I put together a list for my ‘Creating an Herbal Garden’ class at the Boston School of Herbal Studies. Here are the materials I relied on most heavily for that beginner course, and the seed companies and nurseries I recommend for starting out.

Written Material

Books:

• The Secret Life of Plants, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird
• Secrets of the Soil, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird
• The Secret Teachings of Plants, Stephen Harrod Buhner
• Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Donella H. Meadows

Herbs:

• Complete Book of Herbs, Lesley Bremness
• The New Age Herbalist, Richard Mabey
• Growing 101 Herbs That Heal, Tammi Hartung
• Walking the World in Wonder: A children’s Herbal, Ellen Evert Hopman

Edible Gardening:

• The Gardener’s Handbook of Edible plants, Rosalind Creasy
• Edible Landscaping, Rosalind Creasy
• Edible Forest Gardens,David Jacke and Eric Toensmeier
• Gaia’s Garden, Toby Hemenway
• Designing and Maintaining Your Landscape – Naturally, Robert Kourik
• How to Make a Forest Garden, Patrick Whitefield
• Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison

Ecology:

• Land Mosaics, Richard T.T. Forman
• Practical Ecology, Dan L. Perlman and Jeffrey C. Milder
• The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds, Stephen W. Kress
• Vascular Plants of Massachusetts, Bruce A. Sorrie and Paul Somers

Wild Foraging:

• Wild Plants I Have Known and Eaten, Russ Cohen
• Edible Wild Plants, Peterson FieldGuides

Cookbooks:

• The Wild Table, Connie Green
• Wild Food, Roger Phillips

Websites:

• www.ecologicalherbalist.com
• www.motherearthnews.com
• www.motherearthliving.com
• www.organicgardening.com

Plants and Seeds

For live plants and seeds:

Richter’s Herbs

+1 (905) 640 6677 357

Highway 47

Goodwood, ON L0C 1A0 Canada

www.richters.com

Horizon Herbs

(541) 846-6704

Horizon Herbs, LLC

PO Box 69

Williams, OR 97544 USA

www.horizonherbs.com

For seeds of rare plants:

United Plant Savers

(740) 742-3455

PO Box 776, Athens, OH 45701

www.unitedplantsavers.org

For fruit trees and native shrubs, as whips:

Henry Leuthardt Nursery

(516) 878 1387

Montauk Highway, Box 666, East Moriches

Long Island, NY

St. Lawrence Nurseries

25 State Hwy. 345

Potsdam, NY

(315) 265 6739

www.sln.potsdam.ny.us

For locally grown berries:

Nourse Farms

(413) 665-2658

41 River Road

Whately, Massachusetts

www.noursefarms.com