Minnesota Gardens: An Illustrated History (ISBN 0963933833)

Recommended for the all gardening enthusiasts:
Gardening on the Minnesota prairie had its origins with the advent of pioneer homesteads in the 1840s. Because of the climate (especially the severe and extended winters), prospects for horticulture were grim. But in the following 150 years, Minnesota saw the development of estate gardens whose beauty and opulence would rival those of Europe, and who public landscapes would be numbered among the best America had to offer. Hundreds of new plant varieties, a flourishing seed industry, and gardens of all kinds and sizes would extend to every corner of Minnesota. In Minnesota Gardens: An Illustrated History, reference librarian and dedicated gardener Susan Price has drawn upon original sources (including old newspaper accounts, diaries, historic photos, and interviews) to showcase Minnesota gardening past and present in the first comprehensive and superbly illustrated history of the subject that is enthusiastically recommended for the all gardening enthusiasts -- and would serve as an admirable template for similar works celebrating the history of regional gardening anywhere else in the nation.