My son-in-law is one of the best read, if not one of the smartest people I know. His personal library is large and if you pick up a book it becomes obvious that he has read it. It's amazing.

Even more amazing is that he has an unbelievable collection of those books for "Dummies." You know the ones: home improvements, car care, computers...

Recently I was made aware of Gardening for Dummies and the stunning fact that two out of every three Dummy books sold are the gardening edition. Worse yet, one of the large horticulture companies is teaming with the publisher to release a group of branded plants with simple instructions and a dummy tag.

Now I'm not much for the branding idea but they may be on to something. I doubt that few of you outside the industry put any stock in brands like Simply Beautiful, Dutch Country, Proven Winners or the like. But Plants for Dummies may work.

Regardless, the toughest thing for the novice gardener is to get started. As Roosevelt said early in the depression "you have nothing to fear but fear itself." The number one fear is that the plant may die. Yeah, it happens.

Several days ago I was talking to one of the leading gardening experts on the east coast and was bragging that commercially I had only had major kills on two of the nearly 200 shrubs I try to grow. That's down from over a dozen a year earlier. He was impressed and admitted that he still loses plants.

If you are new to the gardening scene and can get past that hurdle, things get a lot easier. Really, that is a constant challenge regardless of your experience. I can still easily come up with a list of plants I wish I knew how to grow.

To be successful in the garden, start small and pick plants that are rather easy. If you are into vegetables, start with tomatoes or zucchini before you set your heart on celery. In the flower garden pick some of the common annuals or pick the perennials you commonly see in local gardens.

If you see a big price tag on a plant you can almost guess that it's not one of the easy ones.

When considering a plant, think about its needs for moisture and light. If you can't match them, don't buy it. Think about its size. Will it fit your spot or will you have a constant battle to keep it in the space you want?

I know you are expecting this, be conservative with the water and fertilizer until you have established the plant's need. I still maintain that love is the worst enemy of plants.

Start simply and build on your successes. You need only two goals. First, enjoy what you are doing. Second, vow that next year's garden will be better than this year's.

I can't wait to get a copy of Gardening for Dummies. I'm sure I'll learn something, I'm sure I disagree with some of their ideas. And most important - - I will have a Christmas gift for my son in law.