From Mélie’s Garden
Now that the holiday season has arrived, I have put together a list of garden books that I enjoyed this year that might be suitable Christmas gifts for some people on your list.
Trees of Eastern North America By Gil Nelson, Christopher J. Earle and Richard Spellenberg
This is a very informative book listing 825 species of North American trees, with excellent illustrations. I found it invaluable help with our Cemetery tree replanting this year on Fishers Island.
The Living Landscape By Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy
“The Living Landscape” is an inspirational planting guide on how to achieve biodiversity in your home garden, by the selection of plants that attract wildlife. Author Doug Tallamy has lectured on the Island and has done excellent work with the Fishers Island Conservancy.
The Complete Kitchen Garden By Ellen Ecker Ogden
A good “How To” book on growing vegetables in your garden, with charming garden plans and delicious recipes for the produce! I found the plant rotation chart especially helpful.
Growing Tasty Tropical Plants By Laurelynn and Byron E. Martin
An intriguing book, by the Martins of Logee’s Greenhouses in Danielson, CT on how to grow tropical, fruit bearing plants, such as oranges, lemons, limes and kumquats in your home. It is much easier than you might think, provided you select the right varieties of plants and Laurelynn and Byron give you great growing advice in their informative book.
Highgrove A garden celebrated By Bunny Guinness
A beautiful book about the different growing seasons at Prince Charles’s beloved Highgrove. The photographs are exquisite and the text is informative. The book is published in England, but available on Amazon. Order it ASAP if you want it in time for Christmas because it takes a week or two to cross the Atlantic.
The Manor By Mac Griswold
This is not an instructing gardening book, but is a fascinating account of Mac Griswold’s discovery of the Sylvester Plantation on Shelter Island. The Plantation operated for three hundred years and Griswold gives you a glimpse of what life was like on Islands in the Long Island Sound during that time. The Sylvester Plantation, with slave labor, participated in a very active trade of goods between England, and the Caribbean. Bagley Reid loaned the book to me this summer and I found it so interesting that I bought my own copy.
Have a wonderful Holiday Season.
