Now, when the days are short and the garden is dormant, is the time to catch up on reading — before spring lures us back outdoors with all its chores and delights.
Books offer encouragement and instruction as well as deepen our knowledge of nature.
There's no need to keep Latin trinomial plant names or fertilizer formulas in your head if you have the right books on your shelf.
Even though I own hundreds of books on plants and gardens, there are only a few I use daily or weekly.
The Internet is a ready source of information, but it's quicker to track down answers from authors I trust by turning pages than by searching online. Once I clarify a point, I often check the Internet for updates, or a variety of opinions, some more knowledgeable than others.
Take the time to cruise bookstores and libraries to determine what formats, visuals and approaches suit you.
Flora and Fauna Books in Pioneer Square (121 First Ave. S., Seattle; 206-623-4727) is a treasure trove for gardeners and nature lovers.
Choice plant
Plants' quieter virtues shine in winter, when their shapes and bark are revealed.
In summer, when the garden is full and fluffy, we might not notice the paperbark maple (Acer griseum).
But now, when the leaves have fallen, this handsome tree's cinnamon-colored peeling bark shows up like a beacon in the winter landscape.
To do in the garden
It's more what not to do right now — and that is to stay out of beds and borders when the ground is soggy.
Walking in planting beds compacts the soil and ruins its texture, so for now leave the weeds and pruning until it warms up and dries out a bit.
If frost has turned perennials and annuals to mush, try working from walkways or stepping stones to cut them back and clean them out. Their remnants may be soft enough to gently rake out of beds.
And the Elizabeth C. Miller Horticultural Library at the Center for Urban Horticulture (3501 N.E. 41st St.; 206-543-0415; www.millerlibrary.org) is open to the public, with thousands of gardening books to peruse, many available for checkout.
Here are several books I rely on for inspiration, to jog my memory and to confirm my suspicions:
• "Sunset Western Garden Book" (revised and updated, Sunset Publishing, 2001, $32.95). This is as close to a bible as we get in the garden, for it lists thousands of plants with concise information on how to grow them. Don't overlook all the nitty-gritty pruning, planting and basic gardening-technique information in the back, nor the even more useful guide to plant selection in the front.
• A new edition of the Garden Book's companion volume, the "Sunset Western Landscaping Book," is due out in early '06. This book concentrates on the practical aspects of design, planting and caring for a garden, with the bonus of a large, colorful photo gallery of western gardens.
• "Right Plant, Right Place: Over 1,400 Plants for Every Situation in the Garden," by Nicola Ferguson (revised and updated, Simon and Schuster, 2005, $30). A best buy for sure. I can't imagine how anyone squeezed so much good information into one book.
Unlike the Sunset book, this isn't targeted to our part of the country, but it does include all those color photos the "Sunset Western Garden Book" lacks. The descriptions are thorough, the categories useful (fragrance, hedging, variegation, winter-flowering and so on) and the plant information current.
• "The Garden Through the Year" by Graham Stuart Thomas (Sagapress, 2002, $49.95). Between its gorgeous covers, this book contains the gardening wisdom of a lifetime — Thomas wrote this in his 90s, shortly before he died.
Thomas was an expert gardener and plant connoisseur who wrote as elegantly as he drew and painted. Plenty of color photos accompany Thomas' words and art in this month-by-month walk through the garden.
Valerie Easton also answers questions in Wednesday's Plant Talk in Northwest Life. Write to her at P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or e-mail planttalk@seattletimes.com with your questions. Sorry, no personal replies.
