These are not going to fit in a stocking, but they fit the description of stocking stuffers, so here goes:
A good book for the beginning gardener who might want to know the difference between a pergola and an arbor, or know what a folly or a ha-ha is.
In A Garden Miscellany: An Illustrated Guide to the Elements of the Garden
(Timber Press, 2019), author Susan Staubach describes dozens of garden elements like grotto and tuteur, and terms like hardscape and pleach. Each entry has an accompanying illustration and the short descriptions are no more than a few pages. If you know someone who's just getting started in the garden, this would be the perfect book.
Another in the series of Home Grown Gardening titles:
Attracting Birds and Butterflies (Home Grown Gardening)
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020), it's one of the best books I've seen for identifying the birds and butterflies you'd like to attract to your garden, and the plants that will do just that. Author Barbara Ellis lets you know that violets and pansies will bring in the Gulf fritillary and that a dogwood tree will attract more than 90 species of birds. Terrific photos of the birds, the butterflies, and the plants that go with them.
And, to continue with the series:
Container and Fragrant Gardens (Home Grown Gardening)
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020), author Peter Loewer offers expert advice on what to grow in containers and the plants that will bring wonderful scents into your exterior spaces. Did you know you can grow a camellia in 12-inch pot with root pruning? Or that a butterfly bush does well in a loam-based commercial soil mix and should be re-potted every one to two years? In the section on plants for fragrance, he outlines the best in annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, bulbs and vines that will provide perfume throughout the year. Each entry has a beautiful photo and a short description of how to grow these plants in pots or in the garden.
There are other titles in the Home Grown Gardening Series, all worth having.
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