Hi,
I have Seed to Seed, and I can recommend it as having pretty much everything you need to know about vegetables. I know the book Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties by Carol Deppe is well regarded, but I do not own it.
As far as flowers go I can not recommend one. I've not looked at any. I've not had anyone speak highly of one either. Of course that doesn't mean there isn't one out there. But I'm not sure there is one out there that covers a lot. To write a book that would be comprehensive would be a very daunting task since the subject is so vast. Vegetables are a bit easier since there is a set amount of genuses we grow to eat.
On the web, the best site for flowers is The Seed Site. Besides there I of course think this forum is best one to find answers and ask for one if you can't find it.
Hope this helps a little,
Remy

Thanks for your input Remy. I'll go ahead and order Seed to Seed. Several people are recommending it so even if it's not exactly what I'm looking for I'm sure it will be a great place to start. The Seed Site also looks VERY comprehensive. Thanks for the tip!

Happy growing,
Michael

Michael..could I make a suggestion? I have been writing down gardening books that people on these forums recommend and I check the price at Amazon.com and before I order it, I check on our county's public library site to see if our libraries have it. If they do, I check it out for 3 weeks. If I find that it is worth owning, I will then decide if I want to order it.

Here in our county, the library system has a used book store and I also look there. Sometimes you can buy a used hardback for less than $5..

I'm turning in Perennial All-Stars by Jeff Cox tomorrow. It is a great book. You might remember Jeff Cox used to have a gardening show on TV..

Another one that I like is Annuals for every purpose by Larry Hodgson..Both of these books tell you about the plant, and how to grow it, what other flowers goes well with it, how to propagate it(division or seed collecting). I go for books that are written in layman's language, easy for a beginner to understand.

I understand that Larry Hodgson also writes a book on perennials but I haven't seen that, so I will look for that in our library system.

Waiting for me to pick up tomorrow or Saturday are two gardening books. I've had them out of the library before and find them to be excellent sources.

Are you interested in flowers or veggies or both?

And there is inter-library loan. Our county library has nothing on horticulture, plants, gardening etc but they can get almost anything I can find referenced online.

Thrift stores, too. lately, now that so many books have gone digital, you can find some VERY nice books in thrift shops. They are cheaper than used book stores often. Also, you can often order/hold books at the library if your local library doesn't have it...they get it sent from a library up to an hour's distance away. In many cases, you can also borrow books from libraries in other towns, as long as they are all on the same system. Our GA system has over 50 libraries, i think. It takes about 2 weeks when you place a hold/order. FREE !