I love flowers. Love, love, love them. If I could, I would eat flowers for dessert and live in a greenhouse surrounded by them. Sometimes I actually crave flowers. A craving for their lovely colors, textures, fragrance, and myriad flowerfull  beauty. I especially crave flowers in the winter and early spring when my garden is still half-dormant. When I get a flower craving what I turn to are my books on flowers and gardening.

These books transport me to lush gardens spilling over with flowers, herbs and plants of all kinds.

Some books I peruse through just for their beautiful pictures.

While others I browse for their gardening and landscaping ideas.

I am always surprised at what little golden nugget of garden knowledge I find every time I look through my gardening books. These books range in topics from flower gardening, to herb gardening, landscape design to container gardening, and even books on structural elements in the garden. There is always something new to learn or an idea to implement from these books no matter how small or modest they may be.

My gardening book collection has been curated over the last 20 years.  A book or two a year and you will be surprised how fast your library of books grows. Some of them are out of print and some I bought as recent as a month ago.

My earlier collection of books came from book fairs (before the days of Amazon and Barnes & Noble).  I remember when Hitesh worked at Oracle in Redwood City, they held a book fair twice a year and he would come home with a gardening book or two for me. It was always a wonderful treat.

Then Barnes & Noble came into town and every spring they came out with a wonderful array of bargain books on gardening. This was my source for many flower and gardening books that were affordable as they were beautiful and informative.

Some books I have bought at neighborhood bookstores and rummage sales where I have found quiet a few beautiful out-of-print books.

Now with Amazon, buying books has never been easier. There are hundreds and hundreds of books available today on flowers, gardening and landscaping. I find out about cool new gardening books from magazines, from online sites, and while window shopping at garden boutiques. If the books look worth the purchase I buy them from Amazon. The beauty of Amazon is that I can return books even after I bought them if I felt they didn’t live up to my long-term perusal expectations.

I have books that I bought over a decade ago that I still enjoy looking over. These books have the right balance of beautiful pictures, timeless ideas on gardening, and solid good information on plants, flowers, and landscaping, along with a few tips on decorating and cooking with herbs and flowers too.

For years I bought a gardening book every year to add to my home library. But the last few years I haven’t found any that leaped out at me to purchase.

Then 2017 arrived, and this year a large selection of gardening books have caught my eye. I have found too many that I like. I think I made up for not buying any books the last few years. I have already bought six gardening books that I have enjoyed for their gorgeous photography and for their informative narratives.

You will be amazed at how looking through a beautifully presented book on gardening can transport you to wonderful places far and near, putting you in a good mood instantly.

You can find a wide array of books on gardening at on-line bookstores, local bookshops, and at your local libraries.

Pick up a book or two on flowers and gardening and see for yourself what a feel good tonic they can be.