The first book, Organic Gardening Down South is by author Nellie Neal and is perfect gift for those southern gardeners who struggle with heavy clay. Not only does Nellie show how to garden in such adverse conditions, but she also shows how to garden organically.  This includes some items that she prefers not to grow and some, like strawberries that she finds are are waste of effort if you want a really good tasting berry.  You can find more about Nellie Neal at www.gardenmama.com

The second book is by C L Fornari, who writes about gardening in the north east, and this particular book is A Garden Lover’s Matha’s VIneyard.  The gardens in that area have a wonderful mix of wealth and farming. The book includes so many pictures of the gardens that you really get a feel for the area just from reading! See the book and learn about C L at http://www.gardenlady.com/

Then we had a slight change of pace as we chatted with Pat Stone who is the publisher of Green Prints – A Weeder’s Digest.  This quarterly magazine takes the same form as the Reader’s Digest, and is a real treat for those five minutes with a cup of coffee or tea.  The vignette stories are all factual but written in a charming casual way and they are only a page or two long.  The magazine also contains some great cartoon-like images to illustrate the stories.  A group of regular artists contribute to this part of the book.  The whole publication is produced by the Stone family, and comes out of the hills of North Carolina. It can be ordered from www.greenprints.com

Finally we had garden writer Gwen Moore Kelaidis and photgrapher Saxon Holt.  They combined their talents in the book Hardy Succulents – Tough Plants for Every Climate. Saxon told us that the first problem was that the author insisted that he travel out of California to find the succulents, so he found himself photographing a green roof from a cherry picker, and snow covered succulents as well as those in warmer climates. The book can be found at: http://www.timberpress.com/books/isbn.cfm/9781580177009.

All the books can be ordered from the lovely and helpful Amazon.com and make great gifts for you or the gardener in your life.

Hear the tape of the original show where we chat to these authors at http://radiosandysprings.com/showpages/mastergardener.php and click on Dec 6th.