Here's a smattering of what's on my desk and bedside table right now.
While not a gardening book, it's certainly nature-focused and provides easy-to-understand directions for how to read and in some cases predict the weather, track oneself or animals, and generally have a stronger understanding of your outdoor surroundings. I especially loved learning about understanding winds and the fascinating clues written in the sky and on land.
100 Plants to Feed the Bees: Provide a Healthy Habitat to Help Pollinators Thrive, by the Xerxes Society
In October, I taught a webinar all about designing and creating pollinator-supportive gardens. One of the books I used the most when whittling down my list of plants to highlight was this one from the Xerxes Society. Each plant profile is succinct, but perfectly edited to provide as much essential info as possible. If you only want to buy 1 book on pollinator gardening, this is the one to get.
I have very big ambitions for the gardens at Winterhill and am determined to pace myself and plan more deliberately than I did at Greenleaf. Our property is on and surrounded by both woods and old farm land and I want to ensure there are thoughtful transitions between these garden spaces and wild spaces – and especially to maintain the gorgeous vistas we have. To do that, I'll be leaning on the works of Darrel Morrison who is a master at designing ecologically-sound, naturalistic spaces inspired by our native meadows, woodlands and prairies. Darrel's book weaves stories from his life with highlights of his much-acclaimed design career giving a unique window into the mind of the artist.