Garden Magzines - Top Picks

Gardening magazines are monthly garden inspiration. They tell us about new plants, garden design ideas and gardening techniques. While gardening books are like old friends, garden magazines offer endless new gardening possibilities.

Here are my picks for the top gardening magazines.

This magazine is a wonderful mix of maticulously cared for private gardens and articles about what's new. My favorite feature is at the end of each garden profile, when the owners share their knowledge and tips. Whether you lust after the look of an English garden or just want to hear from some of the most entusiastic gardens out there, each issue is a treasure.

If you only read one gardening magazine, I recommend Fine Gardening. They just seem to know what's important at the moment. There are regional departments and the writers come from all over and all aspects of gardening.

Garden Gate has no advertisements, just lots of colorful pages of gardening how-to and tips. They have regular features like: Before & After, Design Challenge, Container Recipe and Weed Watch. Garden Gate always offers something new to learn, while providing plenty of eye candy.

Sunset is not exclusively a gardening magazine, but since they set the standard for western hardiness zones and have produced such a wonderful library of western gardening books, they are often the first source turned to by western gardeners. Non-westerners could learn a thing or two from Sunset about upcoming trends, too.

Most gardeners enjoy attracting birds to their gardens and Birds & Blooms combines the two interests into one magazine. Their are tips on plants for attracting particular birds, education for those of us who can't identify all the birds that come to our gardens, crafts and projects and lots and lots of photos.