Whether you’re planning garden tours or looking for inspiring ideas for your own garden travel, garden travel books are a wonderful source of inspiration. Here are some recommended titles.

For anyone planning to visit the Getty Museum, Getty Publications has released several titles. The “Guide to the Getty Villa” is a must-have. This celebrates the unique beauty of the villa, its antiquities collections, and gardens. This guide provides an enlightening history of the museum through the years.

It devotes a chapter to each aspect of the museum and what you can see. This includes floor plans.

The Getty Villa is based on an actual Roman villa from the period, the Villa dei Papiri, which was buried under volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius. This book includes historic photos showing the construction of the villa. It also covers the history of the Villa dei Papiri and archeological excavations over the years. In addition, there is a color guide to the different stones that were used at the villa.

All of the works of art at the Getty are originals with the emphasis being on Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. This book gives a tour of the complete villa and the Roman period gardens. The gardens feature replicas of statues, wall paintings, and architecture, mostly from the Roman era.

“Seeing the Getty Villa” is a gorgeous souvenir book with 70 lush color photos of the villa, gardens, and their furnishings. While most of the photos are by Richard Ross, the text is by Kenneth Lapatin. It covers the antiquities collections, the gardens, and the rich architectural features of each space. The peristyle garden at night is a sight to behold. The photos capture the unique beauty wrought by sunshine and shadows in the porticos and gardens throughout the day.

“The French Country Home” by Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery et al was released by the Vendome Press. This offers quite a contrast to the luxurious Getty Villa. This book will be of particular interest to gardeners but also antique lovers and those involved in interior design. This volume is a sequel
to the much celebrated “The Finest Homes in Paris.”

This new volume offers an intimate look into these homes which tend to be more simple and modest than urban mansions. In these properties, the emphasis is on creating comfy, welcoming spaces for friends and family to enjoy life in the country. Each of the properties has a compelling story to tell. The present generation is finding its own ways to pay homage to family history and traditions.

This is illustrated with 220 lush color photos by Bernard Touillon of the homes as well as the gardens. There’s a complete profile for each property with details on its history, origins, and use. It also features chapters on two interior design mainstays—French silks and wallpapers.

Most garden tours happen during the daytime. We lose sight of the fact that night brings a special kind of magic to the garden scene. Chronicle Books has released a monumental book on night in the garden. “The Garden at Night-Private Views of Public Edens” features exquisite color photos by Linda Rutenberg. This book will be treasured by plant lovers everywhere. The large format does justice to the breathtaking photos. This has an essay by award winning writer Christopher Dewdney along with excerpts from poets of the Romantic era. This also has a foreword by William Shatner.

This book profiles the unique night views at twenty of America’s most famous public gardens. These include ones from coast to coast as well as others from Canada and Hawaii. The photos highlight all sorts of garden features with particular emphasis on the plants. The darkness of night seems to bring out their luminous nature, which can look entirely different in the harsh sun. Each of the plants is identified by common and Latin name.