I just finished an very old copy of DOWN THE GARDEN PATH by Beverley Nichols. It was published in 1931 and I quote the book description:

Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the worldÂs best-loved and most quoted gardening books. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story.
The secret of this bookÂs success---and its timelessness---is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckleÂs languid Latin name."

As unforgettable as the plants in the garden are, the cast of visitors and neighbours who invariably turn up at inopportune moments are truly memorable. For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. For every thought-provoking Professor, there is an intrusive Mrs. M., whose chief offense may be that she is a "damnably efficient" gardener.

From a disaster in building a rock garden---"It reminded me of those puddings made of spongecake and custard which are studded with almonds"---to a triumph in building an "avalanche" of chionodoxas---"Ah, but it was worth waiting for"---to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.

Oddly enough, I often get gardening books just for the pictures. There are only a couple garden books that I have read from cover to cover.

Anyhow, some of my favorite books are ones that are feature the "typical" PNW style and Naturalistic type gardening (and have lots of nice pics!).

Naturalistic Gardening- by Anne Lovejoy
The Abundant Garden- by Denk & Prinzing
The Naturalistic Shade Garden- by Ken Druse
CMK

Yoyobon, that is one of my favorite books -- Nichols is a wonderful writer, and Down the Garden Path is the first book of his Allways trilogy, followed by A Thatched Roof and A Village in the Valley. He also wrote a second trilogy along the same lines, Merry Hall, Laughter on the Stairs (which is more about sorting out his house than about his garden), and Sunlight on the Lawn. All very entertaining.

My other favorite garden writer is Richardson Little Wright who was of the same era as Nichols. His Gardener's Bed Book, which is still in print, offers useful snippets of gardening-related advice/information/musings that are meant to be read one per day over the course of a year. It makes great bedtime reading :)

For actual, real-life gardening reference, I rely on The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beverley Nichols books

I love the out-of-print The Perennial Garden by Frederick McGourty. He's funny and knowledgeable, a pleasure to read. Unfortunately I think I must have loaned it out because I cannot find it anywhere.

One of my absolute favorites is ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
If you have never read Von Arnim you must find a copy.
It is delightful.

ditto on Beverley Nichols. I just finished Merry Hall. A pleasure to read. Gardening is only an entree into his observations about life and persons. His riffs on temporary help hired for the garden are priceless. And he is a cat person. His cats, One and Four, are also cleverly described.
I found this copy at a thrift store. Ha ha, it is an English first edition! Bonus for me.

Thank you! I spent a few hours trying to locate used copies of Nichols books online. I can get them, but am loathe to spend $80 for three books in this economy. I guess I'll have to keep my eyes open at thrift stores and used book stores! Deep Roots! What a find! Lucky you!

CMK, is Anne Lovejoy related to Sharon Lovejoy who used to write a column in Country Living Gardener? Is that magazine still around?
PAM

-Pam, I am afraid I don't know! They could be, you never know. Anne Lovejoy has written quite a few other books too, but I really like this one. I am into Naturalistic gardening! I know how you feel! I was going to order some books, but I totally forgot about how much S&H charges were. Yipes! Maybe I will wait for the library sales...
CMK

CMK, Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is naturalistic gardening? My two guesses are: Guess #1 - like organic gardening or Guess #2 it is using native plants in your landscape.

Shipping and handling! Ugh! You know, I try to buy books from independent used shops that use the amazon or alibris sites to market. And I am willing to pay S&H from the UK or Canada for a single book I really want (read: English cottages, GEORGE GISSING). But, like now, when I want to buy several books at once (all of Beverley Nichols), no one small place has all of them. That's when the shipping and handling REALLY add up. $4.95 x 8 = more than I am willing to pay for postage. That's when the big stores win out... they give me free S & H if my order is over $25, and even though the individual books may cost more, I still save money in the long run. Sad, but true. In this economy, I'm trying to keep those pennies in my own pocket. Maybe we hit upon something. If they had free S&H weekend, I bet they'd sell TONS of books. I know I'd be first in line.

I read Elizabeth von Armin's Enchanted April and was thrilled with the soft melody of the words and the gentle roll of the story. My library has the German Garden. Thank you yoyobon, I'll be reading this one as soon as I have a moment to get to the library!

PAM

PAM, do you only want second hand Beverley Nichols books?
If not go to the Book Depository site below and check what they have available. The beauty of the place is that there is more-or-less world wide FREE delivery.
Frieda had recommend them . . they are a newish firm based all of 20 miles up the road from us in a converted warehouse at Gloucester Docks

Here is a link that might be useful: Book Depository Beverley Nichols

Yes! I was going to buy a B&N Classic book on amazon (which was a dollar or under), but with S&H it would be just a bit less than if I bought it new at the store!

No! Not ignorant at all! I have only read bits and pieces of the book, so I do not know the "proper" definition of a Naturalistic garden. Think of it as 'naturalizing bulbs' on a grand scale. I see it as a rather broad spectrum style, ranging from just tending the native plants one has on their property to planting non-natives in an extremely informal way that rather resembles how the plant would be found in thier native situation. Imitating the patterns of nature. A cultivated woodland.

Have you ever read Mansfield Park? There was one passage I found very interesting. The characters were visiting an estate and touring the gardens. One area of the property that had a sort of cultivated woodland. It is interesting that the consept of 'Naturalistic Gardening' went back as far as Austen's time!
CMK

This morning while working at my FOL volunteer job of sorting and shelving donated books, I found a 1933 first edition of A Thatched Roof by Beverley Nichols. It was with a group of old books set aside for further examination by someone, I suppose, but I put a note on it that I wanted to buy it if it is to be sold. I have three of his books that I have yet to read -- I'm saving them for a special time that is yet to be identified.

Last year I read several of Allen Lacy's books and thoroughly enjoyed all of them, starting with Home Ground. They consist of essays generally on plants and/or gardening. Wonderful reading!

It is almost impossible to answer the original question. There are books that are my favorite references (many of which I use in my weekly master gardener plant clinics), my favorite history-related gardening books, my favorite science-related gardening books, and on and on.

My favorite vegetable gardening book at the moment is Burpee's The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener. I do believe it has everything you could want to know about growing vegetables organically.

The basic reference book I carry with me to all master gardener activities where I may get questions is Barbara Damrosch's The Garden Primer, a very complete book that covers many subjects.

I loved The $64 Tomato by William Alexander, probably my favorite funny gardening book.

I'm currently reading The Nature of Plants -- Habitats, Challenges, and Adaptations by John Dawson & Rob Lucas. It is fascinating reading about how plants manage to adapt themselves to survive all types of conditions. Plants are amazing creations and I wish I could study plant science in a more formal way than doing it piecemeal on my own.

My favorites are subject to change on a minute-by-minute basis, of course.

I remember seeing Beverley Nichols in the Bas Bleu catalog recently (in the past year or so). They piqued my interest, but I can't spend any money right now! I believe these were new paperback editions in the less than $20 range.

Thanks for the Nichols recommendation - I got a couple of his books at the library today and am completely enchanted. Just what I need this spring - really getting me in the mood for green and growing things. He has such a way of describing ordinary events. I will probably end up purchasing at least one for my permanent collection, a rare honor these days.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy,
I just had some serious online shopping fun. THANK YOU everyone for the titles, and THANK YOU veer, for the book depository website. I found three Nichols books, Merry Hall, Laughter on the Stairs and Sunlight on the Lawn, at The Strand (New York City) website. Link below. They had each book for $12.38 and shipping was a total of $4.50. Then over to veer's suggested site where I found the Allways Trilogy, PLUS The Truth About Cottages by John Woodforde and A Commoner's Cottage: The Story of a Surrey Cottage and its Occupants Through the Ages, A Social History by Frances Mountford.

Yes, it was one jolly fine shopping spree. Broke and Happy, I shall now go camp by the mailbox for my treasures.
PAM

Here is a link that might be useful: Strand Bookstore - New York - 18 miles of books

PAM. Two nations divided by a common language.
I realise this is totally non-PC but when I read your last sentence "I shall now go camp by the mailbox . . ." I immediately and totally erroneously though of the English meaning of camp "consciously artificial/affected in manner/to flaunt one's homosexuality" (maybe shades of B Nicholls, a very pink writer). I had a vision of you dancing round your mailbox possibly wearing something floaty in puce clutching a lily. . . and ideally you would have been an Oscar Wilde-ish chap scaring the Hell out of your mailman.

veer,

My mailman would have been shocked indeed! Floaty! In puce! Clutching a lily??? DH's eyeballs would have popped right out of his head.
Allow me to rephrase: I shall now place myself in a non-descript folding chair and wait impatiently near my post box for my books. In blue jeans. And a t-shirt with nary a puce-colored ANYTHING in sight.
PAM

CMK, I'll have to do some research on naturalistic gardening. I understand what you mean by your description, i.e. naturalizing daffodils. It sounds like a less labor-intensive manner of gardening. Sadly, no, I have never read Mansfield Park. But (famous last words), I just know its around here someplace...

Frances_MD, I read and laughed out loud at the $64 Tomato. Part of me thought it was hilarious, part of me (the frugal part) was horrified at how he just constantly dumped money into making a perfect garden that was wayyy too big for his needs or his energy level. But still, a good gardening read! And as for Allen Lacy, my library has that title! Now I just have to go and pick it up! Thank you. I don't know if they have any others yet. I have the Burpee book around here someplace...as well as a companion planting book.

And to everyone who so VERY kindly helped me discover these new writers and titles, what do you grow in your garden?

PAM

Now this is a subject dear to my heart. Many months when I don't post to the month's reading thread, it is because I am immersed in garden books and thought they were really too off topic to include. I am simply delighted to have an excuse to describe a few of my favorites.

Currently I am reading Plant-Driven Design by Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden. This is a landscaping book that presents the novel concept that gardens are for the growing of plants, not for hardscape, the non-growing parts of a garden. This approach is long overdue in my opinion. On the other hand, I find Nan Fairbrother's The Nature of Landscape Design to be a very thought-provoking book about how shaping outdoor spaces influence people. It has long been a favorite with me.

You can probably tell from my forum name that I am enthusiastic about growing roses. No doubt it comes as no surprise that I suggest two rose books. The first is Visions of Roses by Peter Beales, eye candy raised to an art form. The second, oddly enough, is a rose catalog, Vintage Gardens Book of Roses Not only is the catalog highly informative, it is also one of the most beautifully written rose books I know.

I grow food, too, and like to read about that as well. Amy Goldman's book The Compleat Squash has inspired me to experiment with growing all sorts of heirloom squashes, and to cook with them too. I'll end with recommending Gene Logsdon's The Contrary Farmer, a book that eloquently advocates a return to the small mixed farm. His is not the only voice that speaks for this approach to food production, but his was the one that made the life actually appeal to me. Not that I'm going to take up farming, mind you. But I have gone from growing a strictly ornamental garden to growing one that is heavy in vegetable and fruit as well as flowers and shrubs.

As for the question posed by PAM, it is downright dangerous to ask me what I grow in my garden! First off I grow roses along with all kinds of perennials, bulbs, and herbs in the front and roadside areas. In the back my husband grows tomatoes, peppers, beans, and eggplants. I have a couple of beds with garlic, shallots, peas, broccoli, Swiss chard, beets, and fennel. I'm digging a bed for 30 asparagus crowns that should arrive in the mail any day. And of course I'm getting ready to plant all those heirloom squashes. Besides that we have lots of fruit plants, all sorts of citrus as well as plums, a peach, a fig, an apricot, a loquat, apples, mulberries, pomegranates, persimmons, blueberries, grapes, and a young avocado tree. Some of these plants are established and producing food, but many are young and not yet mature enough to bear fruit.

Rosefolly

I am always looking for good gardening essays as I already have too many coffee table books. Some of my English language favourites among both British and American books are

Diane Ackerman: Cultivating Delight
Diana Anthony: A Sense of Humus
Thomas Christopher: In Search of Old Roses
Robin Chotzinoff: People with Dirty Hands
Cassandra Dantz: Mrs Greenthumbs
Charles Elliott (Ed.): Treasury of Garden Writing
Helena Rutherford Ely: A Woman's Hardy Garden
Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall: The Garden - an English love affair
Margery Fish: We Made a Garden (rather sad as obviously Walter Fish was a garden tyrant)
Elisabeth Jane Howard: Green Shades
Jamaica Kincaid: My Garden (Book)
Allen Lacy: Home Ground, In a Green Shade
Sam McGredy: Look to the Rose
Keith Money: The Bedside Book of Old-fashioned Roses
Mirabel Osler: A Breath from Elsewhere and A Gentle Plea for Chaos
Eleanor Perenýi: Green Thoughts (three titles so far taken from Andrew Marvell!)
Michael Pollan: Second Nature
Vita Sackville-West: In Your Garden, In Your Garden Again
Anne Scott-James: The Pleasure Garden, Down to Earth
Graham Stuart Thomas: everything he wrote
Katharine S.White: Onward and Upward in the Garden
Wayne Winterrowd: Roses - a Celebration
Richardson Wright: The Gardener's Bed-Book

A book I seem to be alone in not liking is The Education of a Gardener by Russell Page, too much namedropping for my taste. Karel Capek's The Gardener's Year is a very funny book translated from Czech.

I grow old and modern roses, pre-Spencer varieties of sweet peas and other annuals for cutting, auriculas, delphiniums, early potatoes, many kinds of salad greens, apples, plums and soft fruit, among other things.

Well, I'm a happy camper ( and not the British variety sans overalls! lol).....I just completed my Beverley Nichols Allways trilogy by purchasing the other two old hardcovers and ended up getting beautiful First Editions as well!
Now I shall cozy up in a comfy sling chair on a south-facing deck and marinate in my book-induced happy haze!
Oh, the feel of the red linen covered boards, the look of the old font, the smell of the seasoned paper.....heaven.

Also...am going to a book sale set up this morning and will have my pick of any of the books prior to the sale.
Does it get and better than this!?!!

Oh happy day!

That is great news yoyobon! I have taken the easy way out and ordered all of them. I have a feeling they will be books that my aunts want to borrow so I really didn't want first editions, but just reader-friendly copies that I won't stress about. The trilogy about the Georgian house has arrived. The Allways trilogy should be here soon!

I have to run at the moment, but will get back to post about what grows in my garden soon. Rosefolly, I loved your list of plants!

Mariannese, I loved your list of books!

PAM

I want to second Mariannese's recommendation of Mrs Greenthumbs (my favorite funny garden book, and informative as well), and In Search of Lost Roses. I should have included them on my favorites list as well. I also like Onward and Upward in the Garden, a very satisfying book on the pleasures of garden catalogs. There are a few on the list I don't know that I'm going to have to investigate.

Rosefolly

And so now I have to find Mrs. Greenthumbs! I remember her articles from Country Living Gardener and I always enjoyed them! I think I will just make a gardening section in my TBR notebook (big thick three-ring binder) and take my time with all of these great suggestions.

Let's see.... my turn... what am I growing?
Vegetables
carrots
spinach
garlic
onions
peas
beans
squash
pumpkins
raspberries (new bush, hope it grows!)
lettuce
LOTS of tomatoes

Flora
zepharine roses
four other roses (sorry rosefolly, have no idea what they are... but I'll see if I can find out.)
all sorts of flowers from crocus to daffs to hydrangeas.

PAM - who has received all six Beverley Nichols books and now I just need a moment to sit and enjoy them!

I once had a funny experience in connection with Mirabel Osler as a garden writer. I was talking to a Danish rosarian about books and she was searching for a name for a long time when I just broke out: Mirabel Osler! She looked so astonished because there had been no previous mention of Mirabel Osler or anything else connected with her books. It was my single psychic moment.

I just finished reading Garden Spells by Sara Addison Allen. Loved it!

Another interesting one...THE 3,000 MILE GARDEN

Two professional gardeners, one British, the other American, having met at a New Hampshire "mushroom foray," continue to share their gardening adventures in this delightful collection of their letters. Journalist/author Land (The Modern Country Cook) has country gardens in Cushing, Maine, and upstate New York; Phillips, a prolific writer/lecturer and plant photographer (Quest for the Rose), gardens by committee in London's three-acre city park at Eccleston Square. The difference in their situations intrigues them both and is instructive. They exchange discoveries about climate, garden design, rare and common cultivars, soils, mulches, pests and numerous other details of concern to gardeners. They spice their letters with botanical myth and gossip, bits of local history and geography and custom, and compare favorite recipes for their edible plants. Among other titillations, Phillips tells her how he heated a ham in mulch, and Land describes her experiments with diluted urine as a greening agent. But every page in this chatty, exuberant book is a feast of tips and surprises whose abundance and utility well serve any gardener