Rabbit Hill

Handmade & Happy Things by Jenn Tavoletti

  • Home
  • Shoppe
    • Handmade
    • Vintage Market
    • Candles/Lighting
  • Blog
    • House and Garden
    • Rabbit Hill
    • Recipes
      • Appetizers
      • Brunch
      • Breads
      • Soups
      • Side Dishes
      • Main Courses
      • Vegan
      • Gluten-Free
      • Desserts
      • Miscellaneous
  • Create
  • About Jenn
    • About Jenn
    • Disclosure and Policy
  • Contact

in House and Garden· Uncategorized

Best Gardening Books for Winter Reading – My Favorite 5

1 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

For the winter months, I love reading books about gardening and here I have listed a few of my favorites that I’ve gone back to year after year.

Do you love to read?

I do.

I love books on nature, gardens, history, children’s books with stories that take you away from a world full of distractions, and I love a bit of romance with mystery with references to the past.

Books can take you to places of hope

They help you learn, make you think, keep you creative, and give you warmth. I could not live in a world without books. It is nice to sit with a good book and escape for a little while.

Reading gardening books in the winter months for inspiration

During these cold months, I tend to veer towards gardening books for winter reading. Stories, pictures, fiction, non-fiction, some fiction all about gardens and gardeners. Flowers, trees, vegetables, really anything you can grow in the dirt!

Favorite gardening books for winter reading

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. See my full disclosure HERE.

This list is just a few of my personal favorite gardening books, plus two bonus books that I am starting this week. I have so many! There are so many! It is hard to choose favorites. These are the ones I have read and reread over and over again.

1. Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life

My Personal Best Gardening Reads: Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life
My Personal Best Gardening Reads: Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life

ABOVE: Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life by Marta McDowell

This book was a special birthday gift from a dear friend. We both have so much in common and dream of visiting Beatrix Potter’s home and garden at Hill Top Farm someday.

The book is delightful and enchanting! It is about Beatrix Potter’s life as a gardener, from her early childhood interest in plants through her development as an artist to her final years as an estate farmer and naturalist. There are many photos of her and every page has a nice balance of writing and illustrations and pictures.

2. The Edible Garden (and all of Alys Fowler’s books!)

A few of my personal favorite Gardening Reads: Alys Fowler
My Personal Best Gardening Reads: Alys Fowler

ABOVE: Edible Garden by Alys Fowler

I discovered Alys Fowler in 2010 when she did her delightful BBC series “The Edible Garden”. You may get lucky and find a few of those lovely episodes on YouTube, but have to warn you that they are copyrighted and keep getting deleted.

Alys Fowler has a pure love of the garden that comes through in this book (and her others…I have them all!) Working on a small plot of land at her home in England, Alys inspires you to create your own little haven that is beautiful and delicious. She has a lovely way of integrating edible flowers with vegetables. It is a beautiful reference with lots of useful information on creating a sustainable organic garden.

3. Tasha Tudor’s Garden

I have been reading this gardening books every winter for 20 years!

My favorite gardening books: Tasha Tudor's Garden
My favorite gardening books: Tasha Tudor's Garden

ABOVE: Tasha Tudor’s Garden by Martin & Brown

My mom and I have shared our passion of Tasha Tudor for many years. The magic in her cottage gardens are something I hope and strive for on my own little plot of land. Besides being a lifelong gardener, she was a delightful illustrator and writer of children’s books. Mom and I collect these as well! You can still find many for sale on Amazon, and other bookstores.

An enchanting book that lets you catch a glimpse of this self-sufficient lady. As you leaf through the pages, you feel as though you are walking through her whimsical cottage gardens and visiting her rustic home. This is a beautifully written book, which tells of Tasha’s garden month-by-month with many delightful stories, and is filled with color photographs of not only her garden but the artist and her lifestyle. Tasha dressed and felt as though she was from the Victorian Era but actually lived between 1915-2008. A pure delight!

4. P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home

My favorite gardening books: P. Allen Smith
My favorite gardening books: P. Allen Smith

ABOVE: P. Allen Smith’s GARDEN HOME by P. Allen Smith

I have loved P. Allen Smith since his days on PBS and the Weather Channel. . You can still find Allen on his YouTube channel where he still inspires you to grow your own, buy local, and create something from your garden.

I enjoy this garden book for the history and charm of how P. Allen Smith’s design philosophy and inspiration for his own home and gardens came to be. His approach to garden design and the concept of “garden rooms” makes you want to go outside and begin separating your own garden into different rooms for a purpose. Whether a kitchen garden, an enclosure for entertaining, a garden of whimsy, an entry garden, or one to simply enjoy nature. He shows us how we could apply the same principles to our own space. Garden Home is not only delightfully written but it is a beautifully photographed garden book as well.

5. In the Garden Trilogy

A few favorite novels about gardening, romance and mystery ~ In the Garden Trilogy by Nora Roberts
*caption is from Amazon. My books are on loan to a friend right now!

ABOVE: In the Garden Trilogy by Nora Roberts

I wanted to include a favorite fiction gardening book for reading this winter. These stories let you escape for a few hours, yet are a nice quick read that I have read and reread many times over the years.

The “In the Garden” trilogy circles around a beautiful old mansion that is haunted by a ghost, with a family-run garden center on the property. Each book is about a women and tells the story from their point of view.  It also focused on plants and gardening and has little tips here and there throughout the story. Sometimes you can almost smell the flowers!

What gardening books I am reading now this winter:

Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols

ABOVE: Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols

From the opening paragraph, which introduces the author’s grandfather who “died of a clump of Iris stylosa,” it is evident that Merry Hall is no ordinary gardening book. And flowers, on all its pages, it has the excitement of a novel, telling as it does the story of the rescue of a deserted garden and its transformation, after many struggles, into a little paradise.
~From the jacket of the first edition 1951

The Jewel Garden by Monty and Sarah Don

ABOVE: The Jewel Garden by Monty and Sarah Don

They also tell the magical story of their “jewel garden”, a part of their Herefordshire plot that is planted with particularly colourful flowers, and draws on their years in the fashion business. The jewel garden is Monty and Sarah’s means of making peace with their messy past, and a bold expression of their shared passion for life.

~Excerpt from the back cover of The Jewel Garden

a few of my personal favorite gardening books

I could add to this list forever!

I have learned so much from books, and there are so many that I love and cherish.

Do you have any gardening books you are reading this winter?

Please share with me some of your favorite books too!

For more inspiration about gardening in the winter

  • Planting from Seed – Part 1 Spring Garden Planning
  • My Garden Shed Studio. It has been 13 years, see it now
  • Planting Microgreens

Pin this list for later

A list and review of some of my favorite gardening books for winter reading

2 Comments

Subscribe to get the latest

free goodies straight to your inbox

« How to be Cozy at Home
Easy Mini Heart Shaped Hand Pies – A Valentine’s Day Treat! »

Comments

  1. Bonnie says

    January 28, 2022 at 1:25 pm

    How lovely! What a wonderful boost for winter reading. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Jenn Tavoletti says

      January 31, 2022 at 1:55 pm

      Thank you Bonnie! That was very sweet of you to comment. I truly do love all of these books…and those are just the tip of the iceberg lol! Hugs xo

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Living a simple life, creating handmade pieces, always inspired by nature & antiques

Hi, I’m Jenn. I’m so glad you are here! I live in a small town in Pennsylvania with my husband and our three tuxedo cats. Sometimes my daughter is here too, but mostly she’s far away doing what she loves.

Come and join me as I write about simple traditions, handmade projects, decorating ideas, homemade food, cottage gardening…  finding joy and making things pretty!

I hope to inspire you with simple, beautiful ideas and how to find happiness in everyday life.

You can find out more about me here.

keep in touch

lets connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Join me on Instagram

Anyone remember this poem from grade school? Flo Anyone remember this poem from grade school? 

Flowers, flowers everywhere, on the trees and in my hair. 
It may seem strange but not to me, flowers, flowers I can see. 

Hello dear friends! 
I was planning a shop
update this week but we have had the most beautiful weather and I've been busy in the garden. Trying my hardest to finish the latest project, and getting ready to start planting! The poor little seedlings are bursting out of their tiny pots. 

Since it is raining right now, I am inside, watching garden videos and sewing this new fleur piece. I love making little bouquets of blooms!

Flowers, flowers everywhere, full of beauty and of care. 
Life is sweet when in full bloom, flowers, flowers in my room.🌸

Happy Friday! 
….shop update next week for sure! xo
.
#folkart #applique #sewing #handmade #antiquetextiles #vintagefabric #paintingwithtextiles #stitchersofinstagram #stitchersgonnastitch #sewersgonnasew
Happy birthday to one of my oldest and dearest fri Happy birthday to one of my oldest and dearest friends, Shelly. I won’t say how old because I’m up next!!! 🤣🤗 I am so lucky and grateful to have you in my life. Nobody even comes close to how kind, thoughtful and caring you are. Lots of love and happy birthday wishes! xo
#80sgirls 
.#friends4life #ihavethebestfriends 
.
.
.
.
.
.
@gardengirl516
Happy rainy Caturday! His spot on the front porch Happy rainy Caturday! His spot on the front porch swing. Why is it that you never want to move your cat when they look all cozy? 🤍
#cottagestyle #frontporchliving #tuxedocatsofinstagram #lovelyday
Happy Friday friends! A few of you had messaged me Happy Friday friends! A few of you had messaged me about the textile mushrooms. Three are finished and listed in my Etsy shop. The link is in my bio as well as below. Oh and I also found a rabbit that I forgot to list a few weeks ago 🙄🤣 More pieces to come… There never seems to be enough time to finish everything that I want to.  I’ll add updates here as they are finished. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. xo
#handmadewithlove #mushroomart #antiquetextiles 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RabbitHillShoppe
Garden mushrooms are popping up everywhere! It mus Garden mushrooms are popping up everywhere! It must be all of the rain here in PA! 😉😘 
Finally these and a few more pieces that you’ve seen in the past weeks will be listed in my shop this coming Friday afternoon. Thank you all for your patience and kind support and lovely messages 🫶
And as always - have a very happy day, friends! xo

#handmadewithlove #mushroomsofinstagram #fungilove #antiquetextileart #fabricbits #cottagegardenstyle #cottagegardenflowers
Hello, lovely friends! The world has suddenly turn Hello, lovely friends! The world has suddenly turned green and feels like we have turned the corner around here! I am so ready to plant out my seedlings but knew that we would have to replace our raised beds first - they are rotting. We now have the wood and hopefully can finish it next weekendI This is what it looks like right now and a glimpse of my plans at what we are doing…basically making the 1 bed into 3 smaller beds. I will have to dig out some of our garlic and a few cucumbers that reseeded here from last year, and move the archway. Lots of work! Lots of fun! And you can see Juney wants to help… (or always lays on my feet when I’m taking pictures lol!)
I would love to hear about what you are doing in your garden this year! Love some inspiration!! I hope that you have the most wonderful week ahead. I’m off to sewing a few flowers now. Thanks for always being here! xo 

#gardenrenovation #greenhouse #greenhousegarden #potagergarden #cottagegarden #raisedgardenbeds
A little obsessed with mushrooms and flowers latel A little obsessed with mushrooms and flowers lately - oh spring, I love you!! Sewing pretty mushrooms in the evenings has  been my nightly project this week. It has been so cold (we had snow!) and finally the sun is shining today. I will be heading to a cute little greenhouse by our cabin later to pick up some pale pink geraniums and then, if there is time, a walk around the woods with hopefulness of finding a few morels 🍄 Happy Friday friends xo
Wonder where this cabin inspo came from? 😊 @the Wonder where this cabin inspo came from? 😊
@thelittlebluecabin 

If you love cabins and gardens and a little bit of decorating, please follow @thelittlebluecabin on Instagram - if you aren’t already. 

The name that I wanted finally became available a few months ago after waiting a long time. Starting soon, I’ll be moving the pictures from the other account over so that I can close that account. It will be from the very beginning if you are curious. And if you have been following along, we are actually back to working on it after a long break 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
💙 
ps. This piece will be a part of my next update - tba soon 💙
@thelittlebluecabin 
💙
#myhappyplace 
#littlecabininthewoods #cabinlove #handmadewithlove
May Day is also Oliver’s birthday. He is the swe May Day is also Oliver’s birthday. He is the sweetest cat, and as you can see, the perfect lazy tom. Swipe to see an old video found of him and his 3 sisters as kittens. The girls are still with my mom. Happy 3rd birthday kitty-cats! God sent you all just when we needed you the most ❤️
Follow on Instagram

Looking for something? Search for it here.

~

Copyright © 2023 · Market theme by Restored 316

1 shares