Handbooks

"A brilliant collection of gardening handbooks." —New York Times

Since 1945, BBG's award-winning horticultural handbooks have offered practical information in a compact, easy-to-read format. Written by top gardening experts and packed with spectacular color photos, BBG guides are full of ideas on how to make your garden beautiful, bountiful, and ecologically sensible.

- Japanese-Style Gardens
  
  This delightful guide includes profiles of iconic Japanese-style public gardens, a primer on the historical roots of various styles, commentary by the most respected names in Japanese garden design, and practical information on designing and caring for a Japanese-inspired home garden.
  
  PreviewJapanese-Style Gardens
  
  Purchase Japanese-Style Gardens
- The Kid’s Guide to Exploring Nature
  
  This gorgeously illustrated book, created by Brooklyn Botanic Garden's expert educators, teaches children how to observe environments as a naturalist does and leads them on 24 adventures that reveal the complex ecosystems of plants and animals in the woods, at the beach, and in a city park.
  
  PreviewThe Kid’s Guide to Exploring Nature
  
  Purchase The Kid’s Guide to Exploring Nature
- Easy Compost
  
  This completely revised edition of BBG's bestselling handbook Easy Compost, updated with a new focus on urban composting, remains an essential guide to the science and art of this green practice.
  
  PreviewEasy Compost
  
  Purchase Easy Compost
- Green Roofs and Rooftop Gardens
  
  Living roofs cool the air, reduce water pollution, extend roof life, and cut energy costs. They also provide green space for city dwellers and habitat for birds and insects. Green Roofs and Rooftop Gardens tells the stories behind some of the city’s most interesting green roofs and offers tips for starting your own.
  
  PreviewGreen Roofs and Rooftop Gardens
  
  Purchase Green Roofs and Rooftop Gardens
- A Native Plants Reader
  
  Complementing Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s top “how to” guides like Great Natives for Tough Places, A Native Plants Reader offers a set of engaging narratives on the importance of native plants.
  
  PreviewA Native Plants Reader
  
  Purchase A Native Plants Reader
- Edible Gardens
  
  Bring great-looking food plants into your garden with a portfolio of delicious designs for an edible front yard, native food forest, children’s garden, and more! A plant encyclopedia profiles the origins, ornamental qualities, growing requirements, and culinary uses of more than 100 edible garden plants.
  
  PreviewEdible Gardens
  
  Purchase Edible Gardens
- The Climate Conscious Gardener
  
  Gardeners can make a difference! This step-by-step guide to offsetting climate change through gardens and landscaping explains what happens when the atmospheric balance of carbon and nitrogen goes awry, and how plants, soil, and synthetic gardening aids (such as fertilizer and pesticides) affect climate.
  
  PreviewThe Climate Conscious Gardener
  
  Purchase The Climate Conscious Gardener
- Great Natives for Tough Places
  
  Find native plants that thrive in challenging growing conditions! This comprehensive guide offers portraits of more than 120 gorgeous and low-maintenance plants, as well as strategies for selection and care.
  
  PreviewGreat Natives for Tough Places
  
  Purchase Great Natives for Tough Places
- Fragrant Designs
  
  Fragrant 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.
  
  PreviewFragrant Designs
  
  Purchase Fragrant Designs
- Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens
  
  Create 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.
  
  PreviewHealthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens
  
  Purchase Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens
- The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-ups
  
  SPECIAL PUBLICATION
  Hardcover | 9" x 11" | 96 pages | 100% postconsumer recycled paper
  
  Winner, Garden Writers Association Gold Award
  
  The Tree Book's beautiful illustrations show buds, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed of 33 trees that grow in North America. Histories of each tree bring to life its character and significance to us, while introductory chapters explore the science and magic of these gentle green giants.
  
  PreviewThe Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-ups
  
  Purchase The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-ups
- Growing Bonsai Indoors
  
  An 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.
  
  PreviewGrowing Bonsai Indoors
  
  Purchase Growing Bonsai Indoors
- Community Gardening
  
  Today, 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!
  
  PreviewCommunity Gardening
  
  Purchase Community Gardening
- Gardening With Children
  
  What 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.
  
  PreviewGardening With Children
  
  Purchase Gardening With Children
- The Tree Care Primer
  
  In 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.
  
  PreviewThe Tree Care Primer
  
  Purchase The Tree Care Primer
- Crazy About Cacti and Succulents
  
  What 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.
  
  PreviewCrazy About Cacti and Succulents
  
  Purchase Crazy About Cacti and Succulents
- 100 Garden Tips and Timesavers
  
  100 Garden Tips and Timesavers has color-coded chapter bars for quick reference to general topics like gardening techniques and vegetables, and each tip is described with step-by-step instructions. Keep it handy for inspiration!
  
  Preview100 Garden Tips and Timesavers
  
  Purchase 100 Garden Tips and Timesavers
- The Best Apples to Buy and Grow
  
  Your 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.
  
  PreviewThe Best Apples to Buy and Grow
  
  Purchase The Best Apples to Buy and Grow
- Designing an Herb Garden
  
  Endlessly adaptable and easy to grow, herbs are the perfect plants for designing a garden that's ornamental, practical, and intoxicatingly fragrant. Written by expert herb gardeners, this beautifully illustrated guide has everything you need to design a dazzling herb garden—simple garden plans, plant recommendations for each design, and indispensable growing tips.
  
  PreviewDesigning an Herb Garden
  
  Purchase Designing an Herb Garden
- The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Orchids
  
  The key to growing spectacular tropical orchids indoors lies in identifying the needs of individual plants and finding the combination of conditions that makes them thrive—from amenable potting mixtures to adequate humidity levels. This volume provides an in-depth look at the basics of successful orchid growing, whether you are cultivating a few plants on a windowsill or nurturing an ever-expanding collection under lights.
  
  PreviewThe Gardener’s Guide to Growing Orchids
  
  Purchase The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Orchids
- Chile Peppers: Hot Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and Gourmets
  
  Sweet bell peppers in every color of the rainbow, mild jalapeños, novel ornamental types, and fiery exotic chiles from around the world are inspiring new interest among gardeners. This indispensable guide tells you everything you need to know to grow and enjoy these tongue-tingling pods.
  
  PreviewChile Peppers: Hot Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and Gourmets
  
  Purchase Chile Peppers: Hot Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and Gourmets
- Starting From Seed: The Natural Gardener’s Guide to Propagating Plants
  
  Starting from seed gives you access to the world's vast storehouse of edible, ornamental, and wild plants. This fully illustrated, easy-to-use guide includes everything you need to know to collect, store, and grow seeds successfully.
  
  PreviewStarting From Seed: The Natural Gardener’s Guide to Propagating Plants
  
  Purchase Starting From Seed: The Natural Gardener’s Guide to Propagating Plants
- The Shady Border: Shade-Loving Perennials for Season-Long Color
  
  While much has been written in recent years about sunny borders, this book is the first about how to create a spectacular flower bed in low-light areas of your garden. Some of the most bewitching plants available today grow luxuriantly in shade, allowing you to design intricate, layered tapestries of bloom and foliage for year-round beauty.
  
  PreviewThe Shady Border: Shade-Loving Perennials for Season-Long Color
  
  Purchase The Shady Border: Shade-Loving Perennials for Season-Long Color
- Native Perennials: North American Beauties
  
  Why 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
  
  PreviewNative Perennials: North American Beauties
  
  Purchase Native Perennials: North American Beauties
- Ferns: Wild Things Make a Comeback in the Garden
  
  Who 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.
  
  PreviewFerns: Wild Things Make a Comeback in the Garden
  
  Purchase Ferns: Wild Things Make a Comeback in the Garden
- Natural Insect Control: The Ecological Gardener’s Guide to Foiling Pests
  
  This 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
  
  PreviewNatural Insect Control: The Ecological Gardener’s Guide to Foiling Pests
  
  Purchase Natural Insect Control: The Ecological Gardener’s Guide to Foiling Pests

Image, top of page: Rebecca Bullene