Gifts for Gardeners - books!

There are a huge number of gardening books published every year, and this year I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the beautiful book entitled “Visionary, Gardens and Landscapes for our future” photographed by Claire Takacs and written by Giacomo Guzzon. It feels very fresh and the photography is

beautiful. The gardens Takacs and Guzzon chose to incorporate are unique and remarkable, and as some of them are private gardens, don’t appear in books very often. The concept is to showcase gardens that are climate resistant and is a call to create more conscious and consciously planted gardens, and the book does that with aplomb. Each garden is carefully described, including details on the planting and construction, and the photography manages to be both beautiful and informative. It’s published by Hardie Grant, an Australian publisher, but the book is available worldwide, including Switzerland. Galaxus are selling the English language version for a slightly surprisingly cheap 39CHF (the list price is 36 sterling) and you can order it at all good booksellers.

As a practical follow up to “Visionary”, the RHS have a new book out by Tom Massey, a garden designer that made an intriguing and beautiful garden at the Hampton Court garden show in 2023, called The Resilient Garden. The book covers climate change, sustainable gardening and materials, choosing the right plants for the site and some thoughtful ideas about how to manage challenges like drought and flooding better in your own garden. The book is 27 sterling, or 47.90 from Payot, and it’s published by Dorling Kindersley.

Rachel de Thame is well known to any viewers of the BBC’s TV programme, “Gardeners World”, and she has a new book, “A Flower Garden for Pollinatorsé which takes a season by season approach to ensure that there is food year round for these important insects in the ecosystem. There are interesting plant profiles, beautiful watercolour illustrations and good clear photography. It’s published by Greenfinch, and costs 44.50CHF from Payot or about 25 sterling on line.