AROUND HOME : Notes on Hooked Rugs, Front Doors, Cooing Doves and Restaurant-Supply Stores : Conran’s Basic Book of Home Gardening STEFAN BUCZACKI (Viking, 1988)

CONRAN’S, THE HOME-furnishings company, is involved only in the publishing of this book; don’t expect a catalog. Designed for the absolute-beginner gardener, Buczacki’s instruction is simple and straightforward, from tool selection through plant propagation. The illustrations are easy to follow, and the garden photographs show solutions for common and uncommon problems. These are obviously English gardens, lush and green--the kind we may dream about, but also the kind that frequently wilts in Southern California’s relentless climate; $24.95.