Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frightened orphan Mary discovers the joyful wonders of life on the Yorkshire Moors with the help of two local boys and a mysterious, abandoned garden...where all things seem possible.

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.… The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders... (more)

Garden of Angels

by Lurlene McDaniel

It is 1974 and the country is still struggling to come to terms with the Vietnam War. In the small town of Conners, Georgia, Darcy has just started high school, her older sister Adel goes to weekend dances at the local Army base, and their mother tends her beautiful garden–the biggest and best in town. But Darcy’s world is soon changed forever when her mother goes to Atlanta for tests. The diagnosis is not... (more)

The Lost Garden: A Novel

by Helen Humphreys

Leaving London to grow food for the war effort, Gwen discovers a mysterious lost garden and the story of a love that becomes her own. This word-perfect, heartbreaking novel is set in early 1941 in Britain when the war seems endless and, perhaps, hopeless. London is on fire from the Blitz, and a young woman gardener named Gwen Davis flees from the burning city for the Devon countryside. She has volunteered for... (more)

Earthly Joys: Book 1

Earthly Joys

by Philippa Gregory

Whether he is nurturing a single rare seedling into a blossoming tree or planning acres of exquisitely conceived royal gardens, John Tradescant's fame and skill as a gardener are unsurpassed in seventeenth-century England. But it is Tradescant's clear-sighted honesty and loyalty that make him an invaluable servant, and in his role as informal confidant during garden strolls with Sir Robert Cecil, adviser to King... (more)

The French Gardener: A Novel

by Santa Montefiore

A neglected garden. A cottage that holds a secret. A mysterious Frenchman (handsome, naturally). A family in need of some love. These elements are entwined in this heartwarming novel by the author reviewers consistently compare to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher. It begins as Miranda and David Claybourne move into a country house with a once-beautiful garden. But reality turns out to be very different from... (more)

Gardens in France (Taschen 25th Anniversary) (French and German Edition)

Gardens in France (Taschen 25th Anniversary) (French and German Edition)

Including public as well as previously unknown gardens, this guide provides the history, architecture and plants of each garden, classified according to region. An appendix includes layouts and opening times of the gardens and instructions on where to find them.

Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden

Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden

by Diane Ackerman

In the mode of her bestseller A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman celebrates the sensory pleasures of her garden through the seasons. Whether she is deadheading flowers or glorying in the profusion of roses, offering sugar water to a hummingbird or studying the slug, she welcomes the unexpected drama and extravagance as well as the sanctuary her garden offers. Written in sensuous, lyrical prose, ... (more)

Planting a Rainbow (Voyager/Hbj Book)

by Lois Ehlert

This educational and enjoyable book helps children understand how to plant bulbs, seeds, and seedlings, and nurture their growth. “The stylized representations of flower species are labeled throughout, allowing young children to get an idea of how each flower type contributes to the rainbow effect.”-- Booklist

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

by Candace Fleming

Tippy, tippy, tippy, Pat! That's the sound three hungry bunnies make when the sun goes down and the moon comes up and Mr. McGreely's garden smells yum, yum, yummy. While he's dreaming of his mouth-watering carrots, the bunnies are diving over fences and swimming trenches to get the veggies first! Hammer, hammer, hammer, Saw! That's the sound Mr. McGreely makes when the sun comes up and the moon goes down... (more)

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

by Beatrix Potter, Florence Graham, Maida Silverman, Elsa Knight Bruno

The full and complete text of Beatrix Potter's world-famous and universally loved Tale of Peter Rabbit faithfully translated and transcribed page for page into the hieroglyphic script of an Egyptian of the Middle Kingdom and illustrated with all the original colour artwork by the author herself. Based on the official centenary edition published in 2002, the translation combines the familiar face of the original... (more)

Scarlette Beane

by Karen Wallace

Scarlette Beane's face is as red as a beet, and the ends of her fingers are green. Her proud parents are sure their daughter will grow up to do something wonderful. For her fifth birthday Scarlette is given a vegetable garden. And one day with her trowel, some seeds, and the magic in her green fingers, "something wonderful" is what she does. This enchanting story about finding and using your special talents... (more)

A Mystic Garden: Working with Soil, Attending to Soul

A Mystic Garden: Working with Soil, Attending to Soul

by Gunilla Brodde Norris

This lyrical primer on the spirituality of gardening reflects on the relationship between a gardener and his or her garden. Meditating upon how interaction with the earth opens the heart, schools the mind, engages the body, and embraces the soul in a world of increasing detachment from the natural realm, this book affirms a garden as a soulful space where people can take root and experience the changing seasons... (more)

Sunset Garden and Patio Building BookEditors of Sunset Magazine

Sunset Garden and Patio Building Book

by Editors of Sunset Magazine

We're Rabbits!

by Lisa Westberg Peters

Can three hungry rabbits eat an entire garden full of mouthwatering vegetables and not get caught? They'll do their best, but one thing stands in their way: the diligent young gardener who doesn't want to share her tasty lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots. She'll only let the rabbits stay if they eat all the vegetables she doesn't like. But who wants smelly leeks, puny parsnips, and tough old turnips? Not... (more)

The New Orleans Garden: Gardening in the Gulf South

The New Orleans Garden: Gardening in the Gulf South

by Charlotte Seidenberg

Among America's garden cities, one of the most remarkably beautiful is New Orleans. Now the exotic New Orleans garden can live not only in romance but also in settings very close to home. Whether in the Vieux Carre or in the humid hinterlands, anyone hoping to recreate such a romantic spot in the climes of the Gulf Coast region should consult Charlotte Seidenberg's essential handbook. In this new... (more)

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi

by Chris Van Allsburg

Sometimes that very thin line between illusion and reality is not as clearly defined as we would like it to be. It certainly wasn't the day that Alan Mitz stumbled into the garden of Abdul Gasazi. For in this bizarre and eerie place -- where strange topiary trees loomed -- the evil visage of Gasazi casts its shadow. And even after Alan escaped, the spell of Gasazi still seemed to penetrate into his everyday world.... (more)

Our Life in Gardens

by Joe Eck

This is the third book we have written together, though separately we have written others . . . But to say ‘written separately’ makes no sense, for when two lives have been bent for so many years on one central enterprise—in this case, gardening—there really is no such thing as separately.” With these words, the renowned garden designers Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd begin their entertaining, fascinating, and... (more)

Seeing the Getty Gardens: A Souvenir BookJ Paul Getty Museum, Jeffrey Hirsch

Seeing the Getty Gardens: A Souvenir Book

by Jeffrey Hirsch

Greetings from Nowhere (Frances Foster Books)

Greetings from Nowhere (Frances Foster Books)

by Barbara O'Connor

Aggie isn’t expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn’t know that Kirby and his... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: gardens