Top 10 Gardening Books 📚 (2024)

"Three gardens make their debut in this revised edition of Gardens of the National Trust: Wentworth Castle Gardens in Yorkshire; Allan Bank, William Wordsworth’s home overlooking Grasmere; and High Close in the Lake District’s fells. Several gardens have colourfully expanded the acreage open to visitors, including Trelissick, Bodnant and Buckland Abbey, and there have been significant developments in many others, notably at Woolbeding, Wallington, Emmetts, Nymans, Hare Hill, Seaton Delaval, Nostell, Saltram, Ightham Mote, Wakehurst and Overbeck’s – with Berrington Hall and Baddesley Clinton poised to join them.

In an innovative departure from tradition, garden designers from outside the Trust have been commissioned to reimagine parts of gardens – large areas of Beningbrough, and Delos at Sissinghurst. Participation in the Queen’s Green Canopy project for the Platinum Jubilee has also seen extensive tree planting, including reinstating a lost eighteenth-century avenue at Dyrham Park and recreating the pear tree arch at Rudyard Kipling’s home, Bateman’s.

So, in spite of the pandemic years and their aftermath –which have caused maintenance and staffing problems and have sometimes halted, or even reversed, the progress of restoration and the steady improvement of standards of horticulture and presentation – there is much to shine a spotlight on.

For me, travelling the length of Britain, meeting the head gardeners and tapping into the story of each garden’s evolution and idiosyncrasies has again been an adventure and an education. The diversity of the Trust’s gardens is immediately apparent from the photographs. They range from landscape park to walled town garden, box parterre to rhododendron woodland, Derbyshire hilltop to Cornish coombe. Lakes, temples, herbaceous borders, Japanese gardens, conservatories, pinetums, swathes of daffodils, roses, regional apple varieties and eighteenth-century statues, views of sea, moor and mountain, yew trees clipped as pointed Welsh hats, it is all here.

The gardens engage you on many levels. There are the straightforward pleasures of seeing, smelling, touching, listening and exploring. For home gardeners, there are ideas and plant varieties to pick up. But go deeper and invariably you tap into a story, perhaps of great individuals and family successions, designers and plant hunters, period politics and preoccupations, changing fashions, destructions and restorations."

"A flower of a thousand facets, the hydrangea never ceases to surprise and astonish. They are chameleons and shape-shifters, morphing from fresh and vibrant youth to languid and mysterious age with no discernible loss of charm or interest. And while this plant may not have always been universally loved, it cares not one iota. The hydrangea is here to stay; with us always and familiar certainly, yet still imbued with greatness.

Fashion is a capricious thing and hydrangeas, more than many plants, have had their low points as well as their triumphs. Discovered but not applauded, passed over in the annals of botanical significance, given away as an also-ran by those who might have cherished them. Yet hydrangeas have slowly surged, gradually building a reputation and a following; not catapulted to glory as a manufactured pop phenomenon, but gaining recognition the old way, through hard graft and reliability, like the band that plays working men’s clubs and back-street dives, building up and burning slowly to finally become a national treasure.

Throughout their history, hydrangeas have tended to divide people. Some think they are marvellous in almost every way; others consider them an abomination. Even the tastemakers disagree. American magazine and television mogul Martha Stewart loves them; pop legend Madonna reputedly loathes them. And, until relatively recently, I would have been with Madonna all the way.

When I first met hydrangeas, they were bulky, dated landscape shrubs. They grew in a row under the window in my grandmother’s coastal garden, the flowers vast lumpen mops of dull pink and mauve that my granddad called ‘Queen Mother’s Hats’. My grandmother’s nickname was Queenie and the reference to the majestic headgear must have amused her no end.

Hydrangeas were simply not to my taste. My young self preferred dainty wildflowers, fragrant herbs and the juicy charms of the fruit cage. Yet it is unfair to judge an entire genus on a couple of neglected specimens viewed with an uncompromisingly critical pre-teen eye. Especially when said genus is going through a renaissance, a pop-star-style reinvention of the type where a dated crooner teams up with a hot young act and suddenly reveals that they can bust out the tunes in a whole new way, capturing hearts and exploding in popularity as they do so."

“Most gardens are secret, shared only by friends and family. Those of you who have your own plot will know that a garden is an extension of the home, set apart from the commotions and stresses of the outside world. My own garden is a place of nourishment –both spiritual and creative – and escape.

Over the years I’ve realised that visiting gardens can provide this same sense of getting away from it all. For me the best gardens are those that give you that delicious illusion of discovering a place as if you were the first to do so. Like Mary Lennox in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s wonderful book The Secret Garden, I love the thrill of finding a beautiful and secluded place. I bask in its quietness and beauty, feeling, if only for a fewminutes, as though it’s mine.

It’s this desire for surprise and solitude that drives me to lesser-known gardens. Within them are many delights, from unexpected sights and quiet corners to horticultural inspiration and questions waiting to be answered. How, for instance, was Overbeck’s– an exotic garden where cacti grow unprotected – ever created on such a rugged and precipitous stretch of the Devon coast? Who were these intrepid sisters who created, at Plas yn Rhiw, a lush paradise on one of the most wind-battered and remote headlands in North Wales? And why is such a varied and larger-than-most town garden hidden behind a Georgian terrace in Wisbech?

Secret gardens have another draw, too. Because of their relatively small size, I find myself connecting with their creators more closely than I do in the more public domain of a grand mansion. These are intimate gardens, not large showpieces designed for self promotion. By their very nature, they are personal creations. It sometimes feels as though you are visiting the garden of a friend, even if its creator is world-famous or long gone.

‘So this is where Virginia Woolf lived and worked, wrote and was inspired,’ I thought, overwhelmed, when I pushed the little wooden gate to Monk’s House and first set eyes on her garden. Here in the depths of rural Sussex is where she plotted, and agonised over, many of her novels. But here too is where she dug, weeded, picked pears and apples, and took part in a multitude of gardening tasks, ably assisting her husband Leonard in creating this enchanting place.

Beyond the personal stories, secret gardens are sources of simple and profound pleasures. They take us back to our carefree childhood years. Children love gardens because they represent freedom, discovery and surprise. In these secluded and safe spots they can hide, make dens and create a world of make-believe. Secret gardens are places of wonder and magic for children and adults alike. Here are some of my favourites. I hope you enjoy discovering them as much as I have."

"It’s amazing how much our gardens change over the course of a year. Bare patches of ground in May are full to bursting by July. Delicate little courgette seedlings, lovingly nurtured on the windowsill at the beginning of spring, are a force of nature by the end of July, pumping out hefty fruits so rapidly that you’ll probably feel like shouting ‘Stop!’ at them at some point. Likewise, packets of cornflower seeds emptied hopefully onto bare earth in April can be setting seed of their own before summer is out.

Whatever the time of year, a garden never stands still. Even in winter, when frost, fog and cold make summer days seem almost mythical, there will be signs of life. Maybe it’s the twittering of a robin, warning of intruders, or the pecking of a fieldfare, venturing into gardens to find berries to survive the winter cold.

While the garden changes through the year, so do gardeners. For me, one of the joys of gardening is the changes of pace that ebb and flow as the calendar ticks by. Sometimes the garden is a place of frenzied sowing, planting, mulching or watering. At others, it is simply a place to ‘be’ and escape from all the other things that are vying for my attention.

More than ever, I feel that to have a garden is not to have an escape from the real world, but a passport into it. This is the world of living things that pre-dates all the noise of modern life that, at times, can feel suffocating. I always feel better when I’m in the garden.

I hope this book will serve as a useful companion through the year as you discover the delights and wonders of being out in the garden month after month. We all need reminders, and in these pages there are lots of suggestions for what can be done each month to make the garden more fruitful and colourful, as well as wildlife friendly.

If there are some gardening tasks that you’ve not been able to crack, National Trust gardeners are here to help, explaining how they look after some of the most iconic plants and features from the country’s most renowned gardens each month. I find visiting gardens a great source of inspiration when choosing what to grow at home, and some timely advice from the experts will help turn inspiration into reality.

Whatever your plans and schemes for your garden for the coming year, I hope you enjoy every second of being out there, with this guide and a mug of something refreshing close to hand, to help you on your way.

Happy gardening."

“Why grow? Perhaps a better question is why wouldn’t you? More of us than ever before are trying to balance busy, stressful lives with the need to take time out for ourselves once in a while. Gardening and being around plants is the perfect antidote to the hectic world outside, and once you’ve started there really is no going back.

Growing something, whether that be sowing seed, nurturing a veg patch or tending to houseplants, is the opportunity for you to take some time back for yourself. Experimenting and having fun with plants in your space, whether that is indoors or out, is an amazing way to turn off the ‘noise’ in your brain and focus on something deeply calming and satisfying.

As well as practising self-care, getting into gardening is a brilliant way to improve the environment around you. This book will show you the best plants to encourage wildlife into your space, meaning you not only get to marvel at the bees, butterflies and ladybirds you’ll attract, but also at how much happier and healthier your greened-up world will be.

You don’t need a garden to be a gardener. Just being near plants can help reduce stress levels, increase focus and reduce fatigue. That means bookcases, tabletops, desks and shelves can all be used to create your own green oasis, giving you the chance to express your creativity and style just as easily indoors as out.

If you’re new to gardening and are not sure where to start, this book is here to help. Each chapter will cover the basics to get you going, no matter how much or how little space you have. Packed with ideas and inspiration, from how to get the most out of your outdoor area, to choosing the perfect plant for each room in your home, there is everything you need to get started.

What is the number one thing you really need to remember when getting into gardening? Just have fun! Experiment, play with colour, texture and different techniques. You’ll learn just as much from the things that don’t quite go to plan as those that do. Whatever you like to grow, you’ll be doing one of the best activities there is to support your mental and physical health, so grab those seeds, pickup the watering can and let’s grow!"