By Marissa Creamer

Rowan Public Library

To the delight of gardeners, the days are getting longer, brighter and warmer. Faithful perennials rising from the soil are like good friends returning from an extended vacation. Native coral honeysuckle and crossvine are blooming at the edge of the woods, attracting hummingbirds and a variety of bees.

Garden centers are filled with tempting new plants. It’s the happiest time of the year for gardeners, who long for the weekend so they can get outside with their plants. There’s so much to do at the start of the growing season and so little time. Unfortunately, the weather does not always cooperate. (How can it be raining? What are we going to do now? ) It helps to always have some gardening books on hand so you can get new ideas and make plans for your garden while you wait out the storm. Fortunately, Rowan Public Library has a wonderful collection of gardening books to enlighten and inspire you.

“Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden” by Niki Jabbour is filled with ideas for novel and inspiring food gardens from a variety of professional gardeners. You’ll find a garden that provides salad greens 52 weeks a year, another that supplies your favorite cocktail ingredients, one that you can grow on a balcony, one that encourages pollinators, one that grows 24 kinds of chili peppers, and dozens more. Each plan is fully illustrated and includes a profile of the contributor, the story behind the design, and a plant list.

Does your yard have a narrow strip of lawn between the sidewalk and the curb? With a little imagination, this space can add curb appeal to your home, expand the size of your garden and provide an environmentally friendly way to conserve resources. “Hellstrip Gardening: Create a Paradise Between the Sidewalk and the Curb” by Evelyn Hadden can help you reclaim this underutilized space.

This comprehensive guide covers how to determine the city and home owner’s association rules governing the area, how to choose plants that thrive in tough situations, how to design pathways for accessibility and much more. Gorgeous color photographs of hellstrip gardens from across the country offer inspiration and visual guidance to anyone ready to tackle this final frontier. With “Hellstrip Gardening” in hand, you can finally create the paradise you want in the most unexpected of places.

If you are crafty and would like to add a special touch to your garden, you might enjoy “Mosaic Garden Projects” by Mark Brody. This book applies the art of mosaic to both functional and decorative pieces for the garden.

This hands-on guide includes a primer on the fundamentals of mosaic, with information on materials and the three different mosaic methods. The 25 step-by-step projects build on the basics and are arranged in order of difficulty.

The book begins with simple projects, such as address numbers, bird feeders and stepping stones, and ends with more involved pieces, including a jeweled frog, pagoda and orb fountain. Project templates are included along with instructions on how to scale each project.

You can find these titles and many more gardening books at Rowan Public Library. Make sure you always have some good books on hand whatever the weather.

Summer reading registration:  Every Hero Has a Story! Registration began May 18. RPL celebrates the many types of heroes and encourages children to discover the heroes within themselves. Registered participants may log reading hours between June 10 and Aug. 8 to earn prizes, complete weekly book reviews to enter weekly program raffles, and attend special weekly reading programs for their age group between June 15 and July 30. Registration is free and can be done at any library location.

Teen summer reading: Registration under way at all library locations for rising sixth- to 12th-graders. Teens are invited to participate in Unmask! summer reading program where they will explore the world of super and everyday heroes through fun programs and reading.  Teens can begin tracking reading hours June 10.

All programs starting June 16 and running through July 23 will be held from 3:30-5 p.m. Programs will take place on Tuesdays at RPL Headquarters in Salisbury, Wednesdays at the East Branch in Rockwell, and Thursdays at South Rowan Regional Library in China Grove.

Every teen who registers gets a booklet for keeping track of the library dollars they earn. Those library dollars will be used to enter various raffles for prizes provided by the Friends of RPL and other local sponsors. Winners will be announced at the end of the summer at the National Teen Lock-in to be held at headquarters on July 3 from 6:30-10:30 p.m.  For more information or questions please contact Jennifer Nicholson at Jennifer.Nicholson@rowancountync.gov or at 704-216-8229.

Library closing: Today through Monday, all locations closed for Memorial Day.

Displays: Headquarters, AARP Better Hearing and Speech Month; South, student art by South Rowan High School art class; East, vintage fashions by Alice Thompson.

Literacy: Call the Rowan County Literacy Council at 704-216-8266 for more information on teaching or receiving literacy tutoring for English speakers or for those for whom English is a second  language.