As mentioned, this is simply a list of gardening books that I have explored at various times. Some are more useful for their pictorial information than their cultural information. Most of the books that interest me are those that deal with growing conditions in Alberta and particularly the region from Edmonton north, however many books that deal with a broader range of growing conditions are also useful to me.

Home Gardening Course; University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension; 1986; ISBN 0-88864-852-9. This is a very comprehensive work that covers just about everything you need to know about growing plants. It started out as a true home course with individual booklets that were mailed out to course participants. These were later bound together and sold as one book.

Perennials for the Prairies; Toop & Williams; University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan, Faculty of Extension; ISBN 1-55091-005-1. A useful book with coloured pictures and cultural information dealing with perennials.

Rose Gardening on the Prairies; Shewchuk; University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension; ISBN 0-88864-140-0. Another in the Prairie Gardening series of books.

Woody Ornamentals for the Prairies; Knowles; ISBN 1-55091-025-6.

Annuals for the Prairies; Toop; University of Alberta & University of Saskatchewan, Faculty of Extension; ISBN 1-55105-034-X.

Lois Hole's Northern Flower Gardening: Bedding Plants; Hole; ISBN 1-55105-039-0.

Lois Hole's Northern Flower Gardening: Perennial Favorites; Hole; ISBN 1-55105-056-0.

Lois Hole's Northern Vegetable Gardening; Hole; ISBN 1-551-5--56-0.

Sunset Western Garden Book; Sunset Publishing; ISBN 0-376-03891-8. This book is a good reference source. The climate zones shown in the book are not the same as our Canadian zones but nevertheless, there is still lots of good information about most of the plants that will grow on our northern prairies.

The Wildflower Gardener's Guide, Midwest, Great Plains & Canadian Prairies edition; H.W. Art; ISBN 0-88266-668-1. This book contains quite a bit of information on growing wildflowers along with drawings and some coloured photos.

The Perennial Garden; Cox; ISBN 0-87596-123-1.

Ortho Books publish a number of interesting books: All About Ground Covers; All About Herbs; Gardening in Containers; All About Vegetables; All About Perennials; All About Annuals; Gardening with Color; and Color with Annuals are a few of them.

The New Bedding Plant Expert; Hessayon; ISBN 0-903505-45-2; rev.ed. 1996; pub. Expert Books. This is one book in a series and I have found it to be quite useful for identifying those interesting but often mysteriously nameless plants one finds in plant nurseries. Other books in the series that I have purchased are: The Container Expert and The Flowering Shrub Expert.

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Climbing Plants; Consolino & Banfi; ISBN 0-671-51050-9; 1994. A lovely little book that lists a large number of climbing plants.

The New Northern Gardener; Bennett; ISBN 1-55209-012-4; rev. 1996; Firefly Books. An interesting softcover book that covers not only a fairly wide variety of plants but also culinary uses for many of them. Anyone who has read the Harrowsmith magazines for a while will be familiar with Jennifer Bennett's writing.

The Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers; ed. Brickell; ISBN 0-88850-245-1; 1989; Reader's Digest. A very comprehensive book with colour photos and some cultural information for a large variety of plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs.

Bonsai Techniques I; Naka; ISBN 0-930-422-31-7; Bonsai Institute of California. This is one of the quintessential books for anyone seriously interested in learning this interesting art. John Naka has written a follow-up to this book, Bonsai Techniques II, but I have been told that this is an excellent book to start with and I quite agree. Bonsai seems to transcend boundaries as all sorts of plants, trees and shrubs can be used, locally available and native plant material as well as the more exotic.

The Prairie Water Garden; Paul Harris and Terry Warke; Red Deer College Press. Recommended to me as a great reference book for anyone starting out water gardening.