9 Books Like Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs

I have known Lee Reich through his writings for a number of years and I find his books factual and practical. He simplifies gardening down to some basic principles and then tells you exactly how to copy his style in your own garden. 

Pruning can be a daunting task for those who have not done very much of it, but it can be quite straightforward. In The Pruning Book, Lee simplifies the process of understanding why you need to prune something and then he shows you exactly when and how to do it.

I am a plant collector and love growing unusual plants, especially perennials. When I first picked up The Explorers Garden, many of the plants in it were new to me. I fell in love with Daniel Hinkley and his plant selections and have now grown many of the plants in this book.

Unlike many perennial books that all show you the same 100 common plants, this book is full of plants nobody else talks about. Daniel Hinkley travels the world to discover new plants and describes some of the best in this book. These plants are uncommon, but many are now available in better nurseries.

Many gardeners, like myself, want to create a stunning garden design. The problem is that we are just not creative enough to come up with the ideas on our own, or at least I’m not. This book, 1,000 Garden Ideas, solves that for us. It is a picture book that gives us the ideas we need to create that special garden design. When I am stuck designing a corner of the garden I just start flipping through the book until I find something that will be suitable for my space and my personal tastes. The book makes it easy to be creative. 

The book breaks the ideas down into sections, so for example there is one chapter called pots which shows hundreds of different containers and raised beds, all different shapes, sizes, and styles. This book is just pictures, but it’s fun to flip through it. 

My favorite garden style is the Japanese garden. It is a simple refined style that is so peaceful and over the years I have learned that you don’t need to turn the whole yard into a Japanese garden. What I do now is use elements of this style in various parts of the garden. The book, Japanese Gardening, will provide you with great insight into various styles of Japanese gardening and make it easy for you to do the same. Add a Japanese walkway into a normal garden and make it special. Or use some of the minimalistic plants to add a calming feeling. This book will give you many great ideas.

Pruning is an easy skill to learn but a difficult art to master, and what better way to learn the trick of the trade than from two renowned English gardening experts. The first edition is a classic, while the second edition brings the techniques presented up to date, based upon all the recent science. It covers every possible pruning technique, from basic cuts to pleaching and making espaliers. The best part of this book is the index of plants at the back which provides a list of every possible woody plant and the right way, or ways, to prune it. This is a book I still carry in my truck today, where I have it handy if I encounter an unfamiliar plant that needs some thoughtful cuts. 

Because Mr. Newcomb’s book (above) covers only herbs, shrubs, and vines, the survival student needs a good tree identifier (field guide) to cover “the standing people.” (The Cherokee name for “trees.”) Because I live in Georgia, this book serves me well. If you live outside of the Southeast, you’ll want to find a book germane to your area. Trees of Georgia contains good photographs of leaves, bark, flowers, buds, and fruits of over 200 species.

This book perfectly demystifies the art of pruning trees and shrubs for even the most apprehensive gardener. Turnbull’s conversational style and matter-of-fact presentation of all you need to know to do it right and not wreck your plants, has been a fan favorite for years. I recommend it to my gardening students that may find the Brown/Kirkham pruning book a bit on the dry side. Cass makes pruning sound fun, and important, blending her horticultural knowledge and skill with a keen political sensibility that stresses the ethics of doing things the right way for the health and well-being of your plants.  

My copy of Central Park Trees and Landscapes is dog-eared and worn because it is the most useful of the books about the park.

This field guide is all about the trees. I Iove how thorough it is. It really does map every single tree in the park. Still better, each is marked with a number that tells you to which of the more than 200 species found there it belongs.

When I was starting out as a naturalist, I would choose an attraction at random, lean my back up against a bark, and use this book to tell me the names and characteristics of the trees around me.

Plus, the pictures are gorgeous, and the commentary, by providing historical and botanical details, gives greater depth to each featured landmark and environment.

Once you have looked at the root drawings of common garden edible and ornamental plants in this book, you will become able to imagine what is going on in the underground part of plants. This ability will help you water by hand or set up a drip system. It will also help you to plant successfully, mulch well, and use the best weeding methods for different plants. The book includes text and diagrams that teach how to set up a drip irrigation system.