Do you dream of transforming your back garden into a romantic retreat? Would you like to make a modern-day Utopia on your balcony? Is your ideal outdoor space a minimalist design with easy-to-care-for plants or a family garden with room to grow culinary herbs? Whatever your desire, the Garden Design Bible has a plan that you can adapt to your own space. Choose from 40 off-the-peg designs, or mix and match elements from several to create your ideal garden. Each of the designs is fully illustrated and has a comprehensive plant list and planting diagram. With a huge range of plants, styles and uses, this inspirational yet practical book is the next best thing to hiring a gardener!
Transforming outdoor space is one of the hottest home trends today. Landscaping expands living space square footage, makes a property more usable, and keeps homeowners healthier whether they grow vegetables or swim laps. It also makes a neighborhood more aesthetically attractive and community minded. The Garden Bible can help homeowners understand the challenges of their outdoor space and what they need to do to create their garden and make it thrive. Photographed in rich full-color, this book will teach you how to develop a master plan for your yard. Many garden books explain how to grow specific flowers, care for shrubs, trees and lawn, and construct fences and hardscape. None take a homeowner from the beginning of the process: how to ask a professional the right questions, how to develop a budget, and how to identify and troubleshoot the challenges of their yard—drainage, erosion, privacy, noise, wind, too much or too little sun or shade. The Garden Bible will help you plan and problem solve so that your garden will grow, evolve, and be sustainable for years to come. Few books delve into landscaping style and cost-saving solutions as this insightful, beautifully illustrated book does. Barbara Ballinger, a well-known real estate, design and garden writer for more than four decades, and Michael Glassman, an award-winning landscape designer for over 35 years and author of seven books on landscape design and gardening, guide you through the process of designing your perfect garden. Showcasing the stories of how almost 30 home owners designed, budgeted and built their landscapes—The Garden Bible shows you that not only is a great garden beautiful to look at, but it’s also great for the soul.
Be inspired to imagine the garden of your dreams with this guide that will help you plan, build, and plant your perfect outdoor space. Whether you're aiming for a total redesign or targeting a specific area, Encyclopedia of Landscape Design offers fresh and achievable ideas for every gardener: grasp the fundamentals of landscape and garden design, find a style that's right for you, and create the structures and planting plans to bring your ideas to life. Produced by a team of award-winning horticultural experts, Encyclopedia of Landscape Design offers extensive design inspiration backed up with solid practical content, including step-by-step landscape structures and planting techniques.
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.
Renowned American vegetable gardener Ed Smith, works according to four principles. He explains these principles: wide rows, organic methods, raised beds and deep soil, to show how to grow high yield crops and produce better quality food.
An illustrated study of gardens built on the roofs of buildings traces the history of roof gardens, from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the present; explains how to construct safe, durable gardens; and offers tips on selecting plants, garden maintenance, and planting techniques.
Designing a garden to accommodate the often competing desires of the entire family can be difficult and in a small plot, the challenge may seem even more overwhelming. That's where this inspiring collection of gardening plans can prove invaluable: it features comprehensive advice for choosing different features and planting arrangements that suit a limited area, and shows how to evaluate the characteristics of your own backyard for the strongest results. There are dozens of designs to choose from, including: Urban Hideaway, A Room with a View, Scented Sanctuary, and even an Eco-friendly garden. And, because a garden should reflect the personality of the family that keeps it, you can combine aspects from the different plans to create the space that's perfect for you.
Whether it is a small container of water on a deck or patio serving as home to a few plants and water creatures or a more elaborate mix of waterfalls, fountains, rockwork, and lighting, the water garden can be a lovely, spirit-soothing addition to one's property—a place to unwind, relax, and escape the cares of the world. But while water has been a prominent feature in garden designs for thousands of years, it is only recently—with the availability of preformed kits at the local home improvement center—that installing a beautiful water garden has become a feasible undertaking for the average homeowner. And now, with the extremely clear and complete instructions in this practical, hands-on guide, a backyard water garden is easier than ever to build and maintain. Water Gardener's Bible by Ben Helm and Kelly Billing is a true bible on the subject—with comprehensive information on everything from choosing the right site and selecting aquatic plants and fish to pond management and problem solving. The pages are crammed with specifics about pond biology and chemistry, beneficial bacteria, fish health, nuisance algae, and electrical and child safety—all that is necessary to duplicate the sights, sounds, and sanctuary of a babbling brook, splashing fountain, or cascading waterfall right in the backyard.
