Cheap Reads – Garden Books and More

During this quiet time of the gardening year, I find myself developing a serious case of garden book lust.  If I can’t work in my garden right now, I should at least be drooling over giant glossy garden photos!  Here are a few budget-friendly ways I satisfy my desire for horticultural reading: 

1.  Okay, this is obvious, but I go to the library.  The Multnomah County Library here in Portland has an amazing garden collection and I can stay posted to new books arriving in the collection by subscribing to the RSS feed for new gardening books.  Check your local library for great books on garden topics.

2.  Used bookstores often have extremely reasonably priced gardening titles.  My favorite drop-in and shop bookstore for gardening is the local Goodwill Superstore.  I’ve picked up everything from horticultural classics to recently published hardback coffee-table gardening books for only a few dollars.   Of course large online retailers like Powells and Amazon also have used copies of gardening books for serious discounts.

3.  Host a gardening book and magazine swap with friends.  Because gardening interests change over time, I find that I can usually pull 3 or 4 titles off my shelf that no longer appeal–books on building water features, bonsai, an older edition of the Sunset Western Garden Book, or a book on botanical latin–that would make a great addition to someone else’s library.  I also keep lots of older issues of gardening magazines that I probably will never look at again–but it’s hard to throw them out.  Take the opportunity to share your bounty.  See what your friends are hiding on their bookshelves!

4.  Order seed catalogs.  Okay, so they’re not books, but they provide lots of bedtime reading and good learning opportunities between their covers.  And they fill up your magazine racks.  And they are mostly free!

5.  Watch for sales.  If you have a favorite publisher, check their website frequently or sign up for their e-newsletter to be notified of online sales.  One of my favorite local presses, Timber Press, often offers serious discounts on featured items.  

6.  Buy gardening books through your local garden club or organization.  If you haven’t yet joined a local garden club, consider doing so.  Many gardening organizations are able to offer discounted books and garden supplies to members.  Here in Portland, the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon is one such organization that holds regular book sales to offer discounted books to their members.

7.  Read online.   I know, I hate reading books online.  I want to feel the pages under my fingers.  But you might change your mind once you check out Botanicus.  It’s an amazing digitized library of historic botanical literature from the Missouri Botanical Garden.  Also worth browsing are the digitized titles in the Old Book Library at Earthly Pursuits.