As much as I enjoy pouring over plant catalogs and the newest garden books, sometimes I just want to curl up with a good fiction book. Grab one of these great books before you head to the beach. Some of the best gardening fiction currently available:


The Secret Garden
Most gardeners poured over The Secret Garden when they were younger. This marvelous book fascinated me. I desperately wanted a secret garden of my own.

A Dilly of a Death
All of Susan Wittig Albert's books are fun to read, and this one is no exception. I love the herbal lore scattered throughout the books, the herbal recipes, and the cast of characters in these mysteries. China is a fun and clever modern day Nancy Drew, and I learned so much about dill and other herbs and spices as I read the book.


Old Herbaceous : A Novel of the Garden (Modern Library Gardening Series)
This reissued book from the Modern Library Gardening series reminds me of Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves series. This charmingly cantankerous man with his devotion to growing things is so realisticly developed that I'm sure I've met him somewhere. This book has a permanent home on my shelves.