My Favorite Gardening Magazines

From Marie Iannotti,
Your Guide to Gardening.
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Gardening magazines are monthly garden inspiration. They tell us about new plants, garden design ideas and gardening techniques. While gardening books are like old friends, garden magazines offer endless new gardening possibilities.
Here are my picks for the top gardening magazines.

1)

If you only read one gardening magazine, I recommend Fine Gardening. They just seem to know what's important at the moment. There are regional departments and the writers come from all over and all aspects of gardening.

2)

From the folks at Rodale Institute, who wrote the book on organic gardening. What is especially nice about OG is that a lot of their stories are about vegetable gardening, a topic not often covered in other gardening magazines. And being organic, they have a wonderful sense of humor about garden pests.


3)

Horticulture magazine cuts to the chase. Their articles are informative and educational with a touch of inspiration to get you to do the right thing by your plants. While Horticulture has the pretty pictures required of a gardening magazine, their mission is to teach the serious gardener how to be even better.

4)

Learn from the best. The gardens showcased in Garden Design magazine are always innovative and often cutting edge. The photos alone make this magazine worth it. But the details about what's new, both in plants and in design, are why I keep back issues.

5

A Better Homes & Gardens Special publication. I like this particular magazine because it features real gardeners with different interests and different gardening challanges. I also like the planting diagrams and the way it incorporates garden crafts. Mostly it just makes you remember why you're gardening - because it brings pleasure.

6)

The name really says it all. Gardening How-To takes a practical step-by-step approach to their stories, covering the bases on how to create a great garden with plant varieties, techniques and tips.

7)

Herb gardening has gone from trendy to established. Even flower gardeners love herbs. Herb Quarterly is a beautiful magazine with articles on growing and using herbs, a bit of herb lore and, of course, some wonderful recipes.

8)

It seems every garden has a water feature, but for water plants, often we're at the mercy of the limited water plant selection of our local nursery. Water Gardening magazine is writen by people who have water gardens and aims to help the rest of us create and maintain our own little oasis.

9)

If you're interested in hydroponics, greenhouse growing or becoming a commercial grower, Growing Edge magazine serves these otherwise overlooked niches. Indepth reporting, especially on indoor gardening.

10)



The majority of gardenin magazines treat Zone 6 as the standard. West coast gardeners know better and Garden Compass is for them. This is an excellent regional magazine that introduces west coast gardeners to the plants they should be growing, rather than trying to duplicate the cottage gardens of Massachusets. It also appeals to gardeners in other areas who want the unexpected.