This is a good time to take a break from practical gardening books and read something really inspiring. I’m currently reading The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift  and cannot recommend it highly enough.  It is a jewel of a book that takes its inspiration from the medieval Book of Hours and tells the story of how Katherine made a garden in a place that had been inhabited and gardened since medieval times. Using historical plants she laid out a series of gardens each reflecting one particular period of the garden’s history.  But this is much more than an academic exercise, it is the tale of one woman’s passion for her garden and the daily struggles to realise her dream.

The dark evenings and wild weather mean that practical gardening is somewhat limited, so this is the perfect time to pick up a book that can be read for pleasure as well as instruction.  A Countrywoman’s Notes (Frances Lincoln £9.99)* is just such a book.  Written by one of the 20th centuries iconic gardeners, the late Rosemary Verey, this small volume is a reprint of the original which was published in 1989.  The notes follow the year  and are accompanied by attractive contemporary engravings.  It would make a very nice Christmas present.

Following on from ‘Tulip’, Anna Pavord has now broadened her subject area to encompass all bulbs. Her new book ‘Bulb’ (Octopus Books £30) is beautifully written and an invaluable reference work for anyone who wants to be inspired and informed about how to grow a whole range of interesting species and cultivars.

This new book (Antique Collectors’ Club £25) uses the late Mary McMurtrie’s delicate flower paintings to illustrate a book about her gardening life. A contemporary of Margery Fish, like her, she preserved many flowers that might otherwise have been lost to cultivation after the Second World War. It would make a lovely present for a keen gardener.