Everyone has a gardening lover in the family and a good horticulture book is likely to be appreciated this Christmas. But if you’re not the green-fingered type yourself, it can be hard to know where to start. Help is at hand from trusted gardening writer Tim Richardson, who selected his favourite tomes for this year’s selection in the Daily Telegraph.
A sure-fire hit this Christmas is Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life by Marta McDowell (£16.99) – which mixes biography and the inspiration for Peter Rabbit with a seasonal study of Potter’s own garden, Hill Top in the Lake District.
RHS Botany For Gardeners edited by Geoff Hodge and Simon Maughan (£14.99) is also an attractive-looking book, sure to create envy upon any coffee table or book case.
Edited by Richardson himself, Of Rhubarb And Roses: The Telegraph Book Of The Garden (£25) also makes the cut, pulling together articles from the newspaper team.
Who would not want to draw inspiration from Virginia Woolf’s country retreat Monk’s House? The Sussex base where much of her work was produced is charming and easily replicated with Virginia Woolf’s Garden by Caroline Zoob (£30).
This selection of books are certainly not all aimed at ‘granny’ – Contemporary Designers’ Own Gardens by Barbara Baker (£35) is ideal for those with an interest in modern-day gardening.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without the shops stocking up on a feast of cook books, but for something a little different to the usual celeb-penned offering, why not consider Elizabeth David On Vegetables compiled by Jill Norman (£20) for tips on how to not only grow vegetables but turn them into winning recipes also.
Other Christmas ideas include: Daffodil by Noel Kingsbury (£17.99); RHS Chelsea Flower Show: A Centenary Celebration by Brent Elliott, Frances Lincoln (£25); The British Oak by Archie Miles (£35); The New English Garden by Tim Richardson with photographs by Andrew Lawson (£40); and Wild Flowers Nature’s Own To Garden Grown by Carol Klein (£20).
