Discover more ideas about plants and landscaping than you ever thought possible using our huge library. We have nearly 1600 books available to members for borrowing, one of the largest collections on Vancouver Island. We also subscribe to “The RHS Garden,” “Fine Gardening,” and “Horticulture” magazines, and offer back issues that include publications like “Gardener’s World,” “HORTUS,” and “The Garden.”
Our librarian has carefully selected the most informative and highest quality books in each category, focusing on titles that members would like to read but may not purchase due to the expense.
Members save time and money because nothing can replace the decades of experience and expertise each author brings to the table. Every year we purchase more books covering a multitude of categories such as landscaping, trees, flowers, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, grasses, succulents, rock and alpine gardens, dry and wet gardens, gardens for various climates, and reference volumes.
Every book within a category provides a unique and valuable perspective. For example, the “RHS Wisley Handbooks” offer excellent, abbreviated information on a wide range of topics. For more in-depth details, “The Gardener’s Guide” series and “”The Plant Lovers Guide” series are extremely user friendly.
The most popular category is Landscape Design (600 books) and here we strive to acquire books with plenty of examples. Pictures can be very inspirational and help members determine what kind of garden they would like to create. From there, members often move on to books about plant combinations, garden construction, specific genres, pruning, and much more.
Feel free to talk to our librarian at our monthly VHS meetings for more recommendations, or email library@vichortsociety.org.
Recent additions include:
- Gardenlust: A Botanical Tour of the World’s Best Gardens
- Brilliant and Wild: A Garden from Scratch in a Year
- Natural Selection: A Year in the Garden
- Ground Rules: 100 Easy Lessons for Growing a More Glorious Garden
- Designing and Creating a Mediterranean Garden
- Colour Your Garden: Exciting Mixes of Bulbs and Perennials
- Japanese Maples
- RHS Take Chelsea Home: Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Join VHS today for free access to this extensive library.