Reviews For Horticulture Magazine


COSMOS? IS THAT YOU?

Here is another nifty mag I pilfer at work - again, strictly in the interest of knowledge! As opposed to Fine Gardening, Hort offers information on what's hot and what's not. They too have a very informative Q&A section.

Hort is usually dedicated to the new plants and ideas available for the season. They offer informative descriptions of the plant and all related subspecies as well as planting and maintenance guides. They also offer a large section showing upcoming garden and nursery tours, both stateside and overseas.

Their articles are mainly focused on the how-to and why-to whereas Fine Gardening is more personal. I love the combination of the two magazines because I get a peek into someone elses yard in F.G. and then the where-to-get guide in Hort.

Nothing is more fun in February than getting both of these magazines and getting a glimpse into SPRING! Hort's pages are filled with color. They give fine plant descriptions and full guides on the maintenance of these plants. They always have the new and unobtainable plant you just gotta get but can't find. In addition, they offer an extensive advertising section in the back where you can order plants not available at your local nursery. Combine this mag with Fine Gardening and Kitchen Gardening and your yard will be happy, and so will you.


Recommended:
Yes

Subscribing to Horticulture since I was 12

I have subscribed to HORTICULTURE magazine since I was around 12 years old. I believe that the original subscription came in my dad's name, as he was the one who had written the check. The magazine continued to arrive at my parents' house as I was in college. And then as followed me through two different moves. There was a brief skirmish with a double subscription followed by a lack of delivery at all, but now I still look forward to seeing it in the mail.

I have seen different cover styles, different editorial changes and other cosmetic touches, but one thing has remain the same. It is still a tool for the avid gardener. There is nothing worse than picking up a special "gardening" issue of another magazine at the check out line. It is simply full of fluff. A hobby gardener knows how to sow seeds already -- We want more.

Horticulture does a great job of taking a specific plant for a feature article. I remember giving Bergenia a chance in my own yard based solely on the merits of the plat in the article -- I had never considered the purchase before. The Latin namemclature that is used throughout can seem stand-offish at first, but as anyone who has worked in the field knows, common names lead to confusion. Anyone want to buy a "buttercup" that was growing in grandma's yard????

I wholly appreciate the efforts of the Horticulture staff to create a magazine that covers all of the growing zones of the US and more -- and do it well.


Recommended:
Yes

Are you a gardening dummy?

Last year was the first year, I attempted to grow a flower garden. I must admit it did look very pretty and I had lots of nice colored flowers. Only I wish someone had told me that your suppost to space out your perennials. It is now spring and I have flowers on top of flowers and they are growing quite fast by the time summer comes I am going to have to get rid of some and move them or give some to family and friends.

I found Horticulture Magazine this year and I sure wish I had it last year before I attempted my gardening. This magazine is loaded with information for gardening dummies like me.

The magazine helps you with gardening tips. It is filled with pages and pages of colorfull pictures of gardens and gives you advice on what to plant and what not to plant together. It also tells you how to take care of your lawn and also how to avoid bugs in the garden.

What I like best are all the pictures and descriptions of plants and flowers and they tell you how to care for each one and how to take care of it depending on what zone you live in. I have found several flowers that I want to plant this year such as blue wood hyacinths and Belle Etoile. I cannot wait to go to the garden center this year, because I will actually know what I am looking for and what will do best in my yard and where to plant them.


Recommended:
Yes

Who grows there?

I would love this magazine even if it were dreck, because it provides a forum for Christopher Lloyd, the garden writer I consider above all others.
But, there is a great deal more to the publication than that. I guess there is. I'm dazzled.
No, I'm not. There truly is a great deal more. Horticulture is by far the most objective of the gardening magazines, able to evaluate developments from a neutral standpoint. That is essential in this scientific but Luddite age.
The regional articles are a little too personal for my taste. Even the ones for my region don't seem very apt.
The major problem I have with Horticulture is that it is too short. It is a very slender, though slick, magazine; there are not the pages of personal ads found in some other publications.
You will never find writing in Horticulture that is not intelligent, informed, and interesting.


Recommended:
Yes

A magazine for gardeners

This is a GREAT magazine for gardeners and plant lovers. If you like to put your hands in to dirt, are interested in people who make plants their life, and believe "low-maintenance garden" is an oxymoron, this is your magazine.

If you are looking for high gloss that showcases the tops in garden design--but don't necessarily want to get dirt under your nails--I'd suggest Garden Design magazine. Somewhere in between I would recommend Fine Gardening.

Awesome gardening magazine!

After checking out this magazine at the library I knew it was the one I wanted. It has so much information packed into it that the only way to not get something useful in it would be to not open it!

Lots of Gardening Info!

Out of many gardening magazines I have looked at this summer, I think I have enjoyed this one the most. I'm a long time fan of Sunset magazine and so everything I see gets compared to it. So far, Horticulture comes the closest.

What I am looking for, generally, is strictly how-tos, what kinds of plants do well in what climates, and how to combat pests and diseases. Garden design is less important that doing well with what I have. This magazine gives me those things.

First, one of the magazine's regular feature is a climate map. This map shows, by region, what types of gardening activities should be done in that region in a particular month. Obviously activities would be much different in the Pacific Northwest, than say, the Southwest. This map is very informative and is actually fun to compare how tasks differ across the United States.

Another regular department features stories about a particular plant. These articles provide pictures of the plant, including other species and subspecies. They give botanical information, growing conditions, propagation tips, and care and feeding of the plants. One June article shows some very lovely species of Salvia. One species is a blood red type called Salvia darcyi. Those shown are way beyond what I ever see in my local nursery. It makes me want to go out and try to find a seed catalog!

There is a regular feature that spotlights a formal garden, usually public, somewhere in the world. Gardens from all over the world have been featured. Some of the landscaping is very beautiful and the pictures do them justice. A related feature suggests gardens to visit as a vacation attraction. Some are of historical importance or perhaps just a city garden that a city is particularly proud of.

This magazine also has the obligatory features on garden tools, gardening books, planting tips (with actual diagrams), and questions and answers. I also like the Hort Journal, which is basically gardening news, like discovery of a new pesticide. Field Notes is also a good feature because it consists of short little articles on some aspect of gardening, largely personal experience type stories.

I only have a couple of small complaints about the magazine. First it is too small, only 82 pages. Fortunately, only about one-fourth is ads. But that still doesn't really leave much for articles. I also find the type a bit small. Also some of the paragraphs are too long and dense. It could do with some sidebars and bulletized lists to help break up the paragraphs and create white space.

Overall, I enjoy the magazine and may subscribe to it. It is geared much closer to my budget and time availability. However, I always waffle when buying gardening magazines since six months out of the year no gardening is taking place--so what I do with the magazine during that time? Maybe the magazine has some suggestions! Hmmm....

Recommended:
Yes

"American Gardening At It's Best"... You Bet!

The folks who bring you Horticulture magazine proclaim their publication to be "American Gardening At It's Best;" I couldn't have said it better myself.

Horticulture is published bi-monthly, except during the main gardening season of the year (March, April, May, and June) when you're treated to a monthly issue. Each issue of Horticulture is bursting with accurate, timely information useful to the home gardener. Several regular features of the magazine, like Q & A where reader's questions are answered by a staff expert, never fail to teach me something new, remind me of something forgotten, or simply entertain and enlighten. In Field Notes, you get a seasonal update from each region of the country which delivers something to readers from USDA Zone 1 to USDA Zone 10.

I love the in-depth articles detailing a particular plant or gardening project, as well as the easy to follow step-by-step guides offered on a variety of gardening topics. My favorite features is Sources where you will find a complete and accurate listing to find the plants, seeds, & supplies mentioned in each and every issue of Horticulture.

The only fault I've found in Horticulture is the lack of emphasis on organic and sustainable gardening which I believe to be of utmost importance to anyone who grows (or eats) plants of all kinds.

Horticulture magazine is the gardening magazine with all the facts, minus the fluff!


Recommended:
Yes

Starched-Collar Gardening

Are you a gardening dummy?

Well, if you are, Horticulture is not the magazine for you. You'd best start out with another publication that caters to inexperienced gardeners. I'd suggest Organic Gardening, offered by Rodale. Subscribe to such a magazine for a year and then try Horticulture out.

Are you a garden prude?

Well, if you are, Horticulture is definitely for you. This magazine seems designed for those who think of gardening as a club with recognized leaders who know best. There are rules in the Horticulture gardening club: a right way and a wrong way.

The truth is that almost all gardeners think this way, even those who advocate a completely organic, habitat-friendly way of doing things (perhaps I should say that rules are important especially for these types). Horticulture simply aligns itself with traditional, agricultural school ways of thinking about growing plants. Its editors have a bit more panache, but just a bit more.

One of the most consistent weaknesses of Horticulture is that many of its articles are not articles at all, but merely lists of recommended varieties of plants with a few sentences of narrative pasted at the beginning and the end. I'm not denying that many gardeners want to know the difference between cultivars, but such information is best presented in charts, not in paragraph form. When I read some of these articles, I'm reminded of the most boring parts of Genesis, where the species clematis begat the cultivars henryii and gardenii...

Still, I keep my subscription to Horticulture current. Every now and then the editors let a real writer contribute an article, and the results are well worth reading. The best example I can think of is The New German Style by Stephen Lacey in the March 2000 issue. Instead of listing new hybrids, this article describes an approach to gardening which is radically different from that traditionally practiced in the United States, one in which plants are allowed to grow as they would naturally, in communities planted in relatively infertile soil. Writers like Lacey understand that gardening is most compelling because of the relationship that it creates between gardeners and the earth, not because of the opportunities for collection it provides.

With more articles like this one, Horticulture could become a truly fantastic magazine. If you have the experience and the patience to put up with short-sighted attention to picky details, go ahead and get a subscription. If not, I suggest another magazine, or better yet, a visit to the library or the internet for some good free sources of the information you need.


Recommended:
Yes

Nifty Perennials!

I, being a "Vegan" (a VERY strict vegetarian) and all, decided to attend a shopping excursion with my Mother. Often times, getting distracted by pretty colors, I get lured into the never-ending wall of magazines. Standing in front of this "magazined" shelf, I feel quite intimidated. SO many magazines to choose from! Well, this particular day, I felt a little frisky. I, contrary to popular belief, CAN bring myself to buy a magazine in a plastic covering! And,I must say, it was rather fortunate that I did! I've read Gardening magazines to and from Barnes and Noble, but NO OTHER seemed to cover the fundamentals of having healthy perennials and nifty tulips quite like this one. "GARDENING", as a magazine, is a beautiful thing. It offers several helpful hints, etc. But, it often gets distracted with accessories to the garden, rather than the flowers themselves. If you're really looking for something that will make your flowers bud like mad, Horticulture is the one for you, baby. I can't remember which exact issue it was, but I must have read it at least 20 times. Being the garden fanatic that I am, I'm easily amused by these floral things - But this takes the cake! Not only was I reading the magazine more than once, my family even got involved in this gardening fiasco! If you're looking for straight floral advice, Horticulture is the best way to go - - however, if you are more into the accessory aspect of gardening, look to "GARDENING" and other magazines of the like. Thankyou, ladies and gentlemen - and happy flowering!


Recommended:
Yes

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