María’s family are poor Honduran farmers, growing barely enough to eat. Then a new teacher comes to town and shows María sustainable farming practices that yield good crops. An inspiring story, based on actual events, that shows us how farms and hopes are transformed as good gardens begin to grow.

What makes a garden good? For Chris McLaughlin, it’s about growing the healthiest, most scrumptious fruits and veggies possible, but it’s also about giving back. How can your little patch of Earth become a sanctuary for threatened wildlife, sequester carbon, and nurture native plants? McLaughlin gives you all the tricks and tips you need to grow the sustainable garden of your dreams. Drawing from established traditions, such as permaculture and French intensive gardening, and McLaughlin’s hard-earned experience, The Good Garden is a joyful guide for newbies and experienced gardeners alike. It will teach you the fundamentals, including how to choose the right plant varieties for your microclimate, and proven methods to fight pests without chemicals. You will also discover the nuances of developing a green thumb, from picking species to attract specific types of pollinators to composting techniques based on time available. Lovely four-color photography will show you good gardening in action. Most importantly, The Good Garden will help you foster a sense of meaning in your garden. Maybe the goal is to reduce food miles and plastic waste by growing delicious berries. Maybe it’s to meet neighbors who also care about the planet through a seed-swap. Maybe it’s a quiet moment patting the bunny whose manure will replace toxic fertilizers in the soil. A good garden offers endless possibilities and The Good Garden offers a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.

Crisp hornbeam hedges lining a country drive and throwing geometric shadows on the gravel below. Decadent cascades of fragrant wisteria spilling over a stone pergola. Rustling leaves along an allée of delicate crepe myrtle trees. Waving blossoms of roses, sage, and hydrangeas—along a salty shoreline. Edmund Hollander Landscape Architects creates gardens filled with unexpected textures, colors, and sounds meant to appeal to all the senses, inviting us to truly live in the landscape. This volume presents dozens of gorgeous estate gardens throughout the Northeast, approached thematically; individual sections reveal how components such as gateways, paths, pool terraces, bosques and groves, walls, and borders contribute to lush garden rooms, windblown seaside gardens, calming meadow gardens, intricate formal gardens, and shady tracts of woodland. Over 300 color photographs of beautiful properties in the Hamptons, Connecticut, and upstate New York provide glimpses of the best garden design happening today while breaking down its ideas for the home gardener. Evocative text by New York Times and Landscape Architecture columnist Anne Raver details how the firm works to envelop visitors in landscapes that feel entirely whole: plantings near architecture create a dynamic entry progression; hardscape features that lead out into a broader garden gradually cede to more natural, living elements; pools are surrounded by gracious swaths of flowers that bloom in sequence as the season progresses to provide privacy for bathers and a sense of quiet seclusion. The ideas presented here will help owners of gardens of every size enjoy their land to the fullest.