Laurie of Prairie Tide and I have a similar opinion of gardening books:
To learn more about gardening, I’m hungry for good gardening books. I bring home stacks of books from the library, and whenever I visit a bookstore, I browse past the garden section to see what’s new. I crave garden books with good writing, detailed directions, and passion. Garden writing, though, can pretty bland. I’m amazed how many books out there offer the same tired advice.
The Literary Garden
About Kathy Purdy
Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. • USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural; Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level: intermediate • Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY native plants, gardening with/for children
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Thoreau’s ‘Faith in a Seed’ and ‘Wild Fruits’ are wonderful. They are not so much advice (though Pollan isn’t either, he’s projection) as lyrical and thought provoking. The sort of books you hate to return to the library.
Michael Pollan is a fine writer who has taken up his pen to write about his garden from time to time. I especially like his “Botany of Desire” and “Second Nature”.
I particularly enjoy the writing of Scott Ogden. “Garden Bulbs for the South” and “The Moonlit Garden” are special favorites of mine. He gardens in Central Texas so I don’t know how much he would be appreciated by a gardener from a colder clime.