Horticulture

Horticulture has been defined as the agriculture of plants, mainly for food, materials, comfort and beauty. According to American horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey, "Horticulture is the growing of flowers, fruits and vegetables, and of plants for ornament and fancy." A more precise definition can be given as "The cultivation, processing, and sale of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and ornamental plants as well as many additional services". It also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, soil management, landscape and garden design, construction and maintenance, and arboriculture. In con ...more

Horticulture Books

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses

American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training

Latin for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Plant Names Explained and Explored

The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques

More horticulture books...

Most Read This Week

The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees

How to Read a Tree: Clues and Patterns from Bark to Leaves

Grow Food for Free: No Cost, Low Effort, High Yield

The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators

The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden

Lists

CLASSIC POISONOUS PLANTS by Ghenrietta Von Bloome

Books on gardening

1 book — 1 voter

Weeds, pests, invasives, and diseases

132 books — 5 voters

Best Factual Books for Gardeners and Plant Geeks

66 books — 18 voters

The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips

Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard by William Kerrigan

Best books on apples

26 books — 9 voters

Pest Control for Organic Gardening by Amber Richards

Growing Perennial Foods by Acadia Tucker

The basic gardening bookshelf

28 books — 26 voters

The Millionaire and the Mom by Patricia Kay

Any Rose: Roses in Romance Novels

14 books — 7 voters

Related Genres

Gardening
Plants
Agriculture
Conservation
Flowers

Herbs
Horticulture
Garden Design
Landscaping

Featured News & Interviews

Get Ready! Readers' Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Read »

Quotes Tagged “Horticulture”

“ The cave was cool and silent- thoroughly carpeted- with the most luxuriant mantle of mosses Alma Whittaker had ever seen. The cave was not merely mossy; it throbbed with moss. It was not merely green; it was frantically green. It was so bright in its verdure that the color nearly spoke, as though- smashing through the world of sight- it wanted to migrate into the world of sound. The moss was a thick, living pelt, transforming every rock surface into a mythical, sleeping beast. Improbably, the de ...more ”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, The Signature of All Things

1 likes

“ I am concerned that the ladies are ill-treated." "The ladies who frequent the Fallen Angel are not ill-treated." Her brows knit together. "How do you know?" "Because they are under my protection." She froze. "They are?" He was suddenly warm. "They are. We do all we can to ensure that they are well treated and well paid while under our roof. If they are manhandled, they call for one of the security detail. They file a complaint with me. And if I discover a member is mistreating ladies beneath thi I am concerned that the ladies are ill-treated." "The ladies who frequent the Fallen Angel are not ill-treated." Her brows knit together. "How do you know?" "Because they are under my protection." She froze. "They are?" He was suddenly warm. "They are. We do all we can to ensure that they are well treated and well paid while under our roof. If they are manhandled, they call for one of the security detail. They file a complaint with me. And if I discover a member is mistreating ladies beneath this roof, his membership is revoked." She paused for a long moment, considering the words, and finally said, "I have a passion for horticulture." He wasn't certain how plants had anything to do with prostitutes, but he knew better than to interrupt. She continued, the words quick and forthright, as though they entirely made sense. "I've made a rather remarkable discovery recently," she said, and his attention lingered on the breathlessness of the words. On the way her mouth curved in a small, private smile. She was proud of herself, and he found- even before she admitted her finding- that he was proud of her. Odd, that. "It is possible to take a piece of one rosebush and affix it to another. And when the process is completed properly... say, a white piece on a red bush... an entirely new rose grows..." She paused, and the rest of the words rushed out, as though she were almost afraid of them. "A pink one." Cross did not know much about horticulture, but he knew enough about scientific study to know that the finding would be groundbreaking. "How did you-" She raised a hand to stop the question. "I'll happily show you. It's very exciting. But that's not the point." He waited for her to arrive at the point in question. She did. "The career... it is not their choice. They're not red or white anymore. They're pink. And you're why." Somehow, it made sense that she compared the ladies of the Angel to this experiment in roses. Somehow, this woman's strange, wonderful brain worked in a way that he completely understood. ...more ”
― Sarah MacLean, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover

2 likes

More quotes...