You Grow Girl™

Hello my name is Bonnie, and I'm addicted to buying plant books.

I have zero restraint in a book store. It's almost as horrifying as my behavior in a plant store.

I can't help myself. I go straight for the gardening section and start slowly loading up with books I know I'll love.

Case in point, after a nice sushi dinner in Santa Cruz with my plant pal Sharon, we headed into the bookstore to browse. Immediately, I told Sharon not to let me get anything. She looked at me as though I told her to choke me in the store. We both know I buy books like a starved weasel who has found an overturned Dunkin Donut truck.

I ended up buying three books.

1. Guerilla Gardening: How to Create Gorgeous Gardens for Free by
Barbara Pallenberg

2. The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants
by Peter D'Amato

3.Potted by Andy Sturgeon

The sad thing is that if I had shown a bit of restraint, I probably could have gotten all three of these books used or at least a lot cheaper than full price on the Web.

So as I snooped around on Amazon.com, I ended up buying two more plant-related books. But at least these two were super-cheap since I found them used.

1. Exotic Herbs: A Compendium of Exceptional Culinary
Herbs by Carole Saville

2. Chile Death: A China Bayles Mystery
by Susan Albert
(her mysteries revolve around plant knowledge)

Oh, and did I happen to mention that I had to buy my horticulture textbooks at full price as well? Had I known what books we were supposed to read, I would have bought most of them online for a lot less. I suppose I can still return the books and do that -- but alas I'm lazy.

Here are my class books if you're interested and want to find them used:

1. New Pronouncing Dictionary of Plant Names

2. The Biology of Horticulture: An Introductory Textbook

3. Sunset Western Garden Book

4. Water-Conserving Plants and Landscapes for the Bay Area - published by the East Bay Municipal Utility District

5. Plant Identification Terminology: An
Illustrated Glossary

6. Sunset Western Landscaping Book

I know my classes should prove to be rather interesting just judging from these books. But at least this time, my book-buying binge had a purpose, right?