Suggested Reading
for
Gardening in Central Florida

• WaterWise Florida Landscapes You can pay $20 for a guide to gardening in Florida or just download this excellent plant guide for free. Simple, easy to understand, great pictures - it's an excellent resource.
  
• Southern Living Garden Book The best, detailed compendium of plants that will grow in the South.
  
• Complete Guide to Florida Gardening by Stan DeFreitas. Everyone seems to start with this book. While it is not a gardening classic, it does provide a good overview of Florida plants and landscaping requirements. However, for a more thorough and worthwhile discussion of gardening in Central Florida, I would recommend "Gardening and Landscaping in Central Florida".
• Gardening and Landscaping in Central Florida by Marlys Bell. By far the best source for detailed advice on how to grow plants in Central Florida. My only criticism is that the pictures, while plentiful, do not really show off the color and diversity of the gardens in this area.
• Tropical Garden Design by Made Wijaya. Gorgeous pictures, great narrative, full of ideas. More importantly, it is a challenging book that confronts the dilemma of creating a place for enjoyment in an environment that can never be controlled.
  
• A Cutting Garden for Florida by Monica Brandies, Betty Mackey. An abundance of flowers are listed in great detail along with great practical advice. However, it is surprising that a book devoted to growing colorful cut flowers uses only black and white ink illustrations. There is an excellent review on the Gardening in Central Florida Web blog.
• Best Garden Color for Florida by Pamela Crawford. Sound, practical advice. Excellent pictures that give a good feel for the final result. How can you not like a book about growing plants in Central and South Florida that states, "After 10 years of testing, I had tried about 2,500 plants; 2,300 were dead. Many people would consider my project a complete failure, but I was thrilled. I had found 200 plants that were fabulous, most of them producing beautiful flowers and leaves."
• The Florida Gardener's Book Of Lists by Lois Trigg Chaplin and Monica Moran Brandies. I love lists and I love this book. There are thousands of plants that can be grown in Florida, but only a limited number will thrive and reward your efforts. Finding those plants among all the possibilities is a daunting task, unless you resort to a book like the "The Florida Gardener's Book Of Lists". You like bananas? They got bananas. Curious about which perennials grow best in wet soil? Fear not, they have it covered.
• Landscaping with Tropical Plants by Monica Brandies. While it provides a good introduction to gardening with tropical plants, I found myself frequently asking for more details and insight while I was reading the book. If you are looking for specific ideas on how to garden with tropical plants in Central Florida, I would start with Marlys Bell's book listed above.
• Designing Your Gardens and Landscapes by Janet Macunovich. This is a good basic tutorial on design concepts and techniques. While it is not very inspiring, it does a good job laying out a structured process for designing your home garden.
  
• An Amazon.com book list for Central Florida gardeners
  
• Check out the excellent materials on the Florida Book page of Your Florida Backyard