Gordon and Mary Hayward have one of those gardens, the sort you marvel at and wonder how in the world. Their answer, in its simplest form: time and effort. But that's just the point: Maintenance, they begin, is gardening. That spirit fills Tending Your Garden: A Year-Round Guide to Garden Maintenance. Photo essays put you right there with the Haywards and their assistants, documenting step-by-step how to keep a beautiful garden. The book is packed full of professional techniques, the sort of traditional skills handed down from gardener to gardener. To-do lists from their Vermont garden are keyed to seasons (early spring, late fall) as well as to specific months, for ease in adjusting the calendar to your part of the world. Spending time with this book might be the next best thing to digging in alongside the masters themselves.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.