New garden books offer tips, recipes, even inspiration

FROM STOCKING a pantry to advice on top vines and toughest shrubs, this spring's books are sure to have thumbed pages and dirty covers before the first crop of vegetables is harvested:

"Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles: The Complete A to Z Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Herbs and Fruits," $24.95.

Sunset's newest book is packed with juicy ideas, and I defy you to read it without sitting down to take notes. The photos are inspiring, the information as detailed and reliable as you'd expect from Sunset. The design chapter includes strategies for beautifying any edible garden from containers to P-patches, plus plans for building arbors, paths and raised beds.

"Armitage's Vines and Climbers: A Gardener's Guide to the Best Vertical Plants," by Allan M. Armitage, Timber Press, $29.95.

Vines bloom luxuriantly and climb vigorously, which make them a gardener's best friend or worst nightmare. Do you want a quick-growing privacy screen, a leafy arbor or a blooming wall cover? Want to avoid pruning chores and overly vigorous vines? Experienced horticulturist Armitage offers realistic advice on hardiness, maintenance, utility and beauty, from a honeysuckle that won't eat your garden to the climbing Hydrangea anomala ssp. petiolaris 'Firefly,' which I started searching for as soon as I saw its photo.

"Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen," by Amy Pennington, photography by Della Chen, Skipstone, $19.95.

"I came into urban farming not because I have a bright-green thumb but because I love food," explains Pennington. And no one makes a better case for the connection between kitchen and garden than this Seattle food writer and garden coach. Pennington offers up pithy advice on kitchen economy and stocking a practical pantry. Her recipes, from soups to pickles to temptations like vanilla quinoa pudding, offer ease of preparation and healthful ingredients. But gardeners will cruise through the recipes to savor the chapter called "The Pantry Garden" on how to choose and grow flavorful herbs and vegetables to cook and eat fresh from the garden as well as to preserve for the pantry.

"The Gossler Guide to the Best Hardy Shrubs: More than 350 Expert Choices for Your Garden," by Roger, Eric and Marjory Gossler, Timber Press, $34.95.

No one knows more about shrubs than the Gossler boys and their mom, Marjory, who have for decades run a top-notch woody-plant nursery in Oregon. Their book's tone is humorous, confiding and reassuringly knowledgeable. Shrubs are divided into categories like "Old War Horses" and "New Kids on the Block." Color photos and descriptions of special Gossler shrubs make up the heart of the book, but don't overlook the wisdom in the chapter "How Not to Kill Your Plants."

"Grow Your Own Drugs," by James Wong, Reader's Digest, $19.95.

"I was brought up to see plants as solutions in life — not just a pretty backdrop to it," writes Wong, who grew up in Malaysia and trained at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. He's now host of a BBC documentary series with the same name as the book, and no wonder both are popular. Wong's remedies are intriguing and easy to whip up, from a restorative nettle soup to a soothing cucumber eye gel. Wong's tinctures, infusions and remedies, plus his dictionary of top medicinal plants, will make you see your garden with new eyes and perhaps encourage you to experiment with its bounty in fresh and useful ways.

"Spirit: Garden Inspiration," by Dan Pearson, Fuel, $45.

Even in this season of hard work, or maybe especially now, we need inspiration to keep going. British garden designer Pearson supplies it in this profoundly personal book where he shares his design process, global travels and environmental ethos. Pearson is a keen observer who finds inspiration in everything from Andalucia's deserts to the gravestones in a New Zealand cemetery, with plenty of art and architecture along the way. The text mostly makes up for the murky photos. Pearson celebrates the spirit of place and the natural world, letting us in on how his garden designs are influenced by what he sees on his travels.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "The New Low-Maintenance Garden." Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com.