These books form the core of my basic landscape-garden design bookshelf. They are my favorites and even though some are tried-and-true favorites, others are newer and more innovative. They are outstanding and I usually reach for them first.
- Design for Gardens by Joseph Hudak is more than a garden design book. Form, function, and design are winning attributes of this landscape design book. American gardeners, especially, will appreciate designs suitable for all sizes of pocketbooks.
- Anyone Can Landscape! by Joel M. Lerner is one of the few good books that provide landscaping basics in an easy-to-read and -understand arrangement. This book is ideal for homeowners of all skill levels as well as professionals wanting to review basics.
- The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust takes the guesswork out of the question “How do I care for these plants?”
- The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals and Bulbs by Tracy DiSabato-Aust does a fine job of presenting ideas on how to combine plant elements to yield a unified whole.
- Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses by Michael A. Dirr is the very best and my all-time favorite in tree identification books for temperate climates. Many designers and plants-people consider this book as the bible. A satisfying plus-point is the line drawings by the author’s wife Bonnie Dirr.
- Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Michael A. Dirr is a good book about temperate trees and shrubs for those who need the security of photographs in a manual. Instructive and crisp photographs are from the author’s vast collection of his own work.
- Dirr’s Trees and Shrubs for Warm Climates: An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Michael A. Dirr is a companion manual to Dirr’s “Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” This is a welcome volume for landscape professionals as well as for homeowners living and working in warmer climates.
- Herbaceous Perennial Plants: A Treatise on Their Identification, Culture, and Garden Attributes by Allan M. Armitage is the “bible” for landscape and garden designers as well as homeowners and gardeners wanting to grow and maintain herbaceous perennials in their landscapes.
- Armitage’s Garden Perennials: A Color Encyclopedia by Allan M. Armitage is the companion volume to “Herbaceous Perennial Plants” for those wanting and needing identifying color photographs.
- Armitage’s Manual of Annuals, Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials by Allan M. Armitage is a very welcome manual for temperate climate landscape designers and home gardeners. Armitage provides identification tips as well as cultural information. This is a great addition to the bookshelf for those interested in container gardens and filling up space with color.
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Text and photograph by Georgene A. Bramlage, October 2006. Reproduction without permission prohibited.