Plant-Based Reads

From a beautifully photographed tour of South Africa’s most memorable gardens to inspiration for those obsessed with trees, house plants or cacti, these books will get you into the great outdoors.

THE KEW GARDENER’S GUIDE TO GROWING HOUSE PLANTS

By Kay Maguire

White Lion Publishing, R269 There are loads of guides to growing indoor plants available right now, but this one – published under the aegis of one of the world’s top botanical gardens – stands out from the pack. Combining delicate botanical illustrations with 12 enjoyable practical projects, it’s both informative and inspiring.

GROW FRUIT & VEGETABLES IN POTS: PLANTING ADVICE & RECIPES FROM GREAT DIXTER

By Aaron Bertelsen Phaidon, R670 Focused on the expert advice of renowned Great Dixter gardener Aaron Bertelsen for successfully “growing your own” fresh produce in containers, this beautifully designed volume also includes 50 recipes that deliciously showcase the resulting ingredients.

REMARKABLE GARDENS OF SOUTH AFRICA

By Nini Bairnsfather Cloete Quivertree Publications, R655 Combining history with horticulture, this beautifully photographed and designed coffee-table book takes its reader on a memorable tour of 20 of South Africa’s finest gardens. From a remarkable rock garden created in the Magaliesberg by a pair of artists to several glorious Cape oases, this is one to repeatedly page through with pleasure. THE BOLD DRY GARDEN: LESSONS FROM THE RUTH BANCROFT GARDEN By Johanna Silver Timber Press, R739 Evocatively photographed by Marion Brenner, this book showcases the California garden created by Ruth Bancroft (1908-2017). After deciding to focus on succulents in the 1970s, she ended up with more than 2 000 species of cacti, succulent shrubs and trees – proof positive that you don’t need water to create something genuinely gorgeous in a garden.

THE STORY OF TREES AND HOW THEY CHANGED THE WAY WE LIVE

By Kevin Hobbs and David West Laurence King, R670 Maintaining, as its foreword writer suggests, “a delicate balance between fact-finding and storytelling”, this exquisitely illustrated book presents 100 species of trees from around the world. A great gift for gardeners, it is also a book to present to anyone fascinated by trees in general. We’d just like to request that they include the baobab in any revised editions…