Gardening by the book

If there's a plant nerd on your holiday gift list, here's a book that is sure to include at least a few intriguing tidbits that they don't already know. It's "Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries and Miracles of My Garden Favorites" (Clarkson Potter, $50) by Ken Druse.

Rather than a reference book, it's a meandering celebration of all things botanical. Druse casts his narrative net far and wide, jumping from his childhood memories to the escapades of early plant explorers who risked their lives in pursuit of exotic specimens. Sure, there are some practical tips, such as how to harvest rose hips, attract butterflies or repel deer. But they're buried in chunks of text under catchy but ambiguous headlines.

This book is clearly meant to be digested, not skimmed. Patient readers will find plenty of morsels to savor, whether it's the tale of the British surgeon who experimented with terrariums as a way to combat the air pollution of Victorian London, or the author's search for a rare Chinese snowball shrub depicted in a Tiffany stained-glass window. "Planthropology" is hefty and handsome, loaded with luscious photos.

KIM PALMER

The text of "Extraordinary Leaves" (Firefly Books, $45) is brief, concise, sometimes even funny -- as garden writing goes. ("Rexes are the showgirls of the Begonia family," writes author Dennis Schrader.) But then, this book isn't about the words. It's about the pictures.

This modestly sized coffee-table book shines a spotlight on one of the most overlooked aspects of plants: their leaves.

In more than 225 photographs (from Boston lettuce to monkey cups), the color, texture, shape and patterns of leaves become larger than life. A red leaf tree fern seems as if it's about to unfurl off the page. A close-up of a coleus is as intricate and lovely as a stained glass window. Even a silver maple leaf nibbled by bugs is a work of art.

With the surprisingly arresting photos by Stephen Green-Armytage, "Extraordinary Leaves" does what many books can't: It gives you new appreciation for the extraordinary in the ordinary things around you.

CONNIE NELSON

Love to look at gardens? You won't find better eye candy than the 250-plus pages of sumptuous photos in "Gardens Private & Personal" (Abrams, $50).

The Garden Club of America tapped its members to showcase stunning landscapes natiowide, including a few from the Twin Cities. The text, by Nancy D' Oench, is minimal. Just a few paragraphs introduce each chapter, although hefty captions point out the highlights of the 90-some gardens featured. The focus of the book is where it should be: on the gardens lovingly photographed by Mick Hales.

The book is organized by garden feature, so you can feast your eyes on water features, or borders or distinctive container gardens. If you're a see-and-do person, you may be hard-pressed to find ideas you can try at home. But if you're looking for inspiration -- and a lush escape on a snowy winter day -- this could be your book.

KIM PALMER

Joe the gardener might not be interested in "When Perennials Bloom" (Timber Press, $60).

Plant names are given in botanical Latin. The text is terse and fairly technical. And the photos, while plentiful, are illustrative rather than inspirational.

But serious gardeners might get downright excited about this book, which bills itself as an almanac for planning and planting. While it contains discussions on what is a perennial and how plants respond to their environments, most of the book is devoted to detailed information about when more than 450 herbaceous perennials bloom. And it doesn't just list the bloom time for, say, Echinacea purpurea. It includes charts that show early, peak and post-peak bloom for four cultivars of Echinacea purpurea (also known as purple coneflower).

If you're planning to put in a new perennial garden or want to reach the holy grail of gardening -- season-long color -- you might want to pick up a copy.

CONNIE NELSON

If you like old English gardens and Jane Austen then "In the Garden with Jane Austen" (Jones Books, $21.95) is your cup of properly brewed tea.

Austen-phile Kim Wilson's slim volume is part garden history and part tour guide, using Austen's novels and other family writings to reconstruct the follies, ha has and shrubberies through which Austen and her characters strolled.

Wilson takes us calling to the gardens that Austen lived near or knew of, some of which still exist. Diagrams show how to create your own cottage garden, and there are tourist tips and a movie guide if you want to see for yourself. This picture-filled book is for winter reading with that hot cup of tea.

MARTHA BUNS

It's hard to resist taking pictures of your flowers in bloom. It's also hard to take really good pictures. That's why "Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers" (Timber Press, $25) is such a treat.

It takes a step-by-step approach to mastering macro photography, which author Alan Detrick refers to as "the visual portal to a world most people walk by without a glance."

Detrick covers essential equipment (cameras, lenses, tripods and other accessories), before moving on to image composition (depth of field, exposure, focus, etc.). He also includes a chapter on his tricks for shooting flora and fauna and two chapters on working with digital cameras. His writing is personal, straightforward and information-packed. Even the captions contain useful information. For every one of his superb photos, Detrick explains how and why he composed the photo the way he did, as well as the type of camera, type of lens and the exposure he used.

Although the book is lovely to look at, it isn't a coffee-table copy. Instead, Detrick, an award-winning photographer and instructor, has created a hard-working, soft-cover book that plenty of gardeners would be happy to see under their Christmas trees.

CONNIE NELSON