This book is designed to help, encourage, and inspire gardeners, whether they are novice or experienced. It is packed with info about choosing and buying plants.

This reference work is for anyone wanting to improve their garden. Design solutions are presented along with practical information enabling you to create a garden that looks and works as you want it to. The book is split into six sections on essential gardens, exterior design, living space, planting design, a directory and foundation techniques.

After an introduction to garden design and care, this portable guide describes the cultivation of some 2,000 plants arranged by groupings from annuals and perennials to ferns, palms, and cycads. Includes color world hardiness zone maps, and ample color photos to facilitate identification but render choices difficult. c. Book News Inc.

What if, one step at a time, we could make our gardens and landscapes more eco-friendly? Barbara W. Ellis's colorful, comprehensive guide shows homeowners, gardeners, garden designers, and landscapers how to do just that for the large and beautiful Chesapeake Bay watershed region. This area includes Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and part of West Virginia (translating to portions of USDA Zones 6, 7, and 8). Here, mid-Atlantic gardeners, from beginners to advanced, will find the essential tools for taking steps to make their gardens part of the solution through long-term planning and planting. The guide is built from the ground up around six simple but powerful principles that anyone can use: * Reduce lawn * Build plant diversity * Grow native plants * Manage water runoff * Welcome wildlife * Garden wisely Included are detailed instructions for assessing and designing your particular garden or landscape site; choosing and caring for trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, and flowers; and succeeding with such conditions as shade or poor soil. From rain gardens to woodland gardens, meadow gardens to wildlife gardens, and much more, this indispensable guide features more than 300 color photographs.

"Society does not generally expect its farmers to be visionaries." Perhaps not, but longtime Maine farmer and homesteader Will Bonsall does possess a unique clarity of vision that extends all the way from the finer points of soil fertility and seed saving to exploring how we can transform civilization and make our world a better, more resilient place. In Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening, Bonsall maintains that to achieve real wealth we first need to understand the economy of the land, to realize that things that might make sense economically don't always make sense ecologically, and vice versa. The marketplace distorts our values, and our modern dependence on petroleum in particular presents a serious barrier to creating a truly sustainable agriculture. For him the solution is, first and foremost, greater self-reliance, especially in the areas of food and energy. By avoiding any off-farm inputs (fertilizers, minerals, and animal manures), Bonsall has learned how to practice a purely veganic, or plant-based, agriculture--not from a strictly moralistic or philosophical perspective, but because it makes good business sense: spend less instead of making more. What this means in practical terms is that Bonsall draws upon the fertility of on-farm plant materials: compost, green manures, perennial grasses, and forest products like leaves and ramial wood chips. And he grows and harvests a diversity of crops from both cultivated and perennial plants: vegetables, grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and nuts--even uncommon but useful permaculture plants like groundnut (Apios). In a friendly, almost conversational way, Bonsall imparts a wealth of knowledge drawn from his more than forty years of farming experience. "My goal," he writes, "is not to feed the world, but to feed myself and let others feed themselves. If we all did that, it might be a good beginning."

Fresh herbs offer a healthy and delicious way to spice up any meal, but growing and cooking with these delectable plants are endeavors fraught with uncertainty. What herbs will grow year-round on my kitchen windowsill? What foods complement rosemary? Which part of a lemongrass plant has the best flavor? Can I really eat the geraniums growing in my flower bed? This indispensable guide from The Herb Society of America takes the guesswork out of using herbs in the garden and in the kitchen by providing detailed information for cultivating a wide variety of herbs, along with easy-to-follow recipes that will surely impress even the most discerning palate. Ranging from Alliums (onions, chives, and garlic) to Zingiber (ginger), the volume's first section provides horticultural information for each of the sixty-three herbs found in the National Herb Garden's Culinary Garden, including common and botanical names, family, place of origin, hardiness, and general light and soil requirements. Botanical sketches accompany many of the entries. Each entry also includes a short history of the herb, gardening basics, and suggestions for using the herb in your kitchen. Culinary herbs without Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Status are included in a separate section, with an explanation of their history and ornamental value. An informative introduction to this section compares several different definitions of the word herb, explains the advantages of fresh over dried herbs, describes the proper storage and use of spices, and suggests the best timing and methods for harvesting herbs. In the second part of the book, HSA members offer classic and creative recipes for more than two hundred dishes incorporating a variety of herbs. Learn how to use the aromatic and flavorful herbs in your garden to enhance stews and casseroles, create dips and pestos, and add a new dimension to your favorite liqueurs. Among the mouth-watering recipes featured are Lemon Basil Tea Bread, Chicken Linguine with Fennel and Tarragon, Five-Herb Pasta Salad, and Rosemary Fizz. The concluding section of the book contains a fascinating personal tour of the two-and-one-half-acre National Herb Garden, which lies in the heart of Washington, D.C., at the center of the United States National Arboretum, and of its various themed areas, including the Knot Garden, the Antique and Heritage Rose Garden, the Dye Garden, the Colonial Garden, the Native American Garden, the Beverage Garden, the Medicinal Garden, and many others. Complete plant lists accompany the description of each garden. Green thumbs and gourmets alike will find inspiration in these pages to look at herbs in new ways -- perhaps to see beyond their cupboards and into their own yards for ways to liven up their meals -- and will gain the knowledge and confidence to grow and use herbs effectively. More than a gardening book, more than a cookbook, The Herb Society of America's Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking with Herbs will prove to be an indispensable companion for all herb lovers.

The definitive practical guide to gardening bull;Features expert advice on gardening techniques, planning and maintenance, and on growing ornamental plants, fruits and vegetables bull;Draws on the expertise of 50 specialist contributors under the eminent editorship of Christopher Brickell bull;More than 3,000 specially commissioned colour photographs, including 400 step-by-step sequences bull;Comprehensively revised and expanded to include new plants and gardening styles, and the very latest horticultural developments