Microgreens: How to Grow Nature's Own Superfood

Microgreens are superfoods you can grow at home. Hill explains all in this beautifully illustrated how-to. Microgreens resemble sprouts (germinated seeds) at a glance, but they are actually seedlings. Unlike sprouts, they are grown in soil and clipped at the stem once they produce two "true" leaves. They have stronger, more savory flavors and come in a great array of leaf shapes and textures. Microgreens are also remarkably nutritious. Hill, a lively advocate for these pretty little superfoods, covers every aspect of microgreen cultivation, preparation, and consumption, offering thorough instructions, helpful tips, and precise trouble-shooting. Planted in pots, herb and vegetable seedlings make very pretty houseplants. Hill identifies the many health properties of a variety of microgreens, including broccoli, flax, red radish, kale, beet, basil, parsley, and mustard and provides alluring recipes. This comprehensive microgreen handbook will be a revelation for everyone who enjoys cooking with fresh ingredients; indoor gardening; and eating locally, sustainably, and healthily. (Booklist Reviews)
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Best Garden Design: Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

For almost a century, the Royal Horticulture Society's Chelsea Flower Show has been the botanical ticket of the year in Great Britain. Landscape designer Young (deputy ed., The Garden magazine) culls the best ideas from the last five years' worth of entries, arranges them by categories such as entrance paths or sustainability, and then deconstructs them for home gardeners. He includes sections on types of plantings, e.g., perennials, herbs, kitchen gardens, and old roses, but the emphasis is on design via such factors as topiary, decking, garden art, and lighting. There are some great ideas for home gardeners here, but the book works best as a source of inspiration rather than a hands-on guide to the nuts and bolts of landscape design, for which Vanessa Gardner Nagel's Understanding Garden Design or Judith Adam's Landscape Planning are preferable. (Library Journal)
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New Backyard Idea Book

Former editor of Martha Stewart Living, Russell (Outdoor Entertaining Idea Book) nicely revises Lee Anne White's 2004 Backyard Idea Book. All of the photos and sections are updated, illustrating backyards of beautiful possibilities and the newest outdoor living trends, like kitchens and fire pits. With some small projects and interesting asides, this gorgeous book serves chiefly as a means of inspiration rather than construction guidance. (Library Journal)
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Paradise Under Glass: An Amateur Creates a Conservatory Garden

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but they should grow plants. At least that's what brown-thumbed gardener Kassinger thought when she decided to convert the deck area of her suburban Maryland home into a garden conservatory worthy of Victorian England. After having successfully jerry-rigged a hothouse setup with plastic sheeting and, yes, duct tape, Kassinger experienced the heady joy of not killing the meager plants she had installed there. "I can do this," she thought, and, in the difficult wake of her sister's premature death from brain cancer and her own bout of breast cancer, she proceeded to do it in a big way. Seamlessly blending her extensive research on the history of conservatories and plant exploration with her own personal anecdotes of raising everything from butterflies to Boston ferns, Kassinger's personal odyssey into the crystalline world of gardening under glass offers an uplifting and instructional message. (Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.
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The World of Trees

From well-loved oaks and pines to rare, spectacular species such as the snowbells of Japan, this lavishly illustrated work is an unparalleled guide to more than six hundred of the world's major forest and garden trees. An excellent resource for gardeners, botanists, and general readers alike, The World of Trees is a tribute to natural beauty by a superb prose stylist, an essential reference, and a practical guide for gardening. Hugh Johnson illuminates his subject in thorough and loving detail: the structure and life cycle of trees, how trees are named, trees and the weather, the use of trees in gardens and landscape design, and tree planting and care. The heart of the volume is a compendium of coniferous and deciduous trees grouped by family, describing and illustrating important species and varieties. It also includes a guide to choosing trees for the garden and an A-Z listing of the most important and popular species and varieties.

The World of Trees is a completely revised edition of Hugh Johnson's classic International Book of Trees featuring new photographs, systematic illustrations of all key tree parts, and current listings for the newest varieties and cultivars. (University of California Press)
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