Garden books to curl up with as winter approaches

Before we know it, the leaves will have turned and fallen. We'll be turning too - to planting bulbs for next spring, making plans for next season, and snuggling up for the winter we have to get through first.

Here are some good books for ideas, information, inspiration, and indoor fantasizing about gardens far away.

"The Magic of Monet's Garden" (Firefly Books, $35). Garden author and photographer Derek Fell has dissected and analyzed the plantings and especially the colors of Monet's beloved garden at Giverny. He discusses the relationship between Monet's garden and his art and how a gardener might reasonably come close to some of the effects, with planting plans for containers and beds.

Few of Monet's paintings are reproduced here, so a familiarity with the artist's work is helpful.

"Gardening With Children" (Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides, $9.95). Plant a butterfly-attracting window box or a morning glory-swathed hiding place or a terrarium in a jar. Make a salad from all the different parts of plants. Take a flower apart to see how it works. Learn about leaves, birds, sunlight, bugs, rain.

This beautifully illustrated little book of projects - many good for indoors - is a great way for children and their parents to explore and experience the world of plants and biology, outdoors and in.

"Beyond the Windowsill: Add Style to Your Home with the Beauty of Indoor Plants" (Cool Springs Press, $24.99). More than a primer on choosing and caring for houseplants, this book by Jon Carloftis is about where in your house to put them and how to work them into your indoor decor, considering your style, your space and the problems plants could solve for you.

Included are many inspirational photos and specific plant suggestions for different situations.

"The Timber Press Pocket Guide to Japanese Maples" (Timber Press, $19.95). Peter Gregory's update of J.D. Vertrees' classic guide provides ample information about these trees so beloved for the color, texture and interest they can bring to small and partly shaded gardens.

Japanese maples generally do well in sheltered, partly shady sites, but it's always wise to check a woody plant cultivar with local experts at a nursery or arboretum.

"The Timber Press Pocket Guide to Hostas" (Timber Press, $19.95). It sometimes seems as if everybody already has hostas, and yet there are more kinds all the time. That's because hostas are just about unbeatable as reliable plants for shade.

This compact book by Diana Grenfell and Michael Shadrack describes 280 old and new cultivars, with ample advice for selecting and caring for them.