The world of herbs is both intriguing and somewhat daunting for new gardeners, but Terri Dunn’s 100 Favorite Herbs shows you how to begin with the best plants. This book offers a wide range of appealing herbs and offers information on whether or not you can grow a specific herb in your area. The author has chosen herbs that can be used as ornamental herbs, culinary herbs, herbs for crafts, and soothing herbs for teas and baths.

Each entry lists the ultimate size of the plant, description, bloom time, hardiness requirements, recommended uses, and culture tips. Full-color photos accompany each entry, as well as the basic techniques and terminology used in growing herbs. The author takes you from selecting your first plants, all the way through the harvesting process at the end of the growing season, but she doesn’t stop there. Many herb gardeners will be interested in Dunn’s tips on drying and storing herbs for winter use.

Whether you want to add a few culinary herbs to the vegetable garden or plant them as ornamentals along with your perennials, you’ll find the perfect herb for your needs in this book. Reviewed by Pat Regel.

Charles W. G. Smith’s The Big Book of Garden Secrets (Storey, $22.95, 1580170005) addresses all of the facets of gardening with which beginners and intermediate gardeners should be familiar. It includes advice on amending soil, making and using compost, plant propagation, cool and warm-season vegetables, landscaping, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden, and more.

As a new gardener, you’ll also be interested in the low-maintenance solutions and money-saving shortcuts that Smith offers for dozens of common gardening problems. In addition, there are helpful line-drawings, easy-to-follow instructions, a USDA Zone Map, and selected plant lists. Smith has served as horticulturist for the well-known White Flower Farm, is an instructor of vocational agriculture, and has written about gardening and environmental issues.

Reviewed by Pat Regel.

Perhaps you have a green thumb and could grow watermelons in the desert. Or maybe you couldn’t grow weeds alongside a country road. It doesn’t really matter. If you have kids, Beth Richardson’s Gardening with Children is a practical and fun book that will guide the novice and the experienced gardener in making gardening an enjoyable family experience.

Richardson, the mother of two boys, takes a realistic approach. She neither attempts to make children into miniature adult gardeners nor abdicates the garden to the kids. Rather, Richardson has adapted gardening practices for children for the purpose of creating an “adult-centered garden that included and celebrated children.” She writes, “I wanted to create a fabulous family garden, hoping my children would view gardening as a wondrous adventure and the garden as a playground and laboratory.” Think about what most kids love to do outside. Given the opportunity, they will usually get dirty and, if possible, wet. Gardening involves doing both of these things. It also encourages children to dream and use their imaginations, and provides a sense of responsibility and accomplishment.

The first section of Gardening with Children walks gardeners through the practical steps of planning, preparing, and planting a garden. The book contains easy-to-understand instructions and warnings, along with clear charts, diagrams, and pictures to illustrate the author’s points. At the end of the book, Richardson includes a USDA Hardiness Zone Map to help gardeners select what to plant, as well as a resource list for further assistance.

The second section suggests ways to make gardening fun for children. For example, there’s the pizza garden, which is not only used to grow many of the ingredients needed to make pizza, but which is also planted in the shape of a pizza. Several recipes using items from the garden are provided, as are ideas for family projects such as making a scarecrow.

As a parent and a corporate attorney, Richardson has a realistic understanding of what families can manage and what they will enjoy. In this book for parents and other caregivers, she also seems to know that getting dirty together in the garden grows lots more than summer vegetables.

Review by Jeff Stephens.

This book, part of an excellent series, is for those who have adapted to the Western principles of gardening. The Home Landscaping Series promises to make your particular gardening situation easier because it’s created to suit your regional needs, and it is one of the best this reviewer has ever seen. In Home Landscaping Series: Mid-Atlantic Region by Roger Holmes and Rita Buchanan, many of the questions you have about gardening in your region are answered by offering: beautiful garden designs, illustrations, and photos as well as expert plant selections created by a team of landscape professionals in the region; detailed descriptions of plants used in the designs, as well as advice on their selection and care; step-by-step instructions for garden projects such as paths, walls, patios, fences, trellises, arbors, and small ponds.

All of the books in this series are perfect for first-time home owners and novice gardeners, but more experienced gardeners will find them useful as well. These books consider far more than just winter hardiness zones when making plant recommendations. They address the full range of growing conditions in each region of the United States. In addition to the Mid-Atlantic Region, other books in the series address the Northeast Region (including Southeast Canada); the Southeast Region; and the Great Lakes Region (including Southern Canada). Keep the entire series on your bookshelves . . . you never know when you’ll be moving.

Reviewed by Pat Regel.

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese approach to creating an environment that promotes prosperity, health, and happiness. The idea isn’t exclusively related to gardening, but to all aspects of life. In The Feng Shui Garden, Gill Hale and Sue Minter explain how you can apply the principles of Feng Shui to a garden, patio, balcony, or backyard in order to revitalize their space in a natural way.

The book offers color photos of actual Feng Shui gardens and clear instructions for the novice on the beginning basics principles of Chi, Yin and Yang, Lo Shu, and Bagua. You’ll learn how to choose an optimal garden site and shape; create balanced window boxes, roof gardens, and terraces; and place garden paths and statuary.

The Feng Shui Garden is an excellent alternative for beginner and advanced gardeners who are seeking methods and philosophies of gardening other than those traditionally Western.

Reviewed by Pat Regel.

Give ’til it hurts You’ve made big travel plans for the summer, and then you receive the call: Aunt Agnes, Cousin Curtis, and the rest of the family have rented a big house near the beach, and everyone is expected to be there for the month of July. Sigh . . . Guess where you’ll be spending your summer vacation? You need a little pick-me-up gift for yourself, under the circumstances. What gift doesn’t require a security deposit, seven-day advance purchase, or a Saturday night stay? Why, books, of course! Photographer Jeffrey Kraft’s exquisite photographs of Parisian cubbyholes and artifacts are not intended to entice one to visit the city; rather, his Literary Paris (Watson-Guptill, $18.95, 0823028305) is meant for those who have already been. The images are meant to inspire a memory from a time that has passed; this is not a fancy collection of tourists’ snapshots. Kraft has arranged his remembrances alongside excerpts from literary works by authors who stayed in Paris for extended periods of time. Kraft has captured the glimpse, the detail, the moment, rather than structures and sites. He offers an idea of what remains in the mind and heart, even years after the visit itself has ended. A wonderful gift for the Francophile in your life.

Ben Jonson said, He was not of an age, but for all time. He was, of course, speaking of his friend William Shakespeare. Children’s book author Aliki has written and illustrated William Shakespeare and the Globe (HarperCollins, $15.95, 006027820X), which describes not only Shakespeare’s life, work, and times, but even acknowledges visionary Sam Wannamaker, who spent years resurrecting the Globe. The book is designed much like a script, with acts and scenes and characters. An interesting add-on is the list of words and expressions, complete with illustrations, credited to Shakespeare; for example, sweets to the sweet and hush were apparently invented by the Bard himself. Seems we’ve been quoting Shakespeare without realizing it! Cities like Paris and London must make use of every tidbit of soil that can be found; as acreage diminishes in our growing world, green thumbs everywhere are striving to be more and more creative with their craft. Artisan has published Window Boxes: Indoors and Out with this in mind. Authors James Cramer and Dean Johnson offer fragrant, beautiful, and useful options for the, uh, land-challenged. Cramer and Johnson offer optional locations (who says a window-box is limited to being wooden, square, and outside?) and year-round planting options (a thriving garden in January?) With this book, the decision is no longer how to create a miniature garden, but rather how many miniature gardens you can create. Soil sold separately! Of course, if we’re talking land for land’s sake, Antarctica has land to spare. It’s been 85 years since Ernest Shackleton and the 27-member crew of the Endurance set out to cross the Antarctic on foot. Less than 100 miles from its destination, the Endurance was caught in an ice pack and was badly damaged. For over 20 months, the crew (along with 69 sled dogs) was marooned, but no lives were lost. Two books commemorate this remarkable true story of adventure and perseverance. First, there’s Knopf’s The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition ($29.95, 0375404031), a sophisticated account of the expedition. There’s also Ice Story: Shackleton’s Lost Expedition (Clarion, $18, 0395915244), which may be better-suited to younger explorers. Both books feature expedition photographer Frank Hurley’s photographs and offer a chronological summary of this death-defying journey. Hurley started the expedition with professional equipment, but his final shots were taken with a pocket camera. Endurance author Caroline Alexander, in association with the American Museum of Natural History, carefully researched this volume, complete with some of Hurley’s photographs that had not been published previously. Ice Story author Elizabeth Cody Kimmel presents the journey in storybook format, but the information is accurate and anecdotal. Both books would make great gifts for anyone who has a taste for adventure and hopeful endings.

Agnes and Curtis decide that the grown-ups need to take the children to the waterpark which happens to be 50 miles away for the day. Fifty miles can seem like 500 without Fun on the Run: Travel Games and Songs (Morrow Junior Books, $17, 0688146600). Brimming with silly stories, limericks, brain teasers, and songs, this book helps to fill travel time without batteries or messy cleanup. Familiar songs and games such as The Ants Go Marching and Hangman are included, but Fun on the Run contains nearly 125 pages of other games and songs that can be a part of any trip. If you still confuse Darth Vader with Darth Maul, fear not; Dorling Kindersley has published two books that will help you keep the prequel and the original trilogy straight: Star Wars Episode I: the Visual Dictionary ($19.95, 0789447010) and Star Wars Episode I: Incredible Cross Sections ($19.95, 078943962X). Like their predecessors (or would it be their descendants?), these books are designed to keep facts, characters, and plots straight. Archaeologist David West Reynolds, an obvious choice for the author, approaches this much like he did his previous Star Wars works. One feels as if he is on an archaeological dig or scientific study of another world. May the source be with you!

Dummy, how does your garden grow? The writers of the Dummies series of garden books are modest folks. They label the series for beginners, but these helpful books are also for those who have come back to gardening after a long absence and need a review of the basics. Even the experienced gardener isn’t knowledgeable about every facet of gardening the field is too vast. These books offer all gardeners an introduction to any unfamiliar area of gardening by using an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format that is both instructive and entertaining. Gardening for Dummies by Michael MacCaskey and the Editors of the National Gardening Association is a gardening encyclopedia in miniature. It’s fully illustrated and covers the most current tips, techniques, and resources in major areas such as annuals, perennials, vines, trees, shrubs, lawns, soil, pruning, propagation, weeding, and pest control. For those who don’t know a Cape Cod Weeder from a dibber, there is even a section on tools. The appendix lists books and magazines that will broaden your gardening knowledge while the section on gardening Web sites will answer questions and provide further information. Vegetable Gardening for Dummies (IDG Books, $19.99, 0764551299) by Charles Nardozzi and the Editors of the National Gardening Association teaches the fundamentals of vegetable gardening. If you think store-bought tomatoes taste the way tomatoes are supposed to taste, you’re in for a surprise. The basics of soil, climate, and water are covered as well as cool season and warm season vegetables, legumes, vine crops, salad crops, herbs, fruits, and many other edibles. Disease identification and prevention for each vegetable is included, and there’s a bonus delicious recipes. Vegetable Gardening for Dummies is an excellent reference for the first-time vegetable gardener.

Landscaping for Dummies (IDG Books, $16.99, 0764551280) by Philip Giroux, Bob Beckstrom, Lance Walheim, and the National Gardening Association takes the mystery out of landscaping and will convince you that there can be more to your backyard than just a fence and a lawn; you can customize your outdoor space to suit your needs. The book covers everything from planning to planting and also includes a chapter on problem situations accompanied by helpful diagrams. Chapters on patios, arbors, trellises, decks, walls, gates, and paths will show you how to create more visual beauty and interest while keeping costs down. If you don’t know where to begin in designing your home landscape, this book will get you started.

No matter what your level of gardening expertise, 1,001 Ingenious Gardening Ideas (Rodale, $27.95, 0875968090) is another reference you should add to your gardening library. Edited by Deborah L. Martin, this book offers environmentally safe, non-toxic suggestions to make gardening easier, plants sturdier, and yields bountiful. There are chapters on creative garden care, season stretchers, seed-starting secrets, and solutions to garden problems. There are gardening ideas, tips, and suggestions about everything from vegetables and herbs to birds and butterflies. In addition, there are also sources for ingenious gardening supplies, a recommended reading list, and the latest USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Clear illustrations serve as helpful guides as the author takes you through each season with advice for making your garden less work intensive and more cost affective. There are tips for all gardeners here.

If there were no gardening references on your bookshelves, this selection of four would offer the best, basic advice covering the most general areas of horticulture. The topics they don’t cover can be found in the sources listed at the end of each book. But the best part about these books is that most of the information is usable year-round not only during the growing season.

Pat Regel writes and gardens in Nashville.