Do you garden in Florida or know someone about to move there? Here is the second edition of that classic by Monica Brandies, Florida Gardening: the Newcomer's Survival Manual (2nd Ed.), with all the information a newcomer needs to prepare for the move and then have a great Florida garden. Laugh off the garden perils of a muggy buggy climate with Monica’s famous advice, always served forth with a warm smile. Monica is also the author of Herbs and Spices for Florida Gardens, her autobiographical book, Bless You for the Gifts, and, with me as co-author, A Cutting Garden for Florida. She is at work now on a secret new book but -- hint hint-- it has something to do with citrus.

Recently I published a classic biography of gardeners, Who Does Your Garden Grow, by British author Alex Pankhurst. It is the paperback edition and it tells the stories behind favorite cultivars in our gardens: how they were created and for whom they are named. Click here to read an excerpt.

In 2006, Rex Murfitt's book Creating and Planting Alpine Gardens, won a Quill and Trowel award for book writing from the Garden Writers Association. It is a 276-page paperback that entertainingly tells exactly how to build rock gardens and work with alpine plants. What a treasure trove for gardeners who downsize! It has a chapter on alpine houses and a directory filled with great plants to make your garden wonderful. It is now available for Kindle from Amazon.com. It is the sequel to our award-winning rock garden classic, Creating and Planting Garden Troughs.

Here is an offer for the free illustrated e-book by Betty Mackey called Gardening in Small Spaces. It takes up only 1.4 MB and you can email it around legally. For a free email PDF copy, write to bbmackey@prodigy.net and ask.

And for trough lovers, here's papercrete. There are free instructions on the trough page and further info about the 2.0 edition of the papercrete CD, released in October 2009. It is $10 postpaid in the USA and Canada). This is Betty's original technique, developed through trial and error and shown at the Philadelphia Flower Show and at Longwood Gardens.

Buy the papercrete trough CD for $10 with PayPal with the BUY NOW button below.

Click the tulip image above to link to art and photos by Betty Mackey which are featured on ImageKind.com.

HOW TO MAKE PAPERCRETE TROUGHS AND PLANTERS CD

$10 postpaid to USA addresses.

Click the little slideshow to the left to link to Betty Mackey's photos, art, notecards, prints, and tee shirts for sale on RedBubble.com.

Special interest garden books and artwork are the focus here at B. B. Mackey Books.

Free! With any book or CD purchase from this website during 2010, you get a set of attractive garden notecards.

Our aim here at B. B. Mackey Books is to help people garden well, especially when it comes to rock gardening and regional organic gardening. We craft readable, accurate, practical, sometimes humorous, and sometimes award-winning books. Take a look at all our titles. Plus, you'll find free trough-making instructions on this site including papercrete, and free garden how-to tips for many seasons. Read on for introductions to the authors, feature articles, links to other sites, and secure and reliable PayPal links for instant garden book and CD purchases. And please take a look at my colorful paintings and photos elsewhere online. Thanks for visiting! Betty Mackey, Publisher

* New for 2010 is the second edition of Nellie Neal's popular book for Southern gardeners, Questions and Answers for Deep South Gardeners. It is just in from the printer (June, 2010) and it's packed with great reality-based information that you need if you are trying to grow great landscape plants and veggies where it is hot, hot, hot and humid. New questions and an extensive pruning guide to everything have been added. Only $14.95, postpaid. paperback. Click the button to purchase it with PayPal (or credit card via PayPal).

Questions and Answers for D S

Summer Reading Sale! Best of Green Space: 30 years of Composted Columns, by Duane Campbell. 224 pages, paperback, $15.00 postpaid through summer, 2010. For summer reading and a good laugh, take a look at this new book with its great garden technique crossed with curmudgeonly humor. You'll come away with Duane's famous cheapological garden advice (his syndicated column runs in many newspapers), new ideas for your garden, and many a laugh besides. Click the button below to purchase it at this special price.