point where I need more depth than is in this book. It's probably expensive to buy, but well worth it. I can't figure out why its no longer in print, given the high quality of the content. I also had a chance to browse a friends copy of John Naka's Bonsai Techniques I, which I found very technical and difficult to relate to at my current skill level. I'm sure its a great book, but I decided its not for me, at least not now or anytime soon. Daniel

I've got the Burpee book and it's pretty good as a beginner guide goes though I'd ignore their estimates for how many plants per family. For the herb side, I also use "the Ultimate Herb Book" by Antony Atha since it has reasonably good info and it was on sale at Barnes and Noble. Since you're growing mostly the basic stuff, I think that just reading some of the info and back posts on this site will give you a lot of great info on many of the herbs and if you hop over to the hot pepper forum, they have lots of good info on most of what you are growing. From what I see on your blog site, the basil is looking really good and it's going to get pretty big, rather fast as the weather stays warm. The window box pots are a little small for some of what you are growing but it's a great start just to get things going. I'm trying patio tomatoes for the first time this year so I don't know for sure but I'd bet that they are going to way outgrow the rosemary (and they have different fertilizer / water requirements) so if you have a spare pot, I'd move the rosemary to another home. Aside from that, just experiment and have fun.

Find your local library. There isn't one book that I'm aware of that covers all of your requests, and a lot of the books that come close are older. Just as there is a history of rose breeding, following changing tastes, there is a history of rose book writing, following changing tastes. In general, a current, generic rose book seems to be written for roughly Oklahoma. There is an entire chapter on irrigation, a sentence or two on winter protection, and mention of chemical fungicides. A similar book from the 50's or 60's says you should consider watering roses if it hasn't rained for a while, has a chapter on winter protection/hardy varieties, and a reasonable discussion of the fungicides current at the time it was written. The target audience is somewhere like suburban Philadelphia, with the understanding that some people live in colder places. The intervening decades saw the rise of the specialized rose book. Some are on specific rose classes. Some are on rose growing in certain regions. If they cover topics pertinent to your interests, they can be excellent. So in roughly chronological order: Roy Shepherd, History of the Rose - an older book, and not particularly one to sit down and read cover to cover, it is still an excellent reference book on classes and their development. Author is from northern Ohio. Jack Harkness, Roses - an at times hysterically funny, chatty book on the development of roses from roughly 1850 to 1950, or the period of time the author either experienced first hand, or could get stories from others. An English book that makes absolutely no pretense of being anything else, it is definitely the most entertaining rose book I have ever read. Suzy Verrier, Rosa Gallica, and Rosa Rugosa - more than you ever wanted to know about two classes of hardy roses, these books both start with a general care section, and then go on to list cultivars, most of them with photographs. When I did information tables for the local rose society, Rosa Rugosa was the book I had to watch because it was by far the one most likely to 'accidentally' wander off. If there is one book you should look at, I'd say it is Robert Osborne's. Hardy Roses was re-released fairly recently in an expanded edition, and renamed something like Canadian Roses. Unless you are interested in hybrid teas, I'd recommended avoiding the standard books at first. There just isn't any reason to learn HT care just so you can then learn the differences between HTs and hardy roses.

I find there is a lot of good information on this website and ones like this. Many books I have had over the years aren't as informative IMO. If there are recommendations maybe check if your library has it before investing in it since you have financial concerns.