Top 10 Garden Magazines for Year-Round Inspiration

We like this Better Homes & Gardens Special publication because it features real gardeners with different interests and different gardening challenges. We also enjoy the planting diagrams and the way it incorporates garden crafts.

This magazine is a wonderful mix of meticulously cared for private gardens and articles about what's new. Our 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 enthusiastic gardens out there, each issue is a treasure.

If you only read one gardening magazine, we 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.

Learn from the best. The gardens showcased in "Garden Design" magazine are always innovative and often cutting edge. The photos alone make this magazine worth it, but the details about what's new, both in plants and in design, make it a good reason to keep back issues.

"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.

"Horticulture" magazine cuts to the chase. Their articles are informative and educational with a touch of inspiration to get you to do the right thing by your plants. While "Horticulture" has the pretty pictures required of a gardening magazine, their mission is to teach the serious gardener how to be even better.

This is from the folks at Rodale Institute, who wrote the book on organic gardening. What is especially nice about "Organic Life" is that a lot of their stories are about vegetable gardening, a topic not often covered in other gardening magazines, as well as topics outside the garden. Being organic, they have a wonderful sense of humor about garden pests.

Another great British gardening magazine that is available in the U.S. and Canada, "Gardens Illustrated" covers various British estate gardens, including Christopher Lloyd's Great Dixter, and offers great tips for an assortment of gardening styles.

"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 and Blooms" combines the two interests into one magazine. There 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.