Garden outside the garden...

So…if you’re gardening outside the garden where exactly then are you gardening? Well in my case that would be inside the house. It seems like every bit of rain that we didn't get from July through early October has fallen in the last couple of weeks, the opportunity to garden outside is shrinking fast. Most of my tender succulents have been moved into the house, I've got piles of cuttings waiting to be planted-up and everything that is going to get planted outside this year has been. You know what that means? It’s garden book time!

I've got a nice big bunch of books just waiting to be read, it’s such a good feeling. Don’t you just love it? I think I’m most excited about this one…

The Secret Life of Plants, picked up for a dollar at a used book store in Ephrata, Washington. Oh, and this one, The Gift of a Garden, or, Some Flowers Remembered by Beverley Nichols, sent to me by a friend.

Doesn't everyone need their own in-home bookstore? Here’s your chance to win one...just click on over to the Timber Press website and share your email address in their "Garden Outside the Garden" contest for the chance to win:

• Keshiki Bonsai; Create simple and stylish miniature landscapes in small containers
• The Unexpected Houseplant; Infuse your home with sumptuous plants year-round
• The Roots of My Obsession; Curl up with the best garden writers and fall in love again
• The Layered Garden; Explore a majestic garden from your armchair and learn its secrets
• Super-Charged; Go behind the scenes of the underground marijuana industry
• Plus a tote bag and print by artist Brooke Weeber

I finally landed a copy of The Roots of My Obsession and I will say the possibility of winning this book alone is worth the time it take you to enter the contest, it’s wonderful! And heck with the holidays just around the corner if you aren’t personally interested in a couple of the books listed above give them as gifts! Every gardener loves gardening books.

Now I must get reading…I’ve needed to write a review of Agaves: Living Sculptures for Landscapes and Containers, By Greg Starr, since early last summer (but back then I was busy gardening inside the garden)…a whole book on Agaves, spiky heaven!

What about you? Read any good gardening books lately?