“Flowers, The Beautiful Ones” is a first child’s first gardening lesson, with detailed instructions for planting all kinds of flowers: marigold, hyacinth, lily, orange, tulips, and daffodils. It includes attractive “flower painting” pictures of a large array of flowers grown in beautiful garden boxes. The book also includes interesting information on caring for your garden, from selecting the best fertilizer to planting time. It is a great book for a girl’s room as well as for boys. It is written for girls eight years old and up, and is sure to please with its colorful pictures and happy tone. The language is simple and enjoyable, and the pictures are large enough so that even a child can understand them.
“Planting Flowers” by Ida P. Aldrich is a book about starting seedsling plants and then growing them. It starts out with an explanation of the different types of seedsling plants, and then goes right into explaining how to care for those plants. Of particular interest is the section on planting lilies. This detail is especially helpful since one might not be sure how much room is available for lilies in a window or patio. The steps in this section are easy to follow, and the pictures show just enough of the plant to give the gardener a good idea of how the plant will grow.
“Sun, Sand and Sky” by Frank Tillerson is another excellent book for flower gardening. It describes what each zone of the sun needs to be able to support different plants, and gives a good description of sun loving, shade loving, and sun scorned plants. It also gives a short description of each zone and explains why that type of plant grows in that zone. That is important because some sunscorned plants need full sun to grow, but some need only a little. Frank Tillerson has done a nice job of explaining all the differences between the zones, and making sure everyone is aware of which plants can handle which conditions. It is easy to read through and very informative.
For someone new to gardening, “Water Gardening for Newbies” by Michele Augur is a great place to start. It starts out with a brief explanation of how much water each plant needs, and then goes into great detail about how much each plant prefers water. It even includes a chart showing the relationships among plants to determine what zone of water they prefer. It is easy to understand, and there are virtually no mistakes made. This is a really good book for beginners who want to know what plants will do best in their zone, and what plants will do well in more drought prone areas.
“A Guide to Annuals” by Lucy Clark Crawford is actually four books in one. Each chapter consists of a small description of a certain type of annual plant, as well as a short write-up on how it should be planted, and why. The Planting Series focuses on the five characteristics of annuals that contribute to their longevity: hardy, maintenance free, attractive, drought resistant, and pest resistant. This is a terrific little book for anyone who wants to know the basics of annuals before going into more detailed landscaping.
Lastly, I would definitely recommend “Planting Popular Flowers for Yearlong” by Peg Pickering. This book describes everything you need to know about planting popular flowers, including what to look for in each variety, when to plant them, how much water is needed, and other important details. It’s a great little book that will help gardeners know exactly what to plant in what areas. It may even save gardeners a little money if they plant popular flowers in regions where they won’t get as much water!