Home » Gardening Information » Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides
Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides
"A brilliant collection of gardening handbooks."
—The New York Times
"For expert advice in all realms of horticulture, gardeners have come to depend on the handbooks produced by Brooklyn Botanic Garden."
—Booklist
First published in 1945, BBG's award-winning handbooks are an American gardening tradition. BBG All-Region Guides are written by experts throughout the US and Canada and are full of ideas on how to make your garden both ecologically sensible and beautiful.
- Information packed, easy-to-read format
- Superb color photos and illustrations
- Featuring organic and sustainable practices
| Book Title | Category | Book # | |
|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Fragrant DesignsFragrant flowers and foliage can make the difference between a pretty garden and an unforgettable one! Let this enticing guide take you on a tour of some of nature's most compelling scents. |
Garden Design | 193 |
![]() |
Healthy Soils for Sustainable GardensCreate a resource-wise garden! This hands-on guide helps you understand the unique characteristics of your garden's soil and shows you how to build its natural fertility with organic and sustainable methods. |
Gardening Techniques | 192 |
![]() |
Growing Bonsai IndoorsAn introduction to beautiful tropical and subtropical bonsai that can thrive inside your home year-round. Tailored to the needs of first-time bonsai growers, this hands-on guide explains step-by-step how to make indoor bonsai flourish. You'll find a thorough overview of the most common bonsai styles-fully illustrated with color photos and line drawings-along with advice on wiring and pruning from renowned experts. |
Great Plants | 191 |
![]() |
Community GardeningToday, new concerns about food safety and sustainable practices, greater isolation from neighbors, and the loss of gardening space have made the age-old practice of community gardening more relevant than ever. Whether you are already a member of a community garden, want to get involved in one, or are just curious, this guide offers valuable lessons about cultivation and cooperation-as well as dynamic gardens and great food! |
Garden Design | 190 |
![]() |
The Wildlife Gardener's GuideIf you can have only one book about attracting wildlife to your garden, this is it. This concise guide recommends ten specific wildlife-garden projects and provides countless tips that will make your garden a refuge for wild creatures. Inside you'll also find helpful information on the best bird foods and feeders, lists of plants that are attractive to the wildlife in your region, garden plans, and much more. |
Gardening for Wildlife | 189 |
![]() |
Buried Treasures: Tasty Tubers of the WorldTake a culinary global tour of more than 30 edible plants that match their underground bounty with a fabulous aboveground display. Feature them as showstopping house or garden plants, or harvest a few and cook up tasty dishes. |
Kitchen Gardening | 188 |
![]() |
Gardening With ChildrenWhat better way to connect children with the natural world than through gardening? Team up with the youngsters in your care on scores of fun outdoor and indoor garden-related activities. Share the joy of watching plants and the animals that live among them grow and flourish as you guide children in the discovery of nature's cycles and communities. |
Children's Gardening | 187 |
![]() |
The Tree Care PrimerIn this indispensable guide you'll learn to assess your trees' health and understand what they need as you pick up the basic concepts and essential techniques of common-sense tree care. Whether you are preparing to plant a tree, maintaining a few mature beauties, or deciding on the best course of action to support a long-neglected specimen, you'll find the information you need to promote your trees' long-term well-being in this compact book. |
Great Plants | 186 |
![]() |
Native Alternatives to Invasive PlantsThe indispensable guide for everyone who loves dazzling gardens and cares about the health of North America's remaining wild landscapes. In this handbook, plant professionals and home gardeners alike will discover hundreds of spectacular native plants for every region, specially chosen as alternatives to the invasive species that are degrading and destroying the continent's natural habitats. SPECIAL FORMAT: 240 pages |
Gardening Techniques | 185 |
![]() |
Crazy About Cacti and SucculentsWhat is it about cacti and other succulents that compels their admirers to go well beyond the lonely windowsill specimen or rock-garden sedum? In this delightful guide you'll learn about stapeliads, ceropegias, and other jewels of the botanical world from people whose passion for these fascinating plants has led them to the art of bonsai, to competitive exhibition, and to growing them outdoors in frigid climates and on roofs. |
Great Plants | 184 |
![]() |
Designing Borders for Sun and ShadeA boon for even the most artistically challenged, this book shows how to design dazzling flower borders that include beautiful shrubs, grasses, bulbs, and annuals-not just high-maintenance herbaceous perennials. Garden writer, nurseryman, and designer Bob Hyland, who has gardened on both coasts and in between, describes how you can create a gorgeous border in sun or shade and offers design styles and plant suggestions suited to North America's many diverse regions and climates. |
Garden Design | 183 |
![]() |
100 Garden Tips and Timesavers100 fully illustrated tips to help gardeners minimize maintenance, maximize enjoyment, save time and money, and conserve water and other resources, organized by subject for quick and easy reference: Gardening Techniques; Improving the Soil; Pest Controls; Propagation; Garden Design; Container Gardening; Gardening Indoors; Vegetables; and Trash to Treasure. |
Gardening Techniques | 182 |
![]() |
The Best Apples to Buy and GrowYour indispensable field guide to the crispy, crunchy, intensely flavorful apples increasingly available at supermarkets, farmer's markets, farm stands, and orchards. Use this handbook to discover some of the tastiest antique and modern varieties, and how to use them for cooking, baking, cider making, or eating fresh. |
Kitchen Gardening | 181 |
![]() |
Intimate GardensGarden design doesn't have to be mystifying! This information-packed guide will help you transform your yard into an extension of your living space, whether an inviting terrace for dining, a quiet corner with a bench, or a captivating space for children and adults to explore the natural world. |
Garden Design | 180 |
![]() |
Designing an Herb GardenEndlessly adaptable and easy to grow, herbs are the perfect plants for designing a garden that is ornamental, practical, and intoxicatingly fragrant. This inspiring guide walks you through the project from plan to planting and harvest. Written by expert herb gardeners, this beautifully illustrated volumn has everything you need to design a dazzling herb garden-simple garden plans, plant recommendations for each design, and indispensable growing tips. |
Garden Design | 179 |
![]() |
The Gardener's Guide to Growing OrchidsThis volume, a companion to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbook The Best Orchids for Indoors, provides an in-depth look at the basics of successful orchid growing. The key to growing spectacular tropical orchids indoors lies in identifying the needs of the individual plants and finding the combination of conditions that makes them thrive-from amenable potting mixtures to adequate light, temperature and humidity levels. |
Great Plants | 178 |
![]() |
The Best Orchids for IndoorsWritten in cooperation with the American Orchid Society and photographed by Charles Marden Fitch, one of the world's foremost orchid photographers, this book provides valuable guidance in selecting gorgeous orchids that will thrive in your home and offers tips on growing each orchid type. (For more information on successful orchid cultivation in the home or greenhouse, see the companion volume The Gardener's Guide to Growing Orchids (#178).) |
Great Plants | 177 |
![]() |
Pruning Trees, Shrubs, and VinesUnderstanding when and how to prune is an important part of creating a flourishing garden, whether you are shaping flowering shrubs, grooming a formal hedge, limbing up a tree, taming exuberant vines, or bringing a long-neglected rose back to life. This easy-to-follow guide takes the guesswork out of snipping, sawing, and slicing as it introduces readers to the fundamentals of plant growth and explains the essential techniques for all major pruning tasks. ![]() Out of Print |
Gardening Techniques | 176 |
![]() |
The Butterfly Gardener's GuideEdited by Claire Hagen Dole, this book provides detailed information on how to transform your garden into a haven for butterflies, including hard-to-find information on caterpillars and their food plants. Regional experts describe their own butterfly gardens and the native plants that caterpillars and butterflies love. Specialty gardens, including herb gardens, children's gardens, and wildflower meadows, are profiled as well. |
Gardening for Wildlife | 175 |
![]() |
Annuals for Every GardenDazzling with an infinite variety of colors and forms, annuals are some of the most versatile garden plants. In this book you'll encounter hundreds of enchanting classic and cutting-edge bloomers for a long season of brilliant color and fragrance. Whether you'd like to create a spectacular ever-changing annual border, design a drought-resistant display, lighten up a shady border, or enjoy an evening garden, you'll find the plants that are just right for the job. |
Great Plants | 174 |
![]() |
Spring-Blooming Bulbs: An A to Z Guide to Classic and Unusual Bulbs for Your Spring GardenThese bulbs are among the first brave flowers to poke through the snow in early spring, as well as some of the most unusual and spectacular bloomers for the garden. This book spotlights these important and reliable garden plants and emphasizes many lovely unusual bulbs that are often omitted from other guides. Readers will learn how to combine these plants with more familiar garden plants in beds and borders and other garden areas, to make the most of their bloom time and to set off their special qualities. |
Great Plants | 173 |
![]() |
The Sunny Border: Sun-Loving Perennials for Season-Long ColorEdited by one of North America's leading gardeners and landscape architects, C. Colston Burrell, this handbook celebrates the joys of gardens in the sun. It presents design ideas for combining perennials with annual flowers, grasses, ferns, and shrubs, and features an encyclopedia of more than 100 dramatic plants and information specific to every North American region. |
Garden Design | 172 |
![]() |
Gourmet Vegetables: Smart Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and Gourmet CooksAnne Raver, The New York Times columnist and one of America's best-loved garden writers, has put together a handbook that celebrates the savory, homegrown tastes of North America's cosmopolitan cuisine, from ancient black Aztec corn to Osaka purple mustard greens. Both gardeners and gourmands will relish this luscious volume written by leading gardeners, growers, and chefs. |
Kitchen Gardening | 171 |
![]() |
Essential Tools: Equipment and Supplies for Home GardenersThis no-nonsense guide to everything from classic bamboo rakes to high-tech, high-carbon steel shovels provides tips on what's indispensable for every gardener according to his or her size, strength, climate, and gardening goals. Plus, experts pick their six can't-live-without tools. |
Gardening Techniques | 170 |
![]() |
Summer-Blooming Bulbs: Scores of Spectacular Bloomers for Your Summer GardenAfter the riotous spring blooms fade, many gardeners assume the bulb display is finished for the year. This colorful guide features scores of spectacular bulbs that light up the summer garden-not only the familiar lily and gladiolus but also exotic flowers such as South African natives Tulbaghia and Near Eastern and Asian beauties Eremurus and Colocasia. |
Great Plants | 169 |
![]() |
The Potted Garden: New Plants and New Approaches for Container Gardens"[A] practical, readable, and comprehensive handbook that will bring out the green thumb in anyone. What's exciting is the inclusion of lush photos and fresh ideas for unusual plant selections and potting materials, which will appeal to gardeners of varying levels of experience."-Library Journal |
Gardening Techniques | 168 |
![]() |
Gourmet Herbs: Classic and Unusual Herbs for Your Garden and Your Table"Don that chef's apron, pull on those gardening gloves, and get ready to harvest a wealth of herbal information that will spice up the kitchen and beautify the garden."-Booklist For gardeners and gourmands alike, this handsome guide is full of practical advice on growing, preserving, and cooking with classic as well as unusual, hard-to-obtain herbs at the heart of international cuisine. |
Kitchen Gardening | 167 |
![]() |
Japanese-Inspired Gardens: Adapting Japan's Design Traditions for Your Garden"This guide will enable the gardener to design a Japanese-style landscape that acknowledges its inspiration without resorting to stereotypical cliches."-Booklist ![]() Out of Print |
Garden Design | 166 |
![]() |
Landscaping Indoors: Bringing the Garden InsideThis book reveals the secrets to creating a lush indoor garden, from setting up a Wardian case for ferns and orchids to growing oranges and bamboo. |
Garden Design | 165 |
![]() |
Natural Disease Control: A Common-sense Approach to Plant First AidExpert pathologists from across the continent explain how to identify the diseases that plague your plants-and how to treat them effectively using the least toxic controls available today. |
Gardening Techniques | 164 |
![]() |
Hummingbird Gardens: Turning Your Yard Into Hummingbird HeavenHummingbirds enliven your garden with their glittering colors and bold, inquisitive personalities as they dash from one tempting bloom to the next. This book shows you how to attract hummingbirds to your yard by planting the flowers they love. You can add vibrant color to your small piece of the planet and at the same time ensure a brighter future for North America's tiniest birds. |
Gardening for Wildlife | 163 |
![]() |
Old-Fashioned Flowers: Classic Blossoms to Grow in Your GardenThere's an enchantment to old-fashioned flowers. They were the blossoms that furnished our ancestors with food, medicines, cleaning aids, and insect repellants. They provided the inspiration for poetry, the emblems for political movements, and bouquets for lovers. In this spectacularly illustrated guide to once-forgotten flowers, you'll find the stories behind scores of captivating plants from the past—and tips on how they can grace your garden. |
Great Plants | 162 |
![]() |
Chile Peppers: Hot Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and GourmetsThis beautifully illustrated guide tells you everything you need to know to grow 50 varieties of tongue-tingling pods, from mild jalapeƱos to fiery hot habaneros. |
Kitchen Gardening | 161 |
![]() |
Easy Lawns: Low Maintenance Native Grasses for Gardeners EverywhereThis groundbreaking guide tells you all about the native grasses and hedges that allow you to have a beautiful lawn without endless hours of mowing, watering, fertilizing, and applying pesticides. |
Gardening Techniques | 160 |
![]() |
Wildflower Gardens: 60 Spectacular Plants and How to Grow Them in Your GardenGrowing native wildflowers is the most beautiful and carefree way to bring the natural landscape into your own backyard. This reader-friendly guide shows you how to choose spectacular wildflowers—whether bluebells to grace a woodland floor, swamp sunflowers to brighten a flower border, or bee balm to punctuate a prairie garden. |
Garden Design | 159 |
![]() |
Flowering Vines: Beautiful Climbers |
Great Plants | 158 |
![]() |
Starting from Seed: The Natural Gardener's Guide to Propagating PlantsThis fully illustrated, easy-to-use guide includes everything you need to know to collect, store, and grow seeds successfully. |
Gardening Techniques | 157 |
![]() |
Bird Gardens: Welcoming Wild Birds to Your YardIn this beautifully illustrated guide, National Audubon Society staffers from across the country show you how to attract wild birds that delight with their flashes of color and cheerful song. |
Gardening for Wildlife | 156 |
![]() |
The Shady Border: Shade-Loving Perennials for Season-Long ColorThis reissue of the first book about how to create a spectacular flower bed in low-light areas of a garden guides the gardener to design intricate, layered tapestries of bloom and foliage for year-round beauty. Under the protection of tree branches, some of the most bewitching plants available grow luxuriantly, producing stunning color, textural combinations, and memorable garden pictures. Updated sources and new photos. |
Garden Design | 155 |
![]() |
Kitchen Gardens: Beyond the Vegetable PatchThis book discusses vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and stylish garden designs that suit your climate. |
Kitchen Gardening | 154 |
![]() |
Easy Compost: The Secret to Great Soil and Spectacular PlantsWritten by composting experts across the country, who simplify this natural process while shattering some long-held myths. Includes composting tips for all regions and small spaces, as well as a buyer's guide to equipment. |
Gardening Techniques | 153 |
![]() |
Growing Conifers: Four-Season PlantsConifers are the most underrated plants in the landscape world! These versatile, low-maintenance plants come in an array of shapes other than the ubiquitous pyramid and in umpteen colors—yellows, blues, grays, and maroons. This essential guide covers selecting, growing, and designing with conifers, and includes an encyclopedia of scores of spectacular candidates for your garden. |
Great Plants | 152 |
![]() |
The Natural Water Garden: Pools, Ponds, Marshes & Bogs for Backyards EverywhereThere's more to water gardening than the conventional water-lily in a tub. This book divulges the secrets of growing the delicate aquatics that float on the still, smooth surfaces of ponds, the brilliant cardinal flowers that grace marshes with startling splashes of color, the intriguing carnivorous pitcher plants that live in spongy quaking bogs—and much more. |
Garden Design | 151 |
![]() |
Tantalizing Tomatoes: Smart Tips & Tasty PicksFrom planting tips to pruning hints, from instructions on starting seeds to scrumptious recipes, this indispensable guide includes everything you need to know about growing America's favorite vegetable. You'll be harvesting plump, juicy, mouth-watering—and pesticide-free—tomatoes in no time! |
Kitchen Gardening | 150 |
![]() |
Bulbs for Indoors: Year-round Windowsill SplendorFlowering bulbs are the perfect antidote to the winter blahs. Learn how to force tulips, hyacinths, and other hardy bulbs for a head start on spring, and how to grow rare, tender bulbs that bloom year-round. |
Great Plants | 148 |
![]() |
Growing Fruits: Nature's DessertsFruits that you grow yourself can ripen on the plant until they're bursting with ambrosial juices. This great guide covers strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, apricots, raspberries, grapes, and offbeat and unusual fruits. |
Kitchen Gardening | 147 |
![]() |
Native Perennials: North American BeautiesWhy grow foreign delphiniums when you can have beautiful lobelia? Native wildflowers can play a variety of roles in your garden and create a regional feel so your yard doesn't scream "Anywhere USA!" |
Great Plants | 146 |
![]() |
Woodland Gardens: Shade Gets ChicShade has often been the bane of gardeners, but it sure doesn't have to be! Learn how to select and grow the best plants for lush, lovely gardens in every region and all kinds of shade—from cool woodland retreats to shaded urban lots. Covers scores of wonderful woodland plants for every region. |
Garden Design | 145 |
![]() |
Butterfly Gardens: Luring Nature's Loveliest Pollinators to Your YardDetailed, practical information on dozens of butterflies—all spectacularly illustrated in color—plus an encyclopedia of the best plants for attracting these beautiful pollinators to your garden. |
Gardening for Wildlife | 143 |
![]() |
Easy-Care Roses: Low-Maintenance Charmers |
Great Plants | 142 |
![]() |
Shrubs: The New Glamour PlantsFor too long, shrubs have taken a backseat to more popular perennials and glitzy annuals. This book tells you everything you need to know about selecting and growing these indispensable plants for shape, color, texture, fragrance, screening, and privacy. |
Great Plants | 141 |
![]() |
Going Native: Biodiversity in Our Own BackyardsTop designers show how to combine exquisite wildflowers and other native species in spectacular plantings that provide a refuge for beleaguered plants and animals. Features scores of spectacular native plants and garden plans for every region. |
Garden Design | 140 |
![]() |
Natural Insect Control: The Ecological Gardener's Guide to Foiling PestsThis indispensable book makes natural pest control as easy as possible. It includes a beautifully illustrated Encyclopedia of Pests to assist in identification. A variety of "safe" controls are recommended. |
Gardening Techniques | 139 |
![]() |
Ferns: Wild Things Make a Comeback in the GardenWho needs flowers! The first fiddleheads of spring unfurl a world of green for the garden. Here's information on propagating, dividing, and growing, with an encyclopedia of 65 easy-to-grow species. |
Great Plants | 138 |
![]() |
Indoor Bonsai: How to Succeed With Bonsai Grown Inside Your HomeThe concept of indoor bonsai is an American innovation that was largely developed by Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Written by North America's foremost bonsai pioneers, this reissued illustrated guide to growing and keeping miniature trees thriving provides advice on everything from artificial light to fertilizer to mastering wiring techniques and what to do when a bonsai owner goes on vacation.
Out of Print |
Great Plants | 125 |
![]() |
Orchids for the Home & Greenhouse |
Great Plants | 107 |
![]() |
Bonsai: Special TechniquesA guide to advanced techniques. ![]() Out of Print |
Great Plants | 51 |
![]() |
The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-upsSPECIAL PUBLICATION |
Children's Gardening |


























































