Tag: gardening

New Gardening Books

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Whether you’re an experienced gardener or a newbie gardener, the Davenport Public Library has books for you! We have many new gardening books that have hit the new shelves recently. Below are a few of our newest ones. These books are all owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions have been provided by the publishers.

Container Gardening – The Permaculture Way: Sustainably Grow Vegetables and More in Your Small Space by Valery Tsimba

Anyone, anywhere can grow fresh, healthy produce, foster biodiversity, and reconnect with nature by using the permaculture approach—no matter your space or experience.

Permaculture—rooted in centuries-old techniques for growing food with care for the Earth—is the key to producing a bigger harvest than you ever thought possible on your balcony, patio, driveway, deck, and anywhere in between!

With sustainability as her guiding principle, Valéry Tsimba enthusiastically instructs home gardeners of all skill levels and backgrounds in her proven container gardening methods, from start to finish.

Containers make gardening more accessible for everyone. Whether you live in an apartment, have a disability or chronic illness, have never gardened before, or are an experienced gardener new to permaculture, Container Gardening—The Permaculture Way brings sustainable gardening within reach. – The Experiment Publishing

Shade Garden: Essential Know-How and Expert Advice for Gardening Success by Zia Allaway

Discover how to assess, grow, and maintain a shady garden.

Ideal for first-time gardeners, Grow Shade Garden contains everything you need to create a flourishing garden full of color, texture, and scent in a shady space. Learn how to grow and care for various shade-loving plants with tips on selecting the right site and varieties. Once you understand different types of shade and have assessed your space, select the best plants for your garden with the help of handy directories that profile different shrubs, perennials, bulbs, and trees and provide key growing information. Projects on tree planting, container displays, and creating a fernery also get you started on planting techniques and ideas to make the most of a shaded space.

Whether you are an avid gardener or want to create an easy-to-maintain garden, this book can guide you and answer important questions like how plants react to shade. And How do I check my soil and climate? – DK

How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces: An Illustrated Guide to Planning, Planting, and Caring for Your Small Space Flower Garden by Stephanie Walker

Take your gardening to the next level…with flowers! After learning how to manage their houseplants and grow their own food, this highly stylized, fully illustrated, modern guidebook teaches reluctant green thumbs to brighten up their gardens with flowers.

Did you know that begonias can be dug up in the fall, stored indoors in the winter, and be ready to be planted and bloom again in the spring? That daylilies need to be divided every three to four years to produce more blooms? Or that marigolds can be both a beautiful and helpful addition to a vegetable garden as a natural deterrent to common garden pests?

Whether you’re a first-time gardener or an experienced green thumb looking to learn more about flowers, this book is your must-have guide! 

No more trips to the florist—with How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces, your home and garden will be bursting with color to keep you healthier and happier than ever. From peonies and marigolds to snapdragons and foxgloves, grab your gloves and get to gardening! – Adams Media

The Container Garden Recipe Book: 57 Designs for Pots, Window Boxes, Hanging Baskets, and More by Lana Williams

Over 50 step-by-step recipes for stunning outdoor planters of all shapes and sizes, in Artisan’s bestselling flower recipe book format.

We’re taking the Recipe Book series outside! In the Container Garden Recipe Book, Lana Williams of the Oakland-based Tender Gardener offers readers dozens of step-by-step recipes for lush outdoor planters, from classic terra-cotta pots to window boxes, urns, bowls, and more. There are recipes specifically designed to adorn your porch or patio (a rustic birdcage-cum-hanging basket, a stately Japanese maple planted in a painted terra-cotta urn) and others that are perfect for backyard entertaining (an elegant tabletop trough of succulents, a concrete water garden that’s sure to be a conversation starter). And with Lana as their guide, readers’ yards will never be bare thanks to creative designs for all seasons, from urns bursting with spring bulbs to a summer trough brimming with fresh herbs and an heirloom pumpkin converted into the perfect home for fall blooms.

And recreating these stunning designs couldn’t be simpler! Each recipe includes a detailed ingredients list and step-by-step instructions, along with hundreds of photos showing where and how to place each plant. Also included is foundational information on planting techniques, care instructions, choosing the right container, as well as plant spotlights highlighting foolproof options for all climates and seasons, from spring bulbs to evergreens. – Artisan

The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants by Hilton Carter

In The Propagation Handbook, plant stylist Hilton Carter reveals how to grow and increase your own plant family by propagating existing plants.

Not only a plant lover, Hilton is passionate about propagation, the process of growing a brand new healthy and happy plant from part of an existing one. In this, his fifth book, Hilton talks us through the process of propagation and explains all the necessary techniques, from the very simplest to more complex methods, such as air layering and grafting. He describes exactly which method to use for different types of plant, and lists the tools essential for the process. In Hilton’s own words: “You hear so much about plant ‘parenthood’, but knowing how to propagate and then watching as your little plant takes shape and develops into a full-grown plant is the very definition of this.” – CICO Books

The Fragrant Flower Garden: Growing, Arranging & Preserving Natural Scents by Stefani Bittner

Make your garden and home look and smell heavenly with this accessible gardening guide that explains how to grow fragrant flowers outdoors and bring natural scents indoors by creating floral arrangements, scented beauty products, and more.

There is nothing like the beauty and scent of a flower-filled garden and home. The Fragrant Flower Garden shows you how to grow flowers that are a feast for the nose as well as the eyes, from a naturally perfumed carpet of sweet alyssum and the warm, spicy scent of gardenia to the heavenly aroma of lilacs.

A beautiful garden is one where you can find joy in every sense—literally. The Fragrant Flower Garden makes this dream a reality with garden design guidance for a year’s worth of flowers, foliage, and fragrance. Then, reap the wellness benefits of your fragrant flowers through DIY projects such as making floral arrangements, perfumes, tub soaks, and tinctures.

Whether you prefer the smell of classic lavender or something more adventurous like chocolate cosmos, The Fragrant Flower Garden opens the door to creating a scented flower garden that is a delight for all. – Ten Speed Press

More New Gardening Books:

Old Farmer’s Almanac

- Lynn Leave a comment

Every fall since 1792, another edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac comes out and every year it’s a bestseller.

According to the Washington Post, “The antique cover, still sporting mugs of Benjamin Franklin and Robert B. Thomas, reeks of great-great-grandma’s potpourri, and yet the 2024 edition of “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” is flying off the shelves like hotcakes, for which there’s a great recipe on page 65.”

According to publisher Sherin Pierce, “This year ‘The Almanac’ just shot right out of the gate.” Sales on Amazon, in particular, have never been so strong, and copies are also selling briskly at bookstore chains and indie bookstores. (Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post.)

While every other publisher in the world is in a sweaty panic to reinvent itself and chase after those unicorns known as younger readers, “The Almanac” just clomps along selling about 2.5 million copies a year… She attributes the magazine’s continued popularity to two very current trends: weather anomalies and home gardening.

“People are more interested in the environment,” she says. “They want to be self-sustainable. They want to have a guide of how to do something yourself, right? …

And in a world of constant change and rising strife, it’s undeniably comforting to find a journal that’s “Useful, with a Pleasant Degree of Humor.”

Pierce says, “Trends come and go, fashions come and go, but ‘The Almanac’ remains.” ‘

There’s also an Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids, an Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Cookbook, an Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardener’s Companion and the Best of the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Seed Library Opening at 11:45am Today!

- Ann Leave a comment

Tiger’s Eye beans. Swenson Swedish snowpeas. Dragon carrots. Wapsipinicon Peach tomatoes. Grandma Einck’s dill. Grandpa Ott’s morning glorys. French Breakfast radishes. These are all names of heirloom seeds and all of them – and many more! – are now available from the Davenport Library’s Seed Library!

There will be a brief ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, April 19 at 11:45am to kick off this new library program.

The Seed Library has 107 varieties of vegetables, 42 different flowers and 29 herbs. Currently, all of our seeds are from Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa and all of them are heirloom varieties (some seeds were purchased and some are from a grant from Seed Savers). Many of these varieties have interesting stories about how they were handed down through different generations and how they were prized for their delicious flavors and ease of growing.

Sometime after World War II, the US population moved away from a largely agriculture background and to a more urban one. Farming and gardening habits faded away just as Madison Avenue advertising executives decided Americans only wanted to buy perfect, unblemished vegetables and only flowers suitable for bouquets. To meet these imagined desires, plants were bred to produce vegetables and flowers that were uniform in color and size and able to withstand long-distance shipping without damage. This meant that flavor (and in the case of flowers, fragrance) was sacrificed for uniformity and many heirloom seeds were in danger of disappearing altogether. Seed Savers is dedicated to preserving  unique varieties before they are lost. By growing some of these heirloom seeds in your own backyard you too are helping to keep them alive.

To participate in this program, stop by the Davenport Library Main library at 321 Main Street and browse our notebook which has entries for every seed that we carry, plus basic growing tips. Choose up to five varieties of seeds per family per month (we have checklists that you can use to mark your choices) Library staff will pull your seeds for you. Be sure to log your choices in the Seed Log – there will be a drawing for a garden gift basket on May 1 from the names listed in the log! Now the fun begins – growing your seeds! If you post about your seeds on social media, be sure to tag us @davenportlibrary and use #dplseeds.

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Hurrah! It’s Spring!

- Ann Leave a comment

While an Iowa spring is usually a bit slow and hesitant to appear, it is on the way! Time to start planning your garden. Here are the latest books available at the library to inspire you.

Four Season Food Gardening by Misilla Dela Llana. Unlike most other vegetable gardening books this one approaches the subject through the lens of what you can grow during each of the four seasons, even if you live in a cold climate. Using season-extension techniques, such as cold frames, mini hoop houses, and thick mulches, combined with a thoughtful mixture of annual and perennial crops, you’ll discover that eating from your backyard through all 12 months is possible.

The Garden Refresh: how to give your yard a big impact on a small budget by Kier Holmes. This is a thoughtful, accessible, and creative guide for the savvy home gardener on how to create a beautiful, productive and healthy garden without spending crazy amounts of cash or using an excess of Earth’s valuable natural resources.

Grow More Food : a vegetable gardener’s guide to getting the biggest harvest possible from a space of any size by Colin McCrate. How to plan your garden carefully, maximize production in every bed, get the most out of every plant, scale up systems to maximize efficiency, and expand the harvest season with succession planting, intercropping, and season extension

Grow Now: how we can save our health, communities and planet – one garden at a time by Emily Murphy. We now recognize that plots in towns and cities are critical to supporting planetary diversity, and by instituting organic, regenerative practices and growing some of our own food, we can sequester carbon as well as shift toward living in a more ecologically responsible way.

Midwest Gardener’s Handbook: all you need to know to plan, plant and maintain a Midwest garden by Melinda Myers.  gardeners in the north central US are handed all the know-how they’ll need to grow a lush, productive garden.

 

The Elegant and Edible Garden: design a dream kitchen garden to fit your personality, desires and lifestyle by Linda Vater. Learn how to create a one-of-a-kind food garden that’s just as beautiful as it is functional.

 

Gardening for Everyone: growing vegetable, herbs and more at home by Julia Watkins. An author and sustainability expert shares how to grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs in a backyard garden, providing detailed information on creating and caring for a garden including planning, building, planting, tending, and harvesting.

Spring Garden Books

- Ann Leave a comment

I read a quote recently where someone asked if we could unplug 2020, wait a few minutes and then try restarting it. It’s been a long year already, hasn’t it – and we’ve got quite a bit of 2020 left! We may not be able to unplug and start over, but spring, which officially begins today, offers a fresh start of it’s own. Here are some recent gardening books that are guaranteed to brighten your day!

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Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers by Erin Benzakein. Not only is this is a seriously gorgeous book, it’s packed with great information on how to grow and arrange your own cut flowers. Erin is something of a star in the flower grower world and she just announced that she has filmed a documentary about running a small business which will air on Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new Magnolia television network sometime in October.

Garden Alchemy: 80 Recipes and Concoctions for Organic Fertilizers, Plant Elixirs, Potting Mixes, Pest Deterrents and More by Stephanie Rose. The best way to ensure a lots of beautiful flowers and vegetables is to start with beautiful soil. Lots of tips and ideas in this book!

Gardening in Your Front Yard: Projects and Ideas for Big and Small Spaces by Tara Nolan. Stop wasting all of that land in front of your house – gardens are beautiful, add to the value of your house and are much better for the environment and wildlife than the mono-culture of grass.

Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening: a Gardener’s Guide to Growing Flowers, from Today’s Favorites to Unusual Varieties by Matt Mattus. You’ll want to keep your stack of seed and bulb catalogs close by while paging through this beauty – lots of inspiration for your next garden!

Small Garden Style: a Design Guide for Outdoor Rooms and Containers by Isa Eaton. Small doesn’t mean lacking in style and interest; this book will help you create a lovely garden no matter the size. Even a small front porch can benefit from a beautiful container garden!

 

 

Spring!

- Ann Leave a comment

Spring! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to put away the boots and coats and get outside and into the garden! It’s been a winter of epic porportions so let’s move on immediately! Of course, spring in Iowa is famously fickle and might be a bit slow to really settle in. That’s the perfect time to curl up with one of these new books about gardening and flowers. Each is packed with practical information but are gorgeous enough to act as coffee table books. Enjoy!

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Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening by Matt Mattus. Prepare to encounter new varieties of common plant species, learn their history and benefits, and, most of all, identify fascinating new edibles to grow in your own gardens. This book offers a wealth of new and exciting opportunities, alongside beautiful photography, lore, insight, and humor that can only come from someone who has grown each vegetable himself and truly loves gardening.

Tulips by Jane Eastoe. Tulips have more than 3,000 variations and their diverse textures mean that they can work anywhere, from vases to garden plots, from romantic bouquets to wedding boutonnieres. From the raspberry swirl of Zurel and the petticoat-like frills of Weber’s Parrot, to the crystal rim of the Mascotte and the flaming petals of the Fabio tulip, you’ll discover a stunning range of specimens to grow, including historical and contemporary varieties.

The Pottery Gardener by Arthur Parkinson.The Emma Bridgewater factory is a thriving visitor attraction and a mecca for lovers of its iconic pottery; but tucked within is a walled garden bursting with nectar-rich, jazzy-toned flowers and hen houses of rare-breed chickens. With seasonal tips on container planting, plant profiles and helpful guides to keeping fowl and flower-arranging, The Pottery Gardener is sure to delight gardeners, hen fanciers and Emma Bridgewater fans alike.

Seasonal Flower Arranging by Ariella Chezar. This lavishly photographed book from renowned floral designer Ariella Chezar provides step-by-step instructions for 39 seasonal floral arrangements and projects that celebrate the splendor of flowers, the bounty of the changing seasons, and the wild beauty of nature in your home. There are arrangements for seasonal holidays, special occasions, or just everyday life featuring tulips, roses, peonies, dahlias, and other flowers that are easily found at farmers’ markets, local shops, or grown in your own backyard.

Dahlias by Naomi Slade. Blooming late summer to the first frost of autumn, this native of Mexico provides explosions of color in home gardens. The author unearths the dahlia from its Aztec origins and imparts practical, hands-on knowledge for growing and overwintering these tropical plants in wintry climes.

Peonies by Jane Eastoe celebrates the delicate palette, sumptuous beauty and sweet perfume of one of the world’s favorite flowers. This lavishly illustrated guide shows how easy it is to grow these bountiful blooms and fill your home with spectacular cut flowers. From the strikingly beautiful Claire de Lune to the frilly, petticoat-like Bowl of Cream, you’ll discover a splendid collection of classics, as well as the best modern varieties.

Hurrah! It’s Spring!

- Ann Leave a comment

Well, according to the calendar, it’s Spring again. This being the Midwest, Spring is likely to struggle a bit to really take hold, but it is definitely moving from winter to spring, the best season of all.

This also means it’s time to take a look at the new crop of gardening books. There are always new ones being published early in the year, taking advantage of cabin fever and greening grass. Here are just a few:

The Flower Powered Garden: Supercharge Your Borders and Containers with Bold, Colorful Plant Combinations by Andy Vernon.

Niki Jabbour’s Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor and Fun by Niki Jabbour

Martha’s Flowers: a Practical Guide to Growing, Gathering and Enjoying by Martha Stewart

My Floral Affair: Whimsical Spaces and Beautiful Florals by Rachel Ashwell

Color Me Floral: Stunning Monochromatic Arrangements for Every Season by Kiana Underwood

The Less is More Garden: Big Ideas for Designing Your Small Yard by Susan Morrison

Vegetables Love Flowers: Companion Planting for Beauty and Bounty by Lisa Ziegler

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Spring at Last! New Gardening Books at Davenport Library

- Ann Leave a comment

Spring has finally arrived! Even though it was a mild winter, I’m still anxious for spring and flowers and gardening to start again. Here are some of the newest books on gardening available at the Davenport Library – reserve some spring inspiration now!

 

growyourownweddingflowersGrow Your Own Wedding Flowers by Georgie Newbery. Filled with gorgeous pictures for inspiration, and written in a friendly, no-nonsense style, this practical book makes growing and arranging your own wedding flowers both achievable and fun, whether you are a beginner or advanced gardener or flower arranger.

 

 

containerthemegardensContainer Theme Gardens by Nancy Ondra. There’s something here for every setting and every style, including a meadow in a box, a pond in a pot, a simple salad garden, and a combination that will attract hummingbirds.

 

 

gardeningwithlesswaterGardening With Less Water by David Bainbridge offers simple, inexpensive, low-tech techniques for watering your garden much more efficiently — using up to 90 percent less water for the same results.

 

 

flowerworkshopThe Flower Workshop by Ariella Chezar  walks you through the nuts and bolts of creating a variety of small flourishes, tonal arrangements, branch arrangements, handheld bouquets, wreathes, garlands, grand gestures, and more–all accompanied by detailed photography.

 

 

flowerchefThe Flower Chef by Carly Cylinder is a modern, comprehensive guide to floral design that caters to all readers–from beginners who have never worked with flowers before and are looking for a new creative outlet, to decorators, party planners and photographers looking to liven up their spaces.

The New Shade Garden by Ken Druse

- Ann Leave a comment

newshadegardenThere is a new generation of gardeners who are planting gardens not only for their visual beauty but also for their ability to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In The New Shade Garden , Ken Druse provides this generation with a comprehensive guide to creating a shade garden with an emphasis on the adjustments necessary for our changing climate.

Druse offers advice for common problems facing today’s gardeners, from addressing the deer situation to watering plants without stressing limited resources. Detailing all aspects of the gardening process, the book covers basic topics such as designing your own garden, pruning trees, preparing soil for planting, and the vast array of flowers and greenery that grow best in the shade.

Perfect for new and seasoned gardeners alike, this wide-ranging encyclopedic manual provides all the information you need to start or improve upon your own shade garden. (description from publisher)

Spring Has Sprung!

- Ann Leave a comment

It was a little touch-and-go there for awhile, but it looks like spring really will be back. That means it’s time for getting outside again and getting into the garden. In other words, it’s the best time of the year! Here are some new garden books to inspire you:

small space vegetable gardensSmall Space Vegetable Gardens by Andrea Bellamy – Here are the basics of growing a bounty of edibles in a minimal amount of space: how to find and assess a space, and how to plan and build a garden. Bellamy also highlights the top sixty edible plants and offers complete information on how to sow, grow, and harvest them.

 

 

 

 

designing and planting a woodland gardenDesigning and Planting a Woodland Garden by Keith Wiley – Woodlands are magical places and even small gardens can capture the atmosphere with a carefully chosen tree and some shade-loving plants. Selecting the right plant for the right place is essential and expert plantsman Keith Wiley explains how to combine plants that will thrive together and even how to create shade if you don’t already have it.

 

 

 

 

flower farmers yearFlower Farmer’s Year: How to Grow Cut Flowers for Pleasure and Profit by Georgie Newbery –  how to plant, maintain, and keep evolving a productive cut-flower garden. Whether you want to devote a corner of your garden to a stand of sweet peas and some cosmos, take up flower production for gate sales, or make a livelihood from cut flowers, Georgie Newbery will take you through everything from planning your garden to budgeting and marketing.

 

 

 

 

right size flower gardenRight Size Flower Garden by Kerry Ann Mendez –  We’re busy, we’re aging, and the demands of the garden can feel overwhelming. What to do? Make smarter use of the space we have and the plants we select, says garden expert Kerry Ann Mendez. She shares her successful recipe for having a garden we can manage and love again…the right-size, low maintenance, drought tolerant garden. The goal is ditching 50% of the work by choosing high-value plants and making simple design changes.

 

 

 

tao of vegetable gardeningThe Tao of Vegetable Gardening by Carol Deppe – explores the practical methods as well as the deeper essence of gardening. In her latest book Carol Deppe focuses on some of the most popular home garden vegetables – tomatoes, green beans, peas, and leafy greens – and through them illustrates the key principles and practices that gardeners need to know to successfully plant and grow just about any food crop.