Book -  Hortus Miscellaneous

No one book on gardening can cover every topic or address every plant (just try to find some of the plants we grow here in the Sunset Western Garden Guide, right?). Hortus Miscellaneous was not intended to be the Oxford English Dictionary of gardening reference books. Instead it’s accomplished something with more quirk and wit, and it is a far easier book to curl up on the couch with. The information contained within ranges from the useful (lists of plants that are good for the cutting garden, recipes for teas, which weeds are edible, which common garden plants are toxic, etc.) to the arcane and bizarre (ways famous botanists have met their ends, random facts about hedgehogs, a list of songs for gardeners, bonsai terminology) and a good amount in between.  What other book can teach you how to candy violets, tell you why Napoleon’s wife chopped up her entire Dahlia collection and give you a recipe for fried green tomatoes, plus all the gardening lore you could ask for? Love it!
And we bet any of your gardening pals will, too!

Claire Woods
Propagator