Provides a guide to gardening, covering such subjects as preparing soil, fertilizing, and removing pests.

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.

"For thousands of years wild herbs and flowers formed the basis of natural cosmetics, natural remedies and natural preventives. Gradually these properties have lost their credence beside the magic synthetics of 'modern' medicine. Now, at last, we are beginning to take a new interest in what our grandmothers can teach us, and Jean Palaiseul has written a book which is a mine of information about the folk lore, history and modern application of over 150 herbs and flowers.For example, he tells us the Honeysuckle is rich in salycylic acid - the essential ingredient of aspirin - and an infusion of the flowers is a reliable help in bronchial complaint. Garlic, too, can prove an indispensible shield against winter colds, and the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks believed that it gave extra strength - the Pharaohs insisting that the pyramid builders ate a clove every day." -- Back cover.

A guide for architects, landscape designers, engineers, environmentalists and eco-aware gardeners, this text contains photographs and information for more than 200 species and cultivars of plants, including data on moisture needs, heat tolerance, hardiness, bloom color, foliage characteristics, and height.

Paper or plastic? Organic or conventional? In a world that is rapidly going "green," how does the average person make decisions that are smart for the family—and good for the planet? The Green Guide is here to help, with the concepts and choices for Earth-conscious living. Presented in concise, information-packed chapters, this up-to-the-minute resource touches on every aspect of our lives, from grocery shopping to housecleaning to work, travel, and investing—enabling consumers to make informed decisions and simple changes that impact the planet in big ways. Easy-to-follow information and hundreds of fascinating sidebars, fact boxes, and other key elements recommend how you can replace unhealthy and environmentally damaging practices and products with more wholesome, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing alternatives. Neither scholarly nor scare-mongering in tone, the lively text has been written in partnership with a board of noted experts—offering readers the most authoritative, engaging, comprehensive, and in-depth reference of its kind. Created by two of the strongest brands in conservation and the environment, and drawn from more than ten years of reputable coverage in The Green Guide newsletter, on-line and in print, this comprehensive resource is destined to become a must-have for millions of families and the first name in household reference books in this up-and-coming category.

At a time when interest in herbs and natural medicine has never been higher, the second edition of this essential guide shows how to identify more than 500 healing plants. 300+ color photos.

The Green Indoors is a useful guide on how to find perfect plant matches for your home environments with a sustainable and innovative approach. Focussing on working with the plants you already own, the book is divided in chapters detailing all the possible conditions: Extreme Sun/Heat, Dry Air/Central Heating, Deep Shade, High Humidity, Draughty, Cold. By matching awkward spaces in your home with environments in the natural world, this book shows you how to relocate plants to improve their growth and help them thrive. Features an extensive section with informative plant profiles that include their origin, easy-to-follow tips on feeding and watering, optimum conditions, prospective growth, and is concluded by a helpful troubleshooting chapter dealing with common problems, and what to try when all hope is lost.