Pink is the most popular color in the flowerbed. In all its gradations and tones, it runs the gamut from baby pastel and amethyst to a very deep pink that almost borders on cold red. This family of colors seems to touch the hearts and minds of gardeners and their visitors. Except in climates where sun bleaches out its more pastel tones, pink is found in most gardens around the globe.

Here are ten vivid pink flowering plants that caught my eye. Some have grown in my garden for many years, others are new for me; I found them in recent trade catalogues.

Hydrangea macrophylla Abracadabra

If you garden in a warmer growing zone than I do, chances are you’ve had better success growing macrophylla [broad-leaf] hydrangeas than gardeners who live in colder climates. The grower describes this relatively new variety as having flower heads resembling big, funky flying saucer lace-cap flowers that merge pink and white and mature to hot pink atop black satin stems. These distinctive stems provide interest in the garden before the summer flowers open. The color of the flowers can be shifted to blue by adding aluminum sulfate to the soil. Abracadabra grows from 3 to 4 feet tall and wide and is hardy to USDA Zone 5.

Hydrangea macrophylla Paraplu

Vivid pink Paraplu is a another new introduction for warmer climates. I am told that its downward arching mop heads of rich, vibrant, double florets, appear like dainty umbrellas in shades ranging from candy pink to intense hot pink. In soil where the pH is low, some purple will appear. The grower reports that Paraplu holds up well in the heat, and withstands the rigors of Midwestern winters. This dwarf variety is expected to remain under three feet tall and wide and is hardy to USDA Zone 5.

Phlox subulata, Pink

A long lived, cold-climate perennial, it is perfectly suitable for rock gardens, rugged ground cover, and sunny drought conditions. Cascading over slopes like puddly waterfalls, it grows 2 to 6 inches tall, spreads 12 to 18 inches in width and is hardy from USDA Zone 2 to Zone 9. The early spring pink flowers that illuminate the flowerbed are so intense that the color appears to have been mixed by a Disney cartoon illustrator. After the short-lived blooms fade, the rugged, evergreen, pinnate-textured foliage serves as an elegant-looking yet rugged groundcover that contributes lush tactile texture throughout the year. Photo: Stoneridge Gardens and Nursery.

Rose Carefree WonderThis staple in my garden has impressed visitors for the past fifteen years; I used to plant it in most of my garden projects until it became difficult to locate in my area. Growing four feet tall and three feet wide, it blooms in a radiant, deep pink, with flower heads measuring four inches across. So intense is its color that few will notice the reverse white petals. This easy-to-care-for rose is hardy to USDA Zone 4 and blooms continuously from June until the first snowfall.

Rose Double Pink Knock Out

Knock Out Roses are among the most disease resistant rose bushes on the market. This variety is a compact tidy shrub, growing 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, that blooms in bright pink. It is drought tolerant, self-cleaning, and winter hardy to USDA Zone 5, and blooms until frost.

Rose Pink Home Run

Vivid rich pink flowers cover this modest sized shrub rose practically every day during the growing season. At 3 ½ to 4 feet tall and wide it blooms continuously throughout the summer with an extraordinary resistance to disease, pests, powdery mildew, and with a high level of tolerance for downy mildew. It is winter hardy to USDA Zone 4 and blooms until frost.

Rhododendron Azalea Rosy Lights

This vivid plant scintillates as if each flower petal had been fitted with nano-sized neon tubes. As a result, during the day the shrub glows like a Chinese lantern. Hardy in my location [USDA Zone 4], Rosy Lights will grow 4 to 6 feet tall and wide, depending upon climate. This variety is part of the Northern Lights Series of hybrid azaleas developed and released by the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Any azalea released and included in this series will have flower bud hardiness of -30 degrees to -45 degrees F to withstand Minnesota winters. Photo: Kunkle Nursery.

Silene Rolly’s Favorite

Hardy to USDA Zone 5, this very floriferous perennial starts blooming in early spring and continues until early summer, if cut back after the initial flush. It grows 11 to 15 inches high and 10 to 12 inches wide. Although it has a neat mounding habit, it propagates itself easily at the extremities of its circumference. Gardeners are eager to share this plant with everyone they know because its intense pink color is hard to believe and impossible to describe. In bright sun, the pink petals are significantly warmer than the tones that appear in the photo above. Photo: Lorraine Roberts, Plant Paradise Country Gardens, Caledon, Ontario.

Thalictrum Black Stocking

One gardener’s pink is another gardener’s lavender. Although nurseries describe this perennial as flowering in bright lavender-magenta, in the blazing sun of summer, I see vivid, deep pink. That shade is further enhanced by a background of the nearly black stems of this tall, almost six-foot perennial. Surprisingly, for a plant of this height, it spreads to less than 2 feet wide, doesn’t require staking, and maintains a neat and disciplined appearance. This family of perennials has been one of the easiest to grow in my flower beds over the past twenty years. When shopping, it is important to keep in mind that not all Thalictrum bloom in the identical shade of pink. T. aquilegifolium and T.rochebrunianum, for example, flower in much paler shades of pink or lavender. As a result, even though they are substantial and impressive perennials, they are not as visually satisfying as Black Stocking. Photo: Chocolate Flower Farm.

Viburnum Brandywine.

The advance hype on this deer-resistant, berry-producing shrub reads like a Broadway production. I sure hope that I can reproduce its climactic season’s ending after I plant this shrub in my test garden, this season. Here is what the growers say: Hardy to USDA Zone 5, the extravaganza begins with undistinguished, white flower and ends with a fruit display that some consider unrivaled in the plant world. In late summer the color of the immature green, pea-sized berries changes to shades of bright pink and then to hues of bright blue and wild grape. [The pink color is intensified when the blue and grape appear beside it]. As a bonus, the glossy green leaves age to a very dark maroon red. This species will not thrive in chalky or alkaline soils and in the North Eastern U.S. it is susceptible to the Viburnum bark beetle. However, it is claimed that these pests can be controlled without chemicals.

A view of Pat Webster's garden.Please welcome Pat Webster. Her garden blog is titled Glen Villa: Sight and Insight .

Pat is a creative garden designer, erudite landscape lecturer, garden tour guide, amateur historian, artist, talented photographer and innovative sculptor.

She inspires her audiences to look at their own landscapes with fresh eyes and demonstrates how local history, art, and personal stories may be incorporated into landscape design.

Glen Villa Gardens  is the name given to the grounds surrounding her home in North Hatley, Quebec. This bilingual region of Canada, located east of Montreal and west of Quebec City, is known as The Eastern Townships, in English and Les Cantons de L’est, in French.

Thanks to the US Interstate highway grid, this charming corner of North America is easily accessible from the northern American states of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

Plans are underway to open Glen Villa Gardens to the public for one day in July of this year as a fundraiser for the local conservation organization, Massawippi Conservation Trust.

Pat uses the gardens as inspiration for her posts as well as a setting to display her outdoor sculptures. However, readers of her blog and visitors to her professional website will also be impressed by the quality of her photographs and the delightful and informative style of her writing.

A recent post dated April 10, 2013, titled Mud and Maple Syrup, is a visual essay on how this delicious syrup is produced. As a photo documentary, it is classroom-ready.

The lead picture in this photo shoot demonstrates how Pat combines the linear perspective of the trees with the monochromatic late winter landscape to create a haunting work of art. Its vertical composition is reminiscent of the paintings of the geometric abstractionist, Piet Mondrian.

Pat Webster's talented eye is also evident in the beautifully set-up shots of her travels; each one adds to the engaging story-telling of the experiences she shares with her readers.

It has been a delightful journey to visit both Pat's garden blog and her website. Make the same click- trip as I did; you won't be disappointed.

The setting for this plant composition enhances the appearance of yellow forsythia. I forsook my forsythia many years ago.

In USDA Zone 4 where I garden, this shrub appears unpleasant when it flowers because it grows alone; no other tall shrub is in bloom at the same time and there is no other surrounding green vegetation to offset the seemingly harsh colors of its petals.

Consequently, this plant stands out in dramatic starkness; in my growing zone, forsythia is appreciated solely because it is the first tall shrub to bloom - not because anyone thinks it is pretty. Perhaps more homeowners here might consider it beautiful if complementary plants surrounded it, i.e., flowering shrubs of a comparable height and volume that temper the energy of forsythia’s intense coloration.

Years ago, when I first moved into my home, I found a single forsythia bush planted by a previous homeowner. It was garish-looking against the grey early-spring sky and the still-dormant, straw-colored grass. A specimen of an identical shrub, growing on my neighbor’s lawn, looked no better. In one case, backed by a sober grey stone façade, and in the other, up against a conservatively dark red brick wall, our matching shrubs looked like overly made up courtesans invading a house of worship. In time, both my neighbor and I dug up and discarded our unsightly guests.

In warmer growing zones, where other plants are in bloom at the same time as forsythia and where the colors of home exteriors allow this plant to blend in better chromatically, there is a positive appreciation for this shrub.

The photos posted here were taken on a recent spring trip to Boston, which is located in one growing zone warmer than mine, USDA Zone 5. There, I discovered forsythia blooming in concert with tall, early-flowering intense lavender-pink rhododendron-azaleas. [Yes, that is the new nomenclature] Backed by a light-coloured cream façade that subtly echoes forsythia`s yellow, the results are eye-catching.

The blending of three colors in a harmony of tone and volume creates a delightful visual experience. In addition, the shrub is set among glossy evergreen groundcover that enriches the composition. Dark green raises the number of colors in the composition to four. In such a compatible tonal environment, the yellow-flowering shrub looks beautiful.

This successful combination was achievable for several reasons. First, Boston has a longer growing season than Montreal does. As a result, the early-blooming rhodo-azaleas develop sufficiently tall and wide to balance the energy of forsythia. Secondly, many home exteriors in Boston are surfaced in pleasant light tones that enhance the shades of early-blooming plants. Thirdly, challenging conditions of heat, shade, and drought in some parts of this eastern seaboard city demand ubiquitous planting of evergreen ground cover. The color-rich lushness of these all-purpose problem-solving plants enhances the appearance of nearby shrubs and perennials.

In Montreal, USDA Zone 4, where winter often lingers too long, there are no colorfully blooming shrubs in early spring that reach the volume necessary to moderate the vivid color of forsythia. Sombre toned home exteriors also exaggerate the intensity of its yellow flowers. Furthermore, a more temperate climate allows us to cover our grounds with turf that is rarely green enough at this time of year. As a result, forsythia appears harsh when it blooms and few of my neighbors are inclined to include it in their landscape plans.

Ironically, the one flowering shrub that offends in my home city appears stunning when it blooms in a climate that is merely one growing zone warmer. This observation may be generalized as follows:-  a plant that looks pretty in a catalog, eye-catching in a nursery, or impressive in a friend's flowerbed, may not appear equally beautiful when added to one's own garden. Surroundings can enhance or diminish the beauty of any plant.

Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener, Joseph Tychonievich, Timber Press.

When I learned that garden writing colleague, Joseph Tychonievich, had published his first book, I felt both joy and sadness. The joy I experienced was a culmination of several years of watching this young scientist’s career blossom – literally – before my eyes.  

The sadness arose when I realized that I did not have the academic credentials to give his work, on plant breeding for the home gardener, the review it deserved. That is why it makes me happy anytime someone else reviews the book. 

A few years ago, while in a post-graduate program at university, Joseph began a garden blog. He wrote his posts in an effortless and entertaining manner. On his site, he used words-  as a cartoonist uses pen and ink - to deliver his thoughts and feelings into the imagination of his readers. For a scientist, that is a remarkable and enviable talent.

Through his posts, I felt his enthusiasm for his chosen field and was inspired by his vibrant approach both to gardening and to life itself. Even now, his deceptively simple yet original use of language, both in his blog posts and on Facebook, allow readers to feel his pulse and share in the adrenaline racing through his body.

Eventually, just as cream rises to the surface of milk, Joseph attracted the attention of Timber Press who offered him a book contract. I was not surprised.

In short, Joseph is a natural born communicator who leaves his readers smiling. His enthusiasm for all things botanical is palpable in almost everything he writes. He has an original voice and uses it effectively. With simple words to create powerful imagery, he has created an endearing style of writing that reveals a warm, joy-filled personality. His followers can’t help but grow fond of him even if they have never met him in person.

This month, on behalf of his association with Arrowhead Alpine Plants, Joseph brought a collection of spring flowering plants to Detroit Garden Works, the design studio of Deborah Silver. His display was so colorful, that it inspired Ms. Silver, who usually features conservative-colored plant compositions, to share Joseph's vivid choices in a photo-essay on her blog, Dirt Simple.

From the moment he appeared online, Joseph attracted the eager attention of gardeners, bloggers, writers, and horticultural professionals. He impressed Timber Press to add him to their roster of authors and inspired Deborah Silver to illustrate her blog with richly colored images.  

He brings a smile to the faces of his fans and so moves those who have met him that some wish he were part of their family. Joseph is a reminder that if one chooses a career out of passion, every day can be a celebration of life.

Recently, I was pleased to discover that horticulturist Geri Laufer has written a glowing review of his first publication. Echoing my sentiments and in her words:-

“The author’s gift is to present the technical world of plant breeding so simply and in such a captivating manner that anyone can understand it—and everyone will want to try it. After all, it’s like making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.”

Ms. Laufer has described the essence of a talented scientist-communicator who is able to make plant breeding as enjoyable as baking cookies. Few garden writers touch people’s hearts as deeply and effectively as Joseph does. That is why his book deserves our attention. 

Image:- gardenimport.com, a Canadian catalogue and online plant provider.Recently, the French language garden magazine Fleurs Plantes et Jardins published a pictorial review of roses that survive cold climates. Included in that article was a photo of the hybrid musk rose, Mozart. A continuous top seller at many retail and online nurseries, it caught my attention because it is striking and beautiful.  

Researching this plant online, I discovered that it flowers profusely, producing a non-stop show of enormous sprays of small, single pink blooms with white centers and reddish-  pink edges. Its arching habit allows the gardener to grow it as a cascading specimen or as a climber against a fence.

This is a perfumed rose that tolerates light shade, re blooms until autumn, and grows 3 to 6 feet tall depending upon growing conditions. In some locations, it is reported to spread wider than 8 feet. In the fall, the color display is followed by showy orange hips.

Most importantly, it has excellent resistance to disease. With a winter tolerance for CND Zone 4 or USDA Zone 5, the description of this rose is impressive. What’s not to like? Plenty!

While Mozart is virtually disease resistant, it is not pest free. Here is a list of all of the bugs that might attack this rose, depending upon a gardener’s local eco-system:-  Aphids, leaf hoppers, spider mites, scale, caterpillars, sawfly larvae, cane borers, Japanese beetles, rose stem girders, rose midges, rose slugs, rose chafers, and  leaf-cutting bees.

If Mozart is such a cafeteria for bugs, it may be necessary to spray it with pesticides. However, many gardeners worry that using such products compromises the health of all living things; some are not convinced that it does while still others pay no attention to such matters.

I don’t want to tempt fate by trying to prove who is right and who is wrong. I prefer to be cautious. Consequently, I am reluctant to plant this versatile, eye-catching rose. Those who are concerned about the residual effects that toxic substances have upon all living things will opt for carefree plants that need no pesticides to survive.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if breeders could develop a pest- free rose that performs just like Mozart does?

Gardener’s Yoga - Bend & Stretch, Dig & Grow. Veronica D’Orazio, Sasquatch Books.

Essentially, this delightful little manual demonstrates how yoga can help combat the common aches and pains associated with otherwise pleasurable gardening chores.

In this cheerfully illustrated handbook, the author suggests a series of yoga poses that help prepare our bodies for our favorite hobby, protect our limbs from surprising strains, and soothe our muscles after our outdoor work has taken its physical toll.  

For both men and women, the objective is to foster awareness how breathing, posture, and deliberate flowing movement can benefit the gardener. For those who have never practiced yoga before, this publication, based upon twenty-one simple poses, also serves as a general introduction to yoga itself.

When Veronica D’Orazio felt her back go out after a strenuous week of weeding, she decided to soothe her sore muscles with yoga. That inspired her to create a yoga program that targets the body’s stress, helps prevent injury, and bolsters strength and flexibility.

Prior to beginning a gardening chore, the reader is encouraged to Break Ground. This group of yoga poses gently warms up the spine and prepares the lower limbs for the day’s work

For the actual outdoor chores, aka Planting Seeds, the author suggests poses that emphasize breathing and balance to reduce body tension and soreness.

In the last section titled Harvest Time, the focus is on poses for relaxation and elongating tired muscles to restore and unwind the body.

A valuable addition to this publication is a chart that readers can consult when seeking guidance to cure specific pain. Seven body parts that are most vulnerable to discomfort are cross-referenced with specific yoga poses that offer relief.

If yoga is a new concept for gardeners, it’s helpful to know that it does more than relieve strain on muscles and joints. It also rejuvenates the mind and spirit, balances the central nervous system, cleanses internal organs, strengthens the circulatory system, and promotes an overall sense of well-being and contentment. In that respect, both yoga and gardening are sources of similar natural benefits and each complements the other.

The author is a certified yoga instructor and gardener. The illustrator, Tim Foss, who gives life and meaning to Ms. D’Orazio’s text, is also a gardener and yoga practitioner. The publisher, Seattle-based Sasquatch Books, has created the ultimate printed product. It is an instructive, affordable gift, beautiful to look at, and fun to read.

http://www.jcbakker.com/products/details/87895100

The only shortcoming of this class of plants is the absence of intense fragrance usually associated with short blooming high maintenance hybrid tea and old-fashioned roses. Nevertheless, for this perennial gardener, who wants to see color in his flowerbeds all season long, nothing compares to continuous blooming rose bushes to pump out colorful flowers from early summer to late fall and sometimes to early winter.

http://www.jeffriesnurseries.com/Imagine my enthusiasm, therefore, when I read, in the Spring 2013 edition of Garden Making magazine, that Campfire Rose, would be this season’s new introduction in the Canadian Artist Series. From the developers of the Explorer and Parkland roses, this series of next-generation plants are named after Canadian artists who created lasting works of beauty on canvas, in sculpture, or in song. Campfire Rose pays homage to a painting by Tom Thompson.

A Canadian Artists rose is evaluated more rigorously than those in the previous two series of Parkland and Explorer for the benefit of growers and gardeners across Canada and the northern United States. It must be adaptable to all parts of Canada and able to survive the climate, frost lines, diseases and capricious weather patterns from coast to coast. That means a gardener in Prince George, British Columbia, can reliably grow the same rose bush as the gardener in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Kingston, Ontario, Dauphin, Manitoba, or Truro, Nova Scotia.

For those of us who garden in cold climates, it’s comforting to know that roses that have been bred in Canada hardly ever require winter protection. Known for their toughness and refinement, they have strong root systems, clean foliage, good-to-excellent disease resistance, and strong blooming power.

Campfire Rose variety starts to flower in early summer and remains in bloom until hard frost sets in. Can a passionate gardener ask for anything more?

Growers report that this vibrant, multi-colored variety is an awesome performer. Commercial sites describe it as having a mild fragrance. Very rounded, full and bushy, it reaches 2 to 3 feet in height and is slightly wider than high.  

According to technical details supplied by the breeder and growers, the 20-petal blossoms of Campfire Rose begin as shapely buds with yellow and red tones. The flowers open yellow, edged in a deep rosy pink. Some blooms that appear  in the early season will be nearly all yellow, gradually developing pink edging. As the season progresses the pink edging becomes more prominent. Some flowers will be nearly all pink and some nearly all yellow. As autumn approaches, the blooms tend to be yellow in bud, quickly turning soft pink. Growers report that the unusual, stunning, visual effect is harlequin-like.  

Campfire Rose is described as being one of the most disease resistant of any hardy rose and cold hardy to USDA Zone 2 or CAN Zone 3. The branching on this plant is at 45 degrees, giving it both height and width. It covers ground quickly yet has enough height to be used as a high ground cover or low shrub. The stems are smooth with only the occasional short thorns, making it easy to work with.  This upcoming spring, I look forward with great excitement to test grow this new rose in my garden.

Most Canadian nurseries carry Canadian Artist roses. American gardeners should inquire at the nurseries listed below.

JACARANDA WALK, PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

AUTUMN TREE TUNNEL, SMUGGLER'S NOTCH, VERMONT, USAIt is possible that it originated at toptenz.net.

BAMBOO PATH, ARASHIYAMA, JAPANThe power of the images is so moving and pervasive, that readers around the world have been downloading this post and eagerly forwarding it to their contacts.

RUA GONCALO DE CARVALHO, PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZILIt has been re posted on countless other websites, including YouTube. Yet, there has been no accreditation to its originator. This reproduction has occurred even though the Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects the content of the original source.

GINKO TREE TUNNEL, TOKYO, JAPANThe photo-list impressed me so that I thought to share it with my readers.

WISTERIA TUNNEL, SHIZUOKA, JAPANHowever, as a blogger, I had an obligation to determine its source. 

CHERRY BLOSSOM TUNNEL, BONN, GERMANYThat created an ethical dilemma because this copyrighted material has already been reproduced without accreditation all over the internet and has been forwarded around the world via innumerable personal emails.

YEW TREE TUNNEL, WALES, UKBy now, some may incorrectly assume that it is in the public domain.

TUNNEL OF LOVE, KLEVAN, UKRAINEUsing a Google search, I discovered that, to the best of my knowledge, toptenz.net is the originator.

THE DARK HEDGES, GRACEHILL HOUSE, NORTHERN IRELANDI would be grateful to any reader who can confirm or correct this information. In the meanwhile, I hope that these images generate as much pleasure for you as they have for me and the thousands of readers around the world who have been sharing them with their friends.

Fine Foliage,

Sometimes, a gardener will return from the nursery with a car full of annuals and perennials, place them in flowerbeds or containers according to the guidelines of good garden design, and yet, the resulting plant arrangements still look wanting.

Perhaps the gardener forgot about foliage. Foliage is to garden design what fashion accessories are to clothing. Without the addition of the interesting leaves of perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, annuals, and trees, a garden never seems to be complete.

Image copywrite by finefoliage.comFoliage works as a facilitator. It allows otherwise unintegratable plants to combine successfully with others. It also serves as a proscenium, helping to make a perennial or a combination of perennials and shrubs appear more beautiful. Foliage may also supplies direction, volume, color, texture, visual excitement, movement, and mystery.

However, foliage has another role to play; and that is the theme of this book. When plants that are defined by their leaves rather than by their flowers or berries, are combined with other foliage plants, they provide unusual and spiritual visual drama.

Image copywrite by finefoliage.comThe premise of Ms. Chapman and Ms. Salwitz’s beautiful and delightful little book is that it is possible to create successful, eye-catching plant combinations using foliage alone for flowerbed and container gardening. The publication showcases more than sixty inspired foliage-plant partnerships that illustrate this successful style of garden design, while, at the same time, revealing the authors’ immense talent in that field.

Each combination is given a two-page spread with full-color, exquisite, high quality photographs of the individual plants within. So that readers might achieve similar results in their own garden beds and containers, descriptive directions accompany each grouping. Attention is also paid to important details such as sun or shade requirements, seasons, growing zones, soil preference, plant characteristics and care.

Image copywrite by finefoliage.comHowever, what sets apart this book from other garden design manuals is the focus on helping the gardener… get to “beautiful”. The authors take the time to explain why each of their sixty foliage combinations is successful. This information allows readers to gain a designer’s perspective. That outlook, in turn, will enable them to make better choices; it also encourages gardeners to take risks - all in the hope of creating unique personal landscapes and container gardens.

This richly illustrated guide is full of easy-to-use advice. Gardeners of all skill levels will be able to adapt  instructions to create elegant, stylish, flowerbeds for their gardens and breathtaking, designer-looking, containers for their patios.

Image copywrite by finefoliage.comBoth authors are hands-on gardeners. Karen Chapman is a garden coach, horticulturist, garden writer and owner of a container design company. Christina Salwitz  is a garden coach and garden writer who specializes in garden and container design. The authors live with their respective families in the Seattle area of the State of Washington, in the USA.

A Day At The Market

Earth Care, Margaret Read Macdonald. A collection of traditional tales and proverbs from over twenty countries or ethnic groups, touching upon both human and ecological themes such as environmental protection, the care of other creatures, and the connection of all things in nature. The book contains 41 stories and 41 proverbs. 53 cultures are represented. Ages 5 and up.

Growing Garden, Lois Ehlerts. Color explodes from the author's bold, beautiful cut-paper collages like seeds from an over-ripe pod. Three gift-sized editions of her beloved hardcover picture books--Eating the Alphabet (with a glossary of fruits and vegetables), Planting a Rainbow (a concept book about colors and different flowers), and Growing Vegetable Soup (includes a recipe!)--are packaged in a lovely slipcase with a 16" x 22" flower-garden poster. Age 4 and up.

How Does My Garden Grow? DK. Help your child discover the science behind the wonderful world of plants. They'll learn all about the lifecycle of plants, how they work and where they live through hands on fun projects that show science in action. From pollination to hydroponics, this book will teach your child new science facts in a fun and simple way. Age 7 and up.

In The Garden, Elizabeth Spurr. In this gently rhyming board book, a young boy creates a garden, one small action at a time. First, he digs in the dirt and plants seeds, then he adds soil, water, and some patience. With time, the seeds grow and the boy excitedly discovers what he has helped to make. Along the way, readers learn the words for simple objects related to the garden and nature.

Maisy’s Garden, Lucy Cousins.  A Maisy book with stickers!  There are lots of wonderful things growing in Maisy’s garden - fruits, flowers, vegetables, grass, and more! Young readers join the fun as they complete the scenes with more than 25 full-color, reusable stickers. Age 3 and up.

My Garden, Kevin Henkes. A girl helps in her mother’s garden, but in the garden of her imagination, there are chocolate rabbits, tomatoes as big as beach balls, flowers that change color, and seashells. Age 2 and up.

Plant A Little Seed, Bonnie Christensen. With a little help from a watering can, bright sunlight, and a lot of patience, two friends plant seeds in their community garden and watch how they grow. Slowly, the seeds turn into sprouts, which grow into stems, followed by leaves and buds! The garden will soon be teeming with life and ready for a harvest season celebration. But until then, the children water and wait and dream. Age 3 and up.

Secrets Of The Garden, Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. Alice's family plants a vegetable garden each spring, and this budding naturalist reports how the plants grow, what insects come to eat the plants, and what birds and animals come to eat the insects.  It's the food chain, in her backyard! Age 5 and up.

Seed, Soil, Sun, Cris Peterson. With these three simple ingredients, nature creates food. Using the corn plant as an example, the author celebrates the agricultural cycle of growth, harvest, and renewal. This American Farm Bureau Foundation Agriculture Book of the Year also discusses the make-up of soil and the creatures who live there--from microscopic one-celled bacteria to moles, amoebas, and earthworms. Ages 4 to 7.

The Future Of The Earth, Yann Arthus-Bertrand. In easy terms for the older child, a book about sustainable development. A primer on mankind's direct and indirect impact on the natural world, it explains how global trends, economic disparity, and invasive species have changed our world. Spectacular photos of fragile environments. Age 10 and up.

Who Am I? Farm Animals, DK. A peephole format to keep babies and toddlers engaged, and age-appropriate text introducing simple facts about favorite objects and animals. Lift-the-flap format establishes parent and child interaction; Peephole guessing game improves cognitive skills and memory; Simple facts encourage early learning and oral skills; Ages 0 to 5.