26 Apr Giveaway! Win a Bumper Crop of Gardening Books from Timber Press

On the one hand, there are flings — the here-today-faded-tomorrow flashes of love, drama and seduction. And on the other hand, there are the smooth and steady partnerships that only get better and more brilliant over time. We were reminded of these two kinds of romance while we were reading Powerhouse Plants, the new title by Graham Rice and published by Timber Press.

Colorful and entertainingly written, the book covers 510 “top performers” that not only loyally go the distance, but also provide dazzling, passionate interest across multiple seasons.

The “powerhouse” plants featured include: peonies (spring shoots, summer flowers, bright fall foliage and fruits); witch hazel (fragrant winter and spring flowers, fall foliage); cyclamen (fall to spring flowers, spring to fall foliage); maple (winter bark, spring flowers, summer fruits, fall foliage color); and ornamental grasses like Japanese blood grass, which “moves from red-tipped through completely red to coppery in winter.”

And the plant in the photo above? That’s an Alstroemeria ‘Princess Fabiana’ before it flowers.

Timber Press is giving this title away to one lucky reader, in addition to a collection of 15 gardening books that includes Concrete Garden Projects, Tulips, The Layered Garden and The Vegetable Gardener’s Guide to Permaculture. Just visit its Ready, Set, Grow guide to spring and enter your email address for a chance to win.

If you do win, tell ’em The Horticult sent you, and they’ll add a copy of Powerhouse Plants to the prize collection.

Good luck!

Spiraea bumalda (Magic-Carpet). Photo © Judy White/Gardenphotos.com.