Herbs: The Complete Gardener's Guide to Herbs by Patrick Lima with photos by Turid Forsyth

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The soft cover release of the 2001 "Herbs: The Complete Gardener's Guide" this month will make this highly respected book available to a new audience. Author Patrick Lima writes for www.Canadiangardening.com (http://www.facebook.com/Larkwhistle and http://torontogardens.blogspot.com/2009/07/garden-daytrips-larkwhistle-bruce.html)
so his advice will pertain to colder climates and shorter seasons than mine in zone 7 USA but the herb photos and descriptions are universal. All the plant sources are Canadian.

The chapters include: Getting to Know Herbs, Garden Pantry (perennial herbs), Summer Seasonings (annual and biennial herbs), On Thyme, Sage Advice, Going to Seed (flavoring with seeds), All About Alliums (onion family herbs), Salad Days, Tea Leaves, Garden Silverware (plants with silver leaves), Uncommon Scents (fragrance), Herbal Know-How (propagation, preservation, growing indoors).

So, you can see - it is thorough. Since it is a re-release it will not have any new herb hybrids since 2001 but most of us grow mostly non-hybridized varieties.

With all that said, the narrative of this book is beautifully written, easy to read, low on jargon that make gardener's eyes glaze over, provides preferred varieties, and will make you want to grow more herbs than you do now. Seed starting and propagating information is sprinkled throughout, associated with the plants' description and photos - very useful. - plus a 15-page, illustrated chapter.

17-pages of herby recipes from penne to lemonade.


Herbs: The Complete Gardener's Guide


Published by Firefly Books. List price $25 and the 2001 edition is $14 at online booksellers.

It is 220-pages, 8.5 by 11, so there is plenty of space for comprehensive information.
Patrick Lima's other books include: "The Natural Food Garden", "Harrowsmith Perennial Garden", and "Organic Home Garden".

The photographer, Turid Forsyth has many notable books to his credit including: "Tropical Plants of Costa Rica", "The Harrowsmith Salad Garden", "In a Desert Garden", etc.

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