This new paperback edition of Ann Lovejoy's spectacular organic gardening book brings a lifetime's worth of experience and knowledge from one of this country's leading gardening experts. In it she shows readers how to apply her organic design principles to any site, large or small, to create healthy, self-sufficient gardens that are easy to care for, ecologically sound, and enduringly beautiful.

An organic gardener all her life and a garden writer for more than 15 years, Ann Lovejoy began her foray into gardening by growing vegetables and herbs but soon branched out into making ornamental gardens as well. Today, her gardens combine plants of all kinds, edible and beautiful, in carefully arranged communities. Her garden designs and plantings echo the layers found in nature. Ann groups plants with similar needs, according to their roles in their native habitats, and encourages cooperative relationships between people and plants. In these pages, you'll celebrate the beauty of Ann's gardens and discover how to apply her organic design principles to your garden. You'll learn how to create healthy, self-sufficient gardens that are easy to care for, ecologically sound, and enduringly beautiful. Ann's own gardens contain thousands of plants, yet they require only a few hours a week to maintain. She started her garden school to help gardeners learn how to make satisfying, sustainable gardens like hers. Ann shares a lifetime's worth of gardening experience and teaches you how to transform your site, large or small, into a naturalistic garden filled with healthy plants. Along with the fundamental design principles that apply to every garden, you'll discover techniques and ideas for moving beyond the basics. You'll learn how to use space wisely, design interior flow patterns, choose regionally appropriate plants, and create an ambiance and mood in your garden that reflects your personal style. Ann also addresses practical questions that emerge as gardeners move past the beginner stage. The hands-on workbook section contains exercises to guide you through the process of designing a garden to suit your needs, helps you evaluate your site to maximize its potential, and offers valuable advice on creating plant combinations. Ann Lovejoy creates gardens with solid organic principles in mind: Make great soil and your plants will grow well. Create healthy, ecologically sound plant communities, and they will take care of themselves. She is frequently asked how she gardens so successfully. This book is her answer.

The organic gardening movement has been long established among vegetable growers. With the mainstreaming of ideas about environmental and ecological preservation, the organic movement has come to ornamental gardening. And one of the primary spokespeople for that movement is Sasquatch’s longtime author Ann Lovejoy. This new book is a complete handbook for ornamental gardening follows the principles and techniques of organic and sustainable gardening. Gardening naturally does mean going without products like Roundup, Weed and Feed, and chemical fertilizers. It also means that gardeners may opt for a selection of native plants that are compatible with local climate and soils. Some of the paradigm shift has to do with getting over the notion that one’s garden needs to be as spotless and tidy as something on a magazine cover. Gardening is all about process, and the methods that Ann Lovejoy explains in this book emphasize good soil preparation, composting, drainage, mulching, and right plant selection. This comprehensive book covers the steps from landscaping and designs to soil preparation to planting beds. She covers all of the elements of the garden: ground covers, lawns, shrubs, bulbs, trees – all with an eye to building a sustainable garden that grows without chemical fertilizers and pest control. You can try to make an Arizona backyard look like a Connecticut estate, but it’s going to take a lot of work, constant maintenance, more water than all the other gardens on your block, and a fat checkbook. There’s a simpler, more gratifying way to garden that is also good for people, pets, and wildlife. This practical book tells gardeners how to achieve that.

A wonderful new approach to garden design, which has its roots and most ardent practitioners firmly planted in the West, naturalistic gardening is proving to be the most popular and exciting gardening trend since the perennial border. In examining this new gardening philosophy, respected garden writer Ann Lovejoy sets out to explain the plant selection, design ideas, and techniques best suited for the naturalistic approach. Lavishly illustrated with over 100 colour photographs, Naturalistic Gardening will provide gardeners with visual inspiration and the skills necessary to capture nature's own sense of flow, order, and sequence.

This work provides readers with the necessary information to change the look of their gardens with minimum effort and maximum effect. The book takes the reader through the whole design process in a simple way, avoiding confusing jargon and complex diagrams. It opens with details of how to make lists of what you want and what you need, followed by advice on assessing your site and drawing up a budget. Next, the book shows how to create a design by introducing the garden features of your own choice, adding the details and, finally, how to plant your garden. There is also the problem solver for those difficult sites.

Diarmuid Gavin, the UK's most innovative garden designer and host of the BBC's "Home Front" and "Home Front in the Garden," shows readers how to take a fresh look at how they use their garden spaces. Ten easy-to-follow stages explain the basics of good design--from assessing the plot and considering its shape and situation to using plants to achieve particular styles and effects.

Bring in the energy of wild places and work in harmony with the land to grow your own food and live sustainably. In this beautifully illustrated book, award-winning garden designer Mary Reynolds encourages us to create a bond with the land to restore its health and feel its energy. Drawing inspiration from permaculture traditions as well as the ancient multi-tiered approach of forest gardening, Mary demonstrates how to create a magical garden that is an expanding, living, interconnected ecosystem. The Garden Awakening is both art and inspiration for any garden lover seeking to create a positive and natural space while incorporating sustainable living such as growing your own food. It combines practical step-by-step instructions with spiritual, ancient Celtic stories to help you awaken any garden space, nurturing it to benefit both the land and the people in it. This design approach allows ecosystems to be whole and in balance while providing a place for human beings to live happy and productive lives. Transform your garden into a vibrant, wild area that embraces the spiritual side of nature with this wonderful read.