By Susan McBride If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new gardening books, there's a good reason. There are more of them, and they're coming faster than ever before. Over the past year, publishers churned out new gardening titles at the rate of one book every day, almost doubling the prior year's output. To help you make sense of the burgeoning number of books, this article examines the field from several perspectives, most notably success in the marketplace. But sales volume alone is not an absolute guide for an individual looking for a particular type of book. That's why I also include books that have won authors' peer-group recognition. And finally, I studied different book categories, such as literary garden books, and interviewed bookstore personnel. Finding a Good Book Award winners. One place to begin your search for a good book is among the books that won awards from the trade organization of garden writers, the Garden Writers Association of America (GWAA). This fall, GWAA judges deemed Women of Flowers, by Jack Kramer and Eric Strachan (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), to be the best garden book of 1996. Other books that earned recognition from GWAA include: The Living Wreath by Teddy Colbert (Gibbs Smith); Taylor's Guide to Orchids by Judy White (Houghton Mifflin); The Shaker Herb and Garden Book by Rita Buchanan (Houghton Mifflin); In Praise of Tomatoes by Steven Shepherd (Harper Collins); and A Year in the Life of a Rose by Rayford Clayton Reddell (Harmony Books/Crown Publishing). Promising fall releases. Of the almost 40 new gardening books published this fall (after this issue goes to press), several sound promising. Look for: The American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (DK Books); The Ultimate Sunflower Book (HarperReference); Earth Works: Readings for Backyard Gardeners (University Press of Virginia); Iris: Flower of the Rainbow (Kangaroo Press); and The Gardener's Guide to Growing Peonies (Timber Press). Blockbuster titles. The following five books have not only dominated the garden-book market for many years, they sold well last year, too. They are: Sunset's Western Garden Book (Sunset Books, 1954, most recent revision 1995); Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening (Reader's Digest Books, 1978, most recent revision 1993); Better Homes & Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening (Meredith Books, 1979, most recent revision fall of 1997); Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew (Rodale, published 1981, revised 1994); Jerry Baker's Lawn Book, by Jerry Baker (Ballantine, published 1987, revised 1992). It's no surprise that mass-market publishers such as Meredith, Reader's Digest, and Sunset own the top three slots of this list. Each title has been in use for decades, and each one has been completely revised at least once (Sunset's 1954 jewel has been revised four times). These first three books are steady leaders nationally, appearing week-in and week-out among the top 50 to 100 best-selling garden books. More to the point, each one of these three is a solid and useful reference. There are several other mega-selling gardening books. For instance, many of the Sunset and Ortho 100-page books have sold well in excess of 1 million copies. Examples are Sunset's House Plants (1968, revised in 1983, more than 4 million sold), and Ortho's All About Roses (1976, revised 1995, more than 1 million sold). Other mass-market publishers that sell large volumes of gardening books are Rodale, Time-Life, and IDG Books. (IDG Books is also, I hasten to add, the publisher of books produced by the National Gardening Association.) Beyond Best Sellers Several of garden publishing's most dynamic trends made no waves on this best-seller list. Among these trends are the strong appeal of literary garden books, the sharp rise in specialized topics, the national obsession with herbs, and the enormous popularity of container gardens. These topics can deliver the richest and most rewarding reading where gardeners find their passions, meet surprises, and expand their ideas. Here are some of the favorites in these categories. Literary Garden Books. Selling at the Tattered Cover in Denver, Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden, by William Baldwin (Algonquin Books), has transformed the local garden club into a reading club. Although the book's appeal appears to have spread by word of mouth, a Mother's Day boost on a morning television show couldn't have hurt. It's the Number 2 seller among 1996-97 gardening books at Davis-Kidd in Memphis, Tennessee, and the fifth most popular book at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Madison, Wisconsin. The little book's success surprised George Greller, buyer for B. Dalton/Doubleday, where the more typical chart-busters are basic gardening books from Better Homes & Gardens, Sunset, and Ortho Publications. At E. Shaver, Fine Books in Savannah, Georgia, clerk Maryan Wilborn says, "Gardeners particularly love the personal touch in this book." The 3,000 Mile Garden, by Leslie Land (Penguin), recently dramatized by PBS, is another of Wilborn's favorites. Customers at Denver's Tattered Cover agree: They rate this book sixth of the new gardening titles. People with Dirty Hands, by Robin Chotzinoff (Harcourt), is even more popular in Denver and has flickered lately on national best-seller lists. (You may recognize Chotzinoff as the author of the series of amusing musings in National Gardening's "Last Leaf" columns this year.) A new hybrid in the literary genre combines spirituality with gardening. Justin Mattot's My Garden Visits (Ballantine) recounts "visits" the author's mother made to his garden after her death. It has become a top seller at Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle as well as at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Madison. Anita Edson, publicity director for Taylor Publishing, says the trend toward "tying the garden to emotions and spirituality" was behind Taylor's publication of Maureen Gilmer's Rooted in the Spirit: Exploring Inspirational Gardens. Buyer Kathleen O'Neill says The Inward Garden (Little, Brown, 1995) is still a leading title across several categories at Wordsworth, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the same vein, Plume has published Judith Handelsman's Growing Myself, which investigates the spiritual bond between people and plants. Specialized topics. As garden publishing matures, it's branching out into more specialized topics. Confirming this trend are books like The Rose and the Clematis as Good Companions, by John Howells (Antique Collector's Club). Eileen Maloney, buyer for Seattle's Elliott Bay Bookstore, says, "It's a really good technical book, and it's absolutely gorgeous. It categorizes the two plants according to height and then shows them growing together in full bloom." Down the coast in Portland, The Rose and the Clematis sells in the top 25 at Powell's Books for Cooks and Gardeners. At Capability's Books, a garden book catalog in which half the titles are British, Howells's book is the only import to make the publisher's 1996 list of top sellers. Not surprisingly, roses command their own publishing category. Roses for Dummies by Lance Walheim and the National Gardening Association (IDG Books) is the third-highest-selling garden book at Crown Books, a chain of 177 stores in California and in the Chicago and Washington, D.C., areas. At Powell's, the preferred rose reference is the Organic Rose Garden, by Liz Druitt (Taylor). But in E. Shaver's 12 rooms of books in Savannah, Smith & Hawken's 100 English Roses for the American Garden outsells the competition. Recently, plant genera other than roses have been garnering reading audiences. Eileen Maloney at Elliot Bay Bookstore tags Moss Gardening, by George Schenk (Timber Press), as her new hot seller. At The Garden Bookshop in Rhinebeck, New York, proprietor Greg Shifrin says, "The book is a little esoteric. It's so much not a general book about gardening, but it's the best book about moss." Shifrin's top seller, however, is Taylor's Guide to Orchids (Houghton Mifflin). When the book was first published in 1996, orchid fans were waiting to pluck it up at Davis-Kidd in Memphis as well as at Teas Nursery in Bellaire, Texas. In the San Francisco Bay Area, A Book of Salvias, by Betsy Clebsch (Timber Press), is the rage at Bell's Books and at the Garden Shop at Filoli Center. Profiling more than 100 species of this aromatic hummingbird-attractor, the book includes lovely botanical plates as well as identifying photographs. As one clerk put it, "It's popular because people love salvias and deer don't." Herbs. Perhaps most impressive in recent years is the prominence of herbs. However, because of banner sales in 1994 and 1995, titles released in 1996-97 haven't warmed up yet. Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden, by Robin Whiteman (Little, Brown), appeared on national best-seller lists in late summer, but a 1995 title captured a place on the 1996-97 lists: The Complete Book of Herbs, by L. Bremness (Viking). Container Gardening. Across the nation, it's difficult to miss the proliferation of container gardening titles. But the grande dame of potted-garden chic is the city of Savannah. And Maryan Wilborn of E. Shaver's vouches for Reader's Digest Complete Container Garden as the favored book in the gracious walled gardens of her hometown. Reference Books. Although reference material is not the breaking news for gardening-book readers, two significant new titles have worked their way onto lists and into conversations with bookstore buyers. For the past two years, The American Horticultural Society's Encyclopedia of Gardening (DK) has been Waldenbooks' top garden seller as well as the first choice of Lynn Clark at the Norfolk Botanical Garden Shop. The newly revised Principles of Gardening, by Hugh Johnson (Simon & Schuster), is fifth at The Garden Bookshop and the top pick of Barbara Worl at Bell's Books. Gardening Best-Sellers: 1996-97 1. Gardening for Dummies (IDG Books) 2. Don Hastings' Month by Month Gardening in the South (Longstreet Press) 3. Western Landscaping (Sunset Books) 4. The 20-Minute Gardener (Random House) 5. National Garden Book (Sunset Books) 6. Perennials for Dummies (IDG Books) 7. Roses for Dummies (IDG Books) 8. Smith & Hawken: The Book of Outdoor Gardening (Workman) 9. Eyewitness Garden Guide: Perennials (Dorling Kindersley) 10. 1001 Hints & Tips for Your Garden (Reader's Digest) The list incorporates sales from January 1996 to September 1997 compiled from publishers' sales figures as well as wholesale- and retail-chain and independent-bookstore sales rankings. Author of Into the Deep: A Writer's Look at Creativity (Heinemann, 1994; $15), Susan McBride is a Master Gardener who regularly reviews garden books.
Provided by NGA
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