Books that address the emotional side of gardening aren't difficult to find. Kathy Lamancusa of North Canton has compiled two collections of inspirational stories, Flowers Are Forever and Flowers Are for Love (Simon & Schuster, $12 each).

In one chapter of the newest, Flowers Are for Love, Gahanna gardener and inspirational speaker Rosemarie Rossetti tells how she and her husband planted flowers in 1999.

For most suburban couples that's no big deal, merely another spring chore -- but not for them.

Eleven months before, her lower legs were paralyzed when a tree fell on her while she was bicycling.

Although she had always planted alone, their team effort drew admiring looks from passers-by.

Their cooperation prompted her to write that "In the days that followed, not only did our love for gardening grow but so did our love of life and each other.''

Her extraordinary recovery was reported in The Dispatch on April 25, 1999, and May 4, 2000.

Along with the inspirational stories in the books, such as one about roses that never faded during a weeklong cruise and another about a marriage that started with a chance meeting in a garden center, is information on flower care and gardening.