This columnwas written by Jackie Record, University of Illinois Extension, Coles County Master Gardener.

Some lucky people garden all year round. They own greenhouses, or big south windows, or houses in the south. Others garden in their minds; they spend the winter reading seed catalogs and books on garden planning, or gazing, as I have been doing lately, at the empty spaces and dead plant material in our garden and wondering how to fill those spaces next spring.

Mother Nature was especially unkind last year. First she sent devastating storms that destroyed several of my favorite trees, including an ancient and beautiful black locust and a 100-year-old hard maple, plus a few pine trees for good measure. Then, having dumped rivers of water into our basements and gutters, she sulked until September, causing our water bills to ascend skyward. We "invested" in a rain barrel, which saved the pepper plants, but not the remaining pine trees, so now I am wondering what to plant in spring.

Which leads me to the art of gardening by reading. If there is anything I like better than gardening, it is certainly reading. And reading about gardening might be even more fun than digging and it is certainly easier on my aging knees. It can be done before a fire, accompanied by a cup of herbal tea.

There are thousands of garden books on the market, and hundreds in our libraries, so how to choose? They seem to fall into more or less three categories: catalogs and plant encyclopedias, useful to help identify what you might already have or want to plant in your garden, with helpful information about their suitability for the site. I particularly like The American Horticulture Encyclopedia of Garden Plants published by McMillan and Company and a beautiful new book I received this Christmas called Botanica which was just published by Random House and contains information and photographs of some ten thousand plants. I am partial to a series of books published under the auspices of University of Illinois Extension, including such titles as Ground Covers for the Midwest, Large Flowering Trees for the Midwest, Dwarf Shrubs for the Midwest, Shade Trees for the North Central States and Canada, and at least one on vegetable gardening. These books are well written and concise and are available for review or to order at the Coles County Extension Office. They are nicely bound and printed and illustrated and modestly priced. If you don't want to buy them, your local library can probably find them for you.

The next category of garden books I think of as "problem solvers." Most garden encyclopedias have a section about pests and other garden problems, but I have a favorite, the Ortho Garden Problem Solver, Ortho, of course being an ubiquitous commercial garden supplier of fertilizers, chemicals, etc. Almost every garden center has a large fat copy of this advice book, which most gardeners swear by, even if they don't always opt to buy that company's product. They seem to have done a wonderful job of identifying pests and other problems and the photographs are excellent. I have a smaller version for home use and wouldn't be without it. Another book I treasure is one called Weeds of the North Central States, also put out by the University of Illinois, College of Agriculture. It is a rather thick book, for a paperback, there being too many weeds in this neck of the woods, but it will tell you what to do about the foxtail, dandelion and purslain in your lawn and when to do it. Creeping Charlie is, of course, another question altogether.

The third category of garden books I call "Dream Books," after one I own actually named "Garden Dreams." One could spend all winter fantasizing about these gardens, from the videos of famous gardens such as Sissinghurst in England, or Monet's Garden in France to the unique rhodendron gardens at the Biltmore in North Carolina. I cherish a book of essays by Katherine White, a famous editor of the New Yorker and an equally famous gardener, called Onward and Upward in the Garden. It is quite possibly out of print by now but could be found by your local library, which can, thanks to Library LINC, find almost anything for you nowadays.

We have books about Victorian gardens, which seem too difficult and French gardens which seem too manicured and one on wild gardens which would surely bring out the nuisance officials (they do exist), but somewhere there is a book which will illustrate precisely what to do with our one-acre plus, totally flat, urban space, but we've never yet quite found it.

My own favorite winter dream book is a catalog, from White Flower Farm, full of photographs of beautiful plants and planting ideas and information. I love it that they give the correct botanical names of plants as well as common names. Many of their plants are too pricey for my garden, but some of the new offerings are irresistible.

And when weather permits we are planning an excursion to the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, a great winter destination. Master Gardeners have their own space there, with lots of ideas about what you can do with your spring garden.

In the meantime, the Mattoon Public library lists 2800 plus volumes on gardens and the Charleston Carnegie Library has about the same number. You can visit them online or in person and they will help you find the perfect book for winter dreaming. Our mailboxes will soon be filled with garden catalogs, but in the meantime enjoy what our libraries offer and dream a new garden or two for spring. When spring comes, and it will, call the Master Gardeners for help.

If you'd rather garden on-line than through books, use the Horticulture and Environment link on the Coles County Extension home page at: http://coles.extension.uiuc.edu/. For your horticulture questions, call the local U of I Extension office Monday through Friday at 345-7034. Volunteer Master Gardeners are not in the office this time of year–they will return your call.

This column is based on information and materials available at the University of Illinois Extension office, located at 707 Windsor Road, Suite A., Charleston, 61920; phone 345-7034; or web site: http://coles.extension.uiuc.edu/.