The Webster Viridarium
Garden Plots
During those dark, cold, winter months that Western, New York is so well known for, it never hurts to escape to the pages of a well written novel. If the book’s story revolves around a garden or two, even better.
Here’s our humble list of garden-themed novels—some we’ve already enjoyed, others we can’t wait to read.
The inspiration for this page is The Restoration Garden, a novel by Sara Blaydes. The book switches between the present day efforts to restore a once loved English garden to its former glory, and the events of World War II that tore a family apart. Beautifully written and full of intrigue, it’s a difficult book to put down!
Continuing with the theme, I’m currently reading Bluebell Season, the second book in Jenny Kane’s Potting Shed series. The trilogy follows Maddie Willand, her family and friends, and their efforts to save and grow their small, family-owned garden centre.
Do you have a favourite garden-themed novel? Drop us a line and let us know—we’d love to hear your recommendations.
The books listed here all have a connection to gardening and appear in no particular order.
The Victory Garden
From the bestselling author of The Tuscan Child comes a beautiful and heart-rending novel of a woman’s love and sacrifice during the First World War.
As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage.
The Restoration Garden
A landscape architect unearths the tangled history of a once-celebrated English garden—and all its mysteries—in a captivating novel by the author of The Last Secret of Lily Adams.
Julia Esdaile is hired to restore the historic gardens at Havenworth Manor—the grounds of which are now an abandoned snarl of bramble and weeds—to their original splendor. For the enigmatic lady of the manor, ninety-two-year-old Margaret Clarke, the reason for the restoration is the deeply private story of a promise made a lifetime ago, and a vow to keep it before she dies.
The Secret Garden
Opening the door into the innermost places of the heart, The Secret Garden is a timeless classic that has left generations of readers with warm, lifelong memories of its magical charms.When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen…
The Forgotten Garden
A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book — a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, “Nell” sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to find her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family.
Shady Acres Mysteries
Welcome to Shady Acres Retirement Community, where the flowerbeds are colorful, the residents are quirky, and murder always seems to be in bloom.
After being jilted at the altar, Shelby Hart trades her bouquet for gardening gloves, only to find her fresh start at Shady Acres tangled in secrets, scandals, and suspicious deaths. With the help of her eccentric family, a loyal crew of friends, and the sharp-witted residents of Shady Acres, Shelby stumbles headfirst into whodunits filled with humor, romance, and plenty of small-town charm.
If you love lighthearted cozy mysteries with quirky characters, laugh-out-loud moments, and clever twists, you’ll feel right at home in Shady Acres—though you might want to watch your back around the greenhouse.
Beware the Orchids
A runaway bride’s new gardening job blossoms into murder, mayhem, and unexpected romance.
Shelby Hart thought leaving her fiancé at the altar was the hardest decision of her life—until she discovered a corpse in the greenhouse on her very first day at her dream job. Hoping for a fresh start, she traded wedding vows for gardening gloves and became the new gardener and event coordinator at the prestigious Shady Acres Retirement Community. But when a body is found nestled among the orchids, Shelby’s new beginning is threatened by murder, suspicion, and scandal.
Path to Nowhere
A good girl’s secret life, a murder in Shady Acres, and Shelby Hart determined to dig up the truth—no matter the danger.
Shelby Hart and her quirky crew are back—and this time, the stakes in Shady Acres have never been higher. When the shocking double life of a seemingly perfect resident is exposed after her murder, the upscale retirement community would rather hush it up than face scandal. But Shelby isn’t one to let a killer hide in plain sight.
Poison Foliage
Poison in the garden, a charming new detective, and Shelby Hart in the hot seat once again.
Life at Shady Acres Retirement Community should be peaceful, but for Shelby Hart, murder is never far from the flowerbeds. When poisonous plants mysteriously appear in her garden and a resident turns up dead, Shelby’s reputation—and her future as the community’s gardener—are suddenly on the line.
Poinsettia Madness
An ex-fiancé, a secret club, and a Christmas murder among the poinsettias put Shelby Hart back in the sleuthing spotlight.
The holiday season at Shady Acres should be filled with festive cheer, but Shelby Hart’s Christmas takes a dark and chaotic turn when her former fiancé—the man who jilted her at the altar—suddenly reappears. He demands back the lavish gifts he once gave her…gifts Shelby has long since sold. When he’s discovered dead among the poinsettias, Shelby finds herself tangled in a yuletide whodunit unlike any other.
Deadly Greenhouse Gases
Poison in the greenhouse, secrets from the past, and a killer far too close for comfort put Shelby Hart in the fight of her life.
Shelby Hart swore she was done snooping into murders. But when she collapses in her own greenhouse, gasping for breath after a poisoning attempt, she realizes trouble has no intention of leaving her alone. This time, the danger isn’t coming from a stranger—it’s a friend with a deadly secret, tied to the mysterious death of Shelby’s father five years ago.
Vine Entrapment
Wedding bells, family secrets, and murder—Shelby Hart’s biggest case yet hits dangerously close to home.
Shelby Hart is finally ready to walk down the aisle again—this time with the right man, one who won’t leave her stranded at the altar. But happily-ever-after takes a back seat when her own mother becomes the prime suspect in a shocking crime. As if wedding planning weren’t stressful enough, another murder rocks the Shady Acres Retirement Community, forcing Shelby to put her brand-new PI license to the test.
The French Gardener
It begins as Miranda and David Claybourne move into a country house with a once-beautiful garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness.Then an enigmatic Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda reads about his past in a diary she finds in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season, but generation after generation.
French Dirt
The village was small—no shops, no gas station, no post office, only a café and a school. St. Sebastien de Caisson was home to farmers and vintners. Every evening Goodman watched the villagers congregate and longed to be a part of their camaraderie. But they weren’t interested in him: he was just another American, come to visit and soon to leave. So Goodman laced up his work boots and ventured out into the vineyards to work among them. He met them first as a hired worker, and then as a farmer of his own small plot of land.
French Dirt is a love story between a man and his garden. It’s about plowing, planting, watering, and tending. It’s about cabbage, tomatoes, parsley, and eggplant. Most of all, it’s about the growing friendship between an American outsider and a close-knit community of French farmers.
Old Herbaceous
Delightful descriptions and characterizations enliven this tale of an old-time gardener in an English countryside garden and his love of plants. With tender mentoring and the luck of winning a prize at the flower show, young Herbert becomes what he had dreamed of. This is the amusing story of an awkward orphan child with one leg a bit longer than the other who rises from unremarkable school-boy days spent picking wild-flowers and dodging angry farmers to become the legendary head gardener “Old Herbaceous,” the most esteemed flower-show judge in the county and a famed horticultural wizard. Old Herbaceous traces his journey from young help to head gardener and although things have changed, the world had started with a garden (in Eden) after all, and things that old don’t disappear so easily!
The Garden House
Fresh out of university and right on the precipice of adulthood, El is trying her best to figure out what it is she really wants from life. This is complicated by the fact that she is also dealing with the loss of her father, Martin. After his sudden death, El inherits and moves into his home just outside Tavistock, in the Devon countryside. Her stepbrother and sort-of friend, Will, comes to help her through her grief and to go through her father’s belongings. As El spends time in her father’s home, she uncovers more about his life, and the secrets he had been keeping from her and her family. This includes mysterious messages on his phone from someone El suspects may have been more than just a friendly acquaintance.
In the Garden
by Nora Roberts
Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothchild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee. She isn’t intimidated by Harper House—nor by its mistress. Despite a reputation for being difficult, Roz Harper has been nothing but kind to Stella, offering her a comfortable place to live and a challenging new job as manager of the flourishing In the Garden nursery.
As Stella settles comfortably into her new life, she finds a nurturing friendship with Roz and expectant mother Hayley and a fierce attraction to ruggedly handsome landscaper Logan Kitridge. He’s difficult but honest, brash but considerate—and undeniably sexy. And for a sensible woman like Stella, he may be just what she needs…
Blue Dahlia
A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night…Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothchild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee. She isn’t intimidated by Harper House—nor by its mistress. Despite a reputation for being difficult, Roz Harper has been nothing but kind to Stella, offering her a comfortable place to live and a challenging new job as manager of the flourishing In the Garden nursery.
Black Rose
At forty-seven, Rosalind Harper is a woman whose experiences have made her strong enough to bend without breaking—and to weather any storm. A widow with three grown sons, she survived a disastrous second marriage and built her In the Garden nursery from the ground up. Through the years, In the Garden has become more than just a thriving business—it is a symbol of hope and independence to Roz, and to the two women she shares it with. Newlywed Stella and new mother Hayley are the sisters of her heart, and together, the three of them are the future of In the Garden.
Red Lily
Hayley Phillips came to Memphis hoping for a new start, for herself and her unborn child. She wasn’t looking for a handout from her distant cousin Roz, just a job at her thriving In the Garden nursery. What she found was a home surrounded by beauty and the best friends she’s ever had—including Roz’s son Harper. To Hayley’s chagrin, she has begun to dream about Harper—as much more than a friend…
The Moonlight Gardening Club
Though they come from the same small Irish village, lonely widow Ruby and struggling single mother Frankie couldn’t be more different.
Then they discover the Moonlight Gardening Club, founded to remind its members that even on the darkest of nights, beauty and light can still be found. As they plant flowers chosen specially to be enjoyed under a carpet of stars in the gentle glow of moonlight, an unexpected friendship starts to bloom – and it might be just what each of them needs.
But when shocking secrets from the past are revealed, both their worlds are turned upside down. If their friendship is going to survive, each of them must face what they’ve been running from…
The Memory Garden Society
Dr. Clara Ellwood arrives in the English Cotswolds to settle an estate. She plans to be gone within the week.
She does not plan on the greenhouse. Inside, she finds the life’s work of a grandmother she never knew — journals, remedies, and the carefully documented secrets of a society of women who practiced their craft in silence and survived because of it.In 1942, Lillian Ellwood made a choice. She told no one. She buried it in the only place she trusted — and she spent the rest of her long life wondering if she had done the right thing.Now Clara is standing in that same greenhouse, holding the answer.
The Heirloom Garden
Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to illness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.
The Last Garden in England
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.
The Potting Shed
by Jenny Kane
It has always been Maddie Willand’s dream to take over her father’s plant nursery. But after his sudden death, she is devastated to discover that she might lose The Potting Shed forever.
Maddie’s bossy older sister, Sabi, is joint owner of the nursery, and she’s convinced that the best thing for both of them would be to sell up. Determined to keep the business going, Maddie can’t afford any distractions, but staying focused might be harder than she thinks when – after a major garden centre chain puts in an offer – her search for legal advice throws her into the path of attractive lawyer Ed…
As frost begins to fall over The Potting Shed, will Maddie find the strength to save her father’s legacy and open herself up to new beginnings?
Frost Falls
It has always been Maddie Willand’s dream to take over her father’s plant nursery. But after his sudden death, she is devastated to discover that she might lose The Potting Shed forever.
Maddie’s bossy older sister, Sabi, is joint owner of the nursery, and she’s convinced that the best thing for both of them would be to sell up. Determined to keep the business going, Maddie can’t afford any distractions, but staying focused might be harder than she thinks when – after a major garden centre chain puts in an offer – her search for legal advice throws her into the path of attractive lawyer Ed…
Bluebell Season
Spring has arrived at The Potting Shed and things seem to finally be going Maddie’s way. Her relationship with lovable lawyer Ed is going well and the business is thriving with the help of her new friend Jo and his bright orange coffee van.But troubles are just around the corner… the upgrade of The Potting Shed from a nursery to a garden centre is at a critical point, turning part of Maddie’s business into a building site. And just as she has to temporarily move out of her home, a major garden centre announces its grand opening only twenty miles away.
Misty Mornings
Welcome back to The Potting Shed! As Maddie and Sabi re-open the doors of their family-run garden centre. Business is booming, and it’s time to give back to the community that has kept The Potting Shed afloat, by opening the Forget-Me-Not dementia café. But, as the doors to the café open, Sabi is offered the chance of a lifetime, that could take her away from The Potting Shed for weeks, café manager Jo’s frail, elderly mother is taken ill, and Maddie’s partner, Ed, takes a job in a faraway city just when Maddie needs him more than ever. A new member of staff is desperately required – who will join Sara, Jo and Ivan as the busy autumn season fast approaches?
A completely different book series, with “Potting Shed” in the title.
The Potting Shed Mysteries
Meet Prunella ‘Pru’ Parke, an American gardener who digs up murder and mystery wherever she goes.
Dallas girl Pru’s always dreamed of living in England — a country of lush green gardens, endless drizzle and ruggedly handsome groundskeepers.
She moves to London on a whim, to find that no one in the city wants to hire her. Except for wealthy Vernona Wilson, who’s quite desperate to be rid of her unsightly old potting shed.
Pru dusts off her spade and gets to work, under the watchful eye of a snooping neighbor. She expects to dig up dirt. But nothing like this.
Dishy Detective Christopher Pearse is on the case. But Pru can’t wait for him to piece it all together.
The Garden Plot
Meet Prunella ‘Pru’ Parke, an American gardener who digs up murder and mystery wherever she goes. Dallas girl Pru’s always dreamed of living in England — a country of lush green gardens, endless drizzle and ruggedly handsome groundskeepers. She moves to London on a whim, to find that no one in the city wants to hire her. Except for wealthy Vernona Wilson, who’s quite desperate to be rid of her unsightly old potting shed. Pru dusts off her spade and gets to work, under the watchful eye of a snooping neighbor. She expects to dig up dirt. But nothing like this.
The Red Book of Primrose House
Pru lands her dream job: head gardener at rambling old Primrose House in Sussex. Only to find that it’s no bed of roses. Pru’s tasked with restoring the wild estate back to its original glory. But the motley team of helpers may need taming first. And someone seems determined to be a thorn in her side. But small acts of vandalism around the garden soon turn to murder. Local widower and gardening enthusiast Ned Bobbins was supposed to be pruning the yew trees. Instead he’s the one who got the chop.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Is Pru finally about to get her happy ever after? Her handsome detective boyfriend just got down on one knee. And now she’s headed to Edinburgh to start work on a project at the Royal Botanic Gardens. It’ll only be for a few months. Then Pru will be back in the arms of her beau. Or so she thinks . . . But then one of Pru’s new colleagues is found dead. Poor old Iain’s been conked on the head with a rock and dumped in the Water of Leith. Mrs Murchie next door is the one to find him. Out looking for her pampered Siamese cat, Prumper, she gets the fright of her life at the river’s edge. Any one of the Garden staff could be guilty. But the police have just one suspect in their sights — Pru herself!
The Skeleton Garden
Pru thinks she’s found her dream job, but majestic Greenoak Manor has more than a few skeletons in its many closets — and in its garden. Pru leaps at the chance to renovate the house’s extensive grounds. Especially given her history with Greenoak’s head gardener. Who happens to be her long-lost brother Simon. She and Simon squabble about everything from boxwood to bay hedges. But their arguments stop when a skeleton is unearthed in the garden, tangled in the roots of a half-dead tree alongside a WWII fighter plane.
The Bluebonnet Betrayal
Beautiful blooms, a fabulous guestlist — and one dead body! Pru’s dream of working the Chelsea Flower Show just turned into a nightmare . . . It starts with a favor to an old acquaintance from across the pond. Green-fingered Texan Twyla Woodford has the perfect design for the show. Featuring a sea of delicate Texas bluebonnets. She begs fellow Texan Pru to help her get everything ready in time. Pru jumps at the chance. The next morning Twyla turns up dead. After a blazing row with one of her gardeners.
Best Laid Plants
Pru and her former detective husband are long overdue a holiday. So when Pru is invited to redesign an Arts and Crafts garden in a picturesque Cotswolds village, they jump at the chance. But when Pru arrives, she finds that the once tranquil garden has fallen into heartbreaking neglect. With the garden’s owner and designer, Batsford Bede, under the weather, Pru tackles the renovation alone. But soon the soothing aesthetic and harmonious balance of Pru’s good work is trampled on when she discovers Batsford’s body pinned beneath a statue.
Midsummer Mayhem
It’s a real ‘pinch me’ moment for Pru. A troupe of famous actors in her tiny village. Staging an open-air performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Starring the legendary — and totally dreamy — Ambrose Grant! To top it all, they want Pru to create the magical woodland set. She jumps at the chance: only to realize, the real drama is about to unfold backstage. A philandering cast member turns up dead! One look at the body — slathered in honey and bee stings — and Pru realizes this death was no accident.
Bittersweet Herbs
Rosemary, lavender — and a dash of revenge! The perfect murder is brewing in Pru’s sleepy little village. Herbalist Acantha Morris has big plans for the local hospital. Its grounds will make the most peaceful, healing herb garden. Pru jumps at the chance to lend a hand. But things soon take a sinister turn . . . Flamboyant entrepreneur Claudia Temple is found dead. Dangling from the end of her own beautiful red scarf.
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