Books

Design Your Garden
RHS Plants for Places: 1000 Tried and Tested Plants for Every Soil, Site and Usage (RHS)
RHS Plant Finder
How to Be a Gardener: Secrets of Success (Book Two)
Vegetable and Herb Expert
The Book of Garden Plans
Plant Names Simplified
Sprouter's Handbook
The Mediterranean Gardener
The Garden Revival Expert
Wedding Flowers: Over 80 Glorious Floral Designs for That Special Day
The Greatest Gardening Tips in the World (Greatest Tips in the World S.)
The Bold and Brilliant Garden
Starting Your Own Gardening Business: An Insider Guide to setting yourself up as a professional gardener
The Golden Rules of Interior Design
Garden Boundaries
Professional Floristry Techniques
RHS Pests and Diseases
Gardening Under Plastic: How to Use Fleece, Films, Cloches and Polytunnels
Flora Britannica: The Definitive New Guide to Britain's Wild Flowers, Plants and Trees
Vegetables for Pots (Success with S.)
Jekka's Complete Herb Book
A Little History of British Gardening
RHS Fruit and Vegetable Gardening
Bonsai (Pocket Encyclopaedia S.)

Average customer rating:

A Keeper
Great illustrations and detailing
Useful, Beautiful and Interesting
A practical yet beautiful guide. Indispensable.
Interesting, even for non-gardeners

Creating Your Own Japanese Garden
Takashi Sawano
Manufacturer: Japan Publications Trading
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Japanese Gardens | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

A Japanese Touch for Your Garden
Ortho's All About Creating Japanese Gardens (Ortho's All About Gardening)
Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces
Japanese Gardens in a Weekend: Projects for One, Two or Three Weekends (In a Weekend)
Landscapes for Small Spaces: Japanese Countryard Gardens

ASIN: 087040962X

Book Description

Written by a Japanese landscape architect who lived and worked overseas, this book offers detailed step-by-step advice on how to design and construct Japanese gardens in various environments, using only materials widely available in the West.

Customer Reviews:

A Keeper.......2007-04-27

Have many books on Japanese gardening - this is the one that finally helped me begin to answer the "but how will I design and situate one in my space?" question. Nicely written, direct, and just enough examples to help you get moving!

Great illustrations and detailing.......2007-01-11

My daughter was recently proposed marriage to in a japanese garden. They are planning to build a similar garden in their backyard,so this book
was a Christmas present.
She was thrilled and we went thru the book as she mentioned several
items in the book that were relevant.
It has alot of very nice illustrations and "how-tos",more than some that I looked at.This author was careful to include all aspects of the japanese garden. Plenty of detail.Very happy with my purchase.

Useful, Beautiful and Interesting.......2007-01-10

This book provides useful guidance in planning a Japanese Garden with well written text and beautiful photographs. It inspires one to find a way to incorporate the concepts into Western style homes.

A practical yet beautiful guide. Indispensable........2006-05-14

Like many others I have long craved the simplistic beauty & calming ambience of japanese garden design thinking I could neither afford bringing in professionals nor summon the skill to execute one myself........then i bought this book. Using Mr Sawano's expert guidance & exquisite knowledge to easily lead me through my own design project i have created my very own dream garden. I have loved every minute of the process -so much so that I have even volunteered to make over my friends garden for him!! The books still sits proudly on my coffee table, but even better is that through my window I have the real thing to enjoy. I am so looking forward to my first summer with it.

Interesting, even for non-gardeners.......2005-04-12

I think of this book as Japanese Gardening for Dummies. I'm not a particularly experienced gardender however I was able to follow how and what I should do to create my Japanese garden and, just as importantly for me, why I should do this.

Other books may provide more history but if your aim is to build a Japanese garden, this may be the book for you.

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community

Average customer rating:

if you are over 40 skip it... so gen X
Not just Gardening--A guide to Activism and Environmentalism
Keys to change any reader can use.
A Real Focus on a Real Solution
Bringing it all together

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community
Heather C. Flores
Manufacturer: Chelsea Green
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series)
How to Make a Forest Garden
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally

ASIN: 193339207X

Book Description

Gardening can be a political act. Creativity, fulfillment, connection, revolution--it all begins when we get our hands in the dirt. Food Not Lawns combines practical wisdom on ecological design and community-building with a fresh, green perspective on an age-old subject. Activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares her nine-step permaculture design to help farmsteaders and city dwellers alike build fertile soil, promote biodiversity, and increase natural habitat in their own "paradise gardens." But Food Not Lawns doesn't begin and end in the seed bed. This joyful permaculture lifestyle manual inspires readers to apply the principles of the paradise garden--simplicity, resourcefulness, creativity, mindfulness, and community--to all aspects of life. Plant "guerilla gardens" in barren intersections and medians; organize community meals; start a street theater troupe or host a local art swap; free your kitchen from refrigeration and enjoy truly fresh, nourishing foods from your own plot of land; work with children to create garden play spaces. Flores cares passionately about the damaged state of our environment and the ills of our throwaway society. In Food Not Lawns, she shows us how to reclaim the earth one garden at a time.

Customer Reviews:

if you are over 40 skip it... so gen X.......2007-05-25

This is a very shallow book by the new generation of writers that find fault with everything done in the twenty years before they were born,
Its very shallow, big type and very preachy.
If you are interested in gardening, try Giaas garden, a much more serious study of permiculture.
In this rambling book, the aurthor boasts of not making over 8 k a year, but inherited the money to buy her farm!
I liked camping living until I was thirty, now I am 45 and really like my freezer and new stove.( yes, I have my own three hens and belong to a CSA)
I know a number of the original flower/farm people, and as they got older they liked having a few more comforts.

So this is one of the new gen X books, shallow to a fault. Nothing but sound bites.
the aurthor sems all hyped about third world living, but I am not sure she has ever been to a third world and seen how hard that style of life is,,it is easy to glamorius the distant!!!

Not just Gardening--A guide to Activism and Environmentalism.......2007-01-23

I picked up this book to learn practical application of permacultural principles applied to urban yard scales--and there is a wealth of such information here. However, I do feel like Flores preaches just a little too much about the environmental destruction and political problems currently plaguing our country. In my view, anyone picking up a book called Food Not Lawns probably is already well-versed in such issues, and Flores is essentially preaching to the converted. That said, this book DOES have tons of practical information, and I would recommend it as an excellent counterbalance and companion book to Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden.

Keys to change any reader can use........2006-12-14

For activist readers who believe activism is a political pursuit, FOOD NOT LAWNS: HOW TO TURN YOUR YARD INTO A GARDEN AND YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD INTO A COMMUNITY offers a different viewpoint, maintaining that growing food where you live is a key method of becoming a food activist in the community. Chapters advocate planting home and community gardens with an eye to drawing important connections between the politics of a home or community garden and the wider politics of usage, consumption, and sustainability. Another rarity: chapters promote small, easy changes in lifestyles to achieve a transition between personal choice and political activism at the community level, providing keys to change any reader can use.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A Real Focus on a Real Solution.......2006-11-30

When I had originally bought this book I thought it was going to give me step by step instructions for turning my lawn into a food producing landscape. However when I read the book cover to cover in less than 3 weeks (which is rare with me, I usually never read them that fast) I realized what Heather was focusing on - Community and education. She has written a book to inspire us to grow on our front lawns and talk to our neighbors about it. Get the community involved no matter who they are. After I read it and then promptly lent it to a friend with similar interests I popped in the DVD "End of Suburbia" - I listened to James Kunstler talk about how were doomed and he even mentions that growing food on our lawns may start to become mainstream. This book will guide those of us who are willing to be pioneers in the upcoming energy transition and help us help eachother grow food consciously with the small or large spaces that we now mow. What a breath of fresh air and a really inspiring, well thought out guide. Its a must read. I purchased this book with Toby Hemenways Gaias Garden and they are a perfect match, Toby goes into a more in depth permaculture perspective.

A big Mahalo to Heather!

Bringing it all together.......2006-11-17

This is a superb book. I've not read a lot of permaculture books but this does an excellent job of tying ecological/sustainable living together with building community, and it does so with a decidedly positive attitude. A must read.

The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes : Designing, Building, and Decorating Your Outdoor Home (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library)

Average customer rating:

The complete guide to creative landscape
It can't be replaced!!!
Great Book
Not bad depending on what you are looking for
great book!!

The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes : Designing, Building, and Decorating Your Outdoor Home (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library)
Creative Publishing international , and Jerri Farris
Manufacturer: Creative Publishing international
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Black & Decker: The Complete Guide to Home Masonry (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library)
The Complete Guide to Kitchens: Design, Plan & Install a Dream Kitchen (Black & Decker)
The Complete Guide to Doors & Windows (Black & Decker)
The Complete Photo Guide to Outdoor Home Improvement (Black & Decker Outdoor Home)
The Complete Guide to Landscape Construction: 60 Step-by-step Projects for Creating a Perfect Landscape (Black & Decker)

ASIN: 0865735794

Book Description

-Aimed at the fastest-growing segment of the how-to market: gardening landscaping.

Customer Reviews:

The complete guide to creative landscape.......2007-05-14

This is a great book with so many very well illustrated projects. I have just built a new home and am beginning to landscape my 4 acres I find this book very useful. All the projects are described in great detail with lots of pictures. Thanks L. Rocha

It can't be replaced!!!.......2006-05-15

I bought this book over a year ago. I've read through each project a dozen times. I love about 94% of them. Our house sits on a lot that is ~ 100 feet x ~ 120 feet. I was going to get crazy this spring and summer with a new patio, arbor, and several garden areas.

Sometime a couple of months ago, my book disappeared. I have searched nearly every square inch of our attic and basement, in addition to every closet, underneath every bed, and even in the garage. My wife has looked as well, but to no avail.

I'm 32 years old, and losing this book has nearly made me cry on at least four occassions. It's that good.

Our library doesn't have it. None of the hardware stores in town have it. We have one bookstore in town - and they don't have it. Last weekend, I finally broke down and bought two other books, thinking that by doubling up it would somehow take away the pain of losing my B&D Creative Landscapes book.

It hasn't worked.

I'm purchasing another copy on line this afternoon. There are just too many things in the book that I can't find anywhere else. It's nothing that difficult, but they do such a great job of making things easy to follow, and each project gives you ideas for three more.

Buy the book. Buy two copies. And be sure to hide one in your drawer where no one can take it.

Great Book.......2002-05-12

This book is so well layed out. I give this book 5 stars because it has excellent descriptions and pictures. I built the terra cotta fountain in the book and I love it so much.

Not bad depending on what you are looking for.......2002-01-13

This book is great as general advice. There are SO MANY different projects though that there is not a great level of detail on any one. Just enough of an overview and "how-to" to make you feel comfortable about taking some of these projects on for yourself or answering those questions that always used to make you go "Hmmmmm." Still, for a first time homeowner it will give you a lot of ideas and confidence to start making plans.

great book!!.......2000-10-28

I have been in the search of a home for months now and the one thing I kept telling myself was that when I finally bought it, I would also buy this book. I looked at lots of books at Home Depot, B & N, etc. but this is one of the best and most creative landscaping books I have found. So today, knowing that I have a home and YARD that I can call my own, I am buying it!!

Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start

Average customer rating:

Decent book, lousy photos
No Juice
Love This Book
perennial combos
Excellent range and quality of presentation of ideas.

Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start
C. Colston Burrell
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Perennial All-Stars: The 150 Best Perennials for Great-Looking, Trouble-Free Gardens
The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs
Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques
Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials: 10th Anniversary Revised and Expanded Edition
Creating Beds and Borders: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners (Fine Gardening Design Guides)

ASIN: 0875968066

Book Description

Perennial combinations are the building blocks of beautiful, successful gardens. Choosing perennials that look great and grow well together is a skill that can take years to develop, but with this book, you're guaranteed to make perfect plant choices right from the start. In Perennial Combinations, expert plantsman, C. Colston Burrell hand-selects 120 of the best perennial combinations for homeowners, then offers his expert advice on how to grow and use the combinations to create great gardens.Each combination is featured in a stunning color photograph accompanied by a numbered photo key and plant list, so it's easy to find and buy exactly the right plants to re-create the combination in your own garden. Each combination features just two to six plants, so they're perfect for even the smallest garden space. You can plant each combination just as it appears in the book, or for a bigger color splash, just repeat the combination or mix it with others that are suited to the same conditions. You'll find combinations for stunning bloom from spring through fall; combinations especially suited to challenging sites like heavy clay soil or seaside gardens; and combinations just for fun, like fragrant combinations and combinations that attract butterflies.C. Colston Burrell has lived and gardened in different climates across America, so he's made sure this book is useful to gardeners from California to Maine. He's also a professional garden designer, and he's applied his talents to create 22 original garden designs that feature the book's individual combinations. Plus every page includes his personal gardening wisdom, so you'll not only know which perennials to plant together, you'll know how to maintain those perennials so your garden will look beautiful year after year.

Customer Reviews:

Decent book, lousy photos.......2007-04-25

One of the drawbacks of buying gardening books online is that you can't see the photos. If I had thumbed through this book I don't think I would have purchased it. Not that it doesn't have a lot of good information and ideas. It's just that the photos are, for the most part, awful. The color is garish and over-saturated and the images actually look blurry. Also, many of the plant combo photos are very close up, which doesn't help when you are trying to figure out how to place your perennials when planting. For me, a good gardening book has to not only give useful information and how-tos (which this book does for the most part), but it has to inspire with lovely photos! And that is where this book fails.

No Juice.......2007-03-29

This book was (is) a big disappointment, containing as it does nothing new regarding perennnial combining that isn't covered in at least a dozen or more recent and more interesting books, not to mention the classics. This is perennial combining 202 with no spark of imagination in the pairings that can make a garden jump for joy. The photography is so ordinary and the color is extremly garish. Is that due to the Digital Imaging Specialists Dale Mack and Jane Ramsey or what? I can find no photographic credits (except for the cover) which is probably just as well. Obviously in a book this size (351 pages), from someone who is as accomplished as Mr. Burrell, there is useful information to be gleaned but I already have books that serve that purpose. If I had seen this in a book store, having thumbed through it for a few moments, I would never have bought it. However, if you are just beginning your library of perennial books this one may be useful to you.

Love This Book.......2007-03-22

Although I have a plethora of gardening books, this one stands out as one of my favorites. It shows a picture example on every page. It has planting diagrams (garden plans) so you can duplicate what you see and it gives a lot of information about the plants. It's the best of both worlds - you can use the information and get creative, or follow the plans and duplicate what you see. Either way, you'll have a great garden!
Although I've been gardening for a good many years, it's nice to have a reference as to how things will look together, instead of my usual "plant it here and hope for the best" approach! I'm tired of moving my plants every year.
I bought my book over the winter and it's a great "dream" book. Now I can't wait till I can get out there and put it all to good use!

perennial combos.......2007-02-16

This is a wonderful guide to planning and developing a perennial garden. The author gives examples for numerous planting condition,such as shade, sand, clay. I can't wait for spring!

Excellent range and quality of presentation of ideas........2007-02-10

`Perennial Combinations' by professional garden designer and gardening writer, C. Colston Burrell is almost as lushly delightful as the many plant combinations he displays and explains in this excellent Rodale publication. This is far more practical, broad, and engaging than the book I just reviewed, `plant partners' by leading horticultural journalist, Anna Pavord; however, Pavord does have loads of arcane information to titillate the imagination. And, as good as it is, Burrell's book is not `perfect', although I am at a loss to recommend anything better.

Burrell's two strongest assets are his offering up a huge selection of different options, varying by color, season, tastes, special locations (shaded, clay, sandy, wet) and special purposes (wildflowers, herbs, butterflies, cuttings) and his displaying his sample layouts in three different methods. These methods are photograph, colored pencil (3 dimensional) drawing, and schematic (map of plant layouts in 2 dimension). With each photograph, there is even a fourth representation, a diagrammatic outline key to identifying each plant in each photograph. To be sure, not every layout is presented in all four manners, but there is enough here for you to get the idea for all the most interesting layouts.

I am not a gardening expert, so I can't realistically judge the accuracy of Mr. Burrell's recommendations. All I know from experience with cookbooks and various other craft books is that the only way to know for sure whether a suggestion will work is to actually try it out, on a small scale, if necessary. I do find one annoyance with the book. It is not entirely consistent with its layout of material on facing pages. In most cases, the left hand page offers an example for a particular venue and plant combination and the right hand facing page offers tips and `secrets' for setting up plants in such a venue. Sometimes, however, the synching up of material goes astray and the facing pages don't seem to have much to do with one another. This is nothing more than a minor nuisance, easily accommodated once you appreciate all the patterns in the book.

One problem not with the book but with the vagaries of local American plant suppliers is that except for a few of the larger establishments, few greenhouses will have even close to all the plants mentioned in this book. If I were to add anything to the book, it would be at least five different garden arrangements based on commonly available plants, similar to the `Cottage Style Mix for Clay' which uses commonly available daylillies (Hemerocallus), Black Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), and Coneflowers (Echinacea). To offset this issue, the author offers many mail order sources for perennials, including web sites for the majority of sources. He also has my very favorite feature, a good bibliography for `Recommended Reading'.

This is a great source if you like perennials gardens (and don't mind the pruning) and have the space for a richly variegated garden.

Taunton's Front Yard Idea Book: How to Create a Welcoming Entry and Expand Your Outdoor Living Space (Idea Books)

Average customer rating:

Put Back this Front Yard Book
Ohhhhh! Excellent!!
Practical ideas for real houses not magazine covers
Great ideas
Great primer, great pictures!

Taunton's Front Yard Idea Book: How to Create a Welcoming Entry and Expand Your Outdoor Living Space (Idea Books)
Jeni Webber
Manufacturer: Taunton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Curb Appeal
Backyard Idea Book: Outdoor Kitchens Fireplaces Sheds & Storage Play Spaces Pools & Spa (Idea Books)
Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass
Stonescaping Idea Book (Tauton's Idea Book Series)
Landscaping Your Home: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners (Fine Gardening Design Guides)

ASIN: 156158519X
Release Date: 2002-12-15

Customer Reviews:

Put Back this Front Yard Book.......2004-02-26

I love elaborate front yard plantings, but this book just isn't the inspirational guide that Liz Primeau's similar "Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass" is.

It's a fairly pedestrian, utilitarian book, nothing special. The Primeau alternative actually conveys a sense of the excitement and adventure inherent in de-lawning your front, and the examples shown are more interesting than the bland gardens depicted here in Taunton's offering.

I've read through this once, then returned it to the library. "Front Yard Gardens" I bought, and I've read through it three times. Buy it instead. Do redo your garden, but don't expect Taunton's Front Yard Idea Book to inspire you.

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.

Ohhhhh! Excellent!!.......2003-12-13

I can't begin to say how much I adore this book!! I'm telling you now, if you read this book from cover to cover & allow yourself to digest each & every picture, you'll never look at a front yard the same again. Literally, American is stuck in a rut. I look up & down my street, & all I see are blank, bland, boring lawns!! Wretch! This book has made me realize something that took me directly out of that silly, traditional mindset: I PAY AS MUCH FOR MY FRONT YARD AS I DO MY BACKYARD! This book has motivated me to "reclaim" my front yard for my own use, & I can't wait to have it all in & done! It won't be my neighbor's front yard anymore! It won't look like public domain anymore!!!

Practical ideas for real houses not magazine covers.......2003-11-12

A good-looking front yard isn't just a wise investment in your home, it's a gift to your neighborhood. Webber's book is packed with ideas for real families and real houses. For example, the book's chapter "Driveways and Parking" offers ideas on expanding a narrow driveway or parking spot, even parking bays and pull-offs!

Webber uses a logical, easy to follow pattern. First she gets us thinking about our goals for an area, then she provides reliable information, combined with Taunton's characteristically good photography.

All in all, the book's a good investment for any homeowner with a front yard.

Great ideas.......2003-06-17

My book is so filled with post-its marking which ideas I'll be emulating. It may take awhile, but it'll be worth it if my front yard ends up anywhere near as beautiful as some of these pictures. I'm looking forward to enjoying my front yard in a private garden setting, just like I enjoy my back yard. It's mine to enjoy, not to work like a dog on just for the neighbors benefit!

Editing to add - it is now three years after I originally posted this review. I used many of the ideas learned from this book, and it sparked many of my own! My front yard looks like a park, I love to look out my windows and enjoy. Even a walk to the mailbox has become a serene experience because of the lush gardens and plantings.
People drive through our neighborhood, stop in front of our house and I see them looking and pointing at different gardens, etc. We'll be selling our house to retire in a couple of years, and I feel confident that our place has tremendous "curb appeal" because of what I learned and implemented from this book.

Great primer, great pictures!.......2003-05-03

This is a really good first book on front yard gardens and has some excellent pictures. If you're thinking of adding a little life and color to your front yard, striving for some curb appeal or just plain tired of mowing the lawn, pick this up. Easy to read and written in a nice relaxed style, it's a good starter.

Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design

Average customer rating:

One of the best
Average
A Map for a magnificient yard
This book is so good I am buying a second copy
American Horticultural Society Book Award

Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design
Gordon Hayward
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Welcoming Garden
Stone in the Garden: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects
The Essential Garden Design Workbook
Garden Paths: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects
The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden

ASIN: 0393057704

Book Description

A breakthrough in inspiring yet practical do-it-yourself garden and landscape design, including dozens of detailed plans.

Finally, homeowners can tackle new garden designs and fix old ones with the confidence and know-how to succeed. Professional garden designer Gordon Hayward provides the tools by demonstrating the guiding principles behind his own designs: take clues from the style, materials, and proportions of existing features, particularly your house, but also garages and outbuildings, property lines, streets, walls, and walkways. Look closely at these features, and they will suggest good design.

Over sixty color photographs and over one hundred detailed watercolor sketches of Hayward's plans for his clients show how to read the clues and then design gardens that relate to their surroundings and unify entire properties. Many tricks of the trade are given, including how to make inviting, sheltering entry gardens; screen unsightly features and utilities; and reclaim narrow, shady side yards. Surefire methods for designing front, side, and backyard gardens are explained. 200 color photographs and drawings.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best.......2007-02-25

I have a library of gardening books and this is by far one of the best I've seen in years. Good design features; good advice. The only thing I would have enjoyed was a little more detail to the actual planting layouts. You won't regret buying this book.

Average.......2006-11-18

Perhaps going into it...I expected too much!

As a Landscape Designer I'd heard of him often, seminars, lectures etc. but somehow the book wasn't anywhere near as good as I'd hoped.

I'm certain I would have enjoyed the book more if I didn't spend so much time wrestling with the layout. Mr. Hayward goes into great detail about landscaping concepts on a particular project & would generally end up referring to related photos or figures that were often many pages ahead. The going back & forth got really old after awhile...not to mention,extremely frustrating. I think any reader generally appreciates seeing the photos being referred to on the page they are explained.

My other negative about this book was that so much detail seemed to be spent on specific projects that it seemed the author was more preoccupied at times with his clients project & describing things that often weren't even in the photographs or seriously helpful to a designer wanting to learn more. A more preferable approach in my opinion would have been to not fuss about specific client details but glean from the projects the essence or core principles applied & present them in a straight forward, generic fashion.

After reading the entire book slowly & carefully, I would honeslty have to admit I'd hoped to find a vast wealth of practical & easily adaptable gems. Instead I only came away with very limited amount of useful information.

I have not read any of Mr. Hayward's other books..so I may check them out in the library first before buying...perhaps they might be far superior to this one. I still hold to my opinion that he's a brilliant designer...however that doesn't necessariy make him a great writer!

A book I found to be much better is The Landscape Design Answer Book by Jane Bath...

A Map for a magnificient yard.......2006-06-10

This book changed the way I look at landscaping. I have an oddly-shaped lot with both sunny and shady areas. This book has you get out your plot plan (something I never thought of!) and mark those areas and take a "whole yard" approach to your landscape. The advice is flawless, the pictures gorgeous. You will definitely want to add this to your library if you garden at all.

This book is so good I am buying a second copy.......2004-08-25

While I have several book shelves devoted to serious garden design, this is the book I always pull down and loan to my neighbors and friends. When they say " I would really like to do something with my side yard. I have to block out the new neighbors!", or " You know how bad my front walk looks I want to rip it out and redo it. What can I do to convince the kids to use it and not cut across the grass?" I say "Let me lend you a great book that will really get you thinking in the right direction". The advice is practical, logical and perfect for the weekend warrior. My copy of Your House, Your Garden has a waiting list for borrowing so I am buying a second copy!

American Horticultural Society Book Award.......2004-06-20

This book has just been chosen by The American Horticultural Society as one of the five top garden books for 2004.

Average customer rating:

The Fundamental of Building Japanese Garden!
Touch ?
Just what you need
Wonderful book
Best Guidebook for Planning Your First Japanese Garden

A Japanese Touch for Your Garden
Kiyoshi Seike
Manufacturer: Kodansha International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Japanese Gardens | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Creating Your Own Japanese Garden
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A Japanese Touch for Your Home
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ASIN: 4770016611

Book Description

Here is a concise introduction to the practical aspects of making a Japanese garden. Whether your garden is a spacious suburban lot, an office countyard, or a tiny inner-city backyard, you will find here hundreds of creative but time-honored ways to make maximum use of the space you have.

You will learn how to lay stones and pathways and how to create intriguing sand patterns like the ones in Zen temple gardens. You will learn about Japanese lanterns, miniature pagodas, water basins, gates, and walls, and will be shown step by step how to make a bamboo lattice fence. Notes on the care of bamboo, moss, and grass are provided as are names of native North American plants and trees that can be substituted for conventional Japanese varieties. Schematic layout plans, detailed how-to explanations, and over 130 color photographs of Japanese gardens old and new give you ideas for endless variations.

Thoroughly up-to-date in its approach and based on the principle that a garden must satisfy the gardener, not a set of inflexible guidelines, this book encourages you to choose freely from the wide range of traditional Japanese design elements that suit your needs and tastes. Whether you live in the country, city, or somewhere in between, you will discover here numerous ways to transform--simply, inexpensively, and with your own two hands--that back porch, corridor, or yard into an intimate, tranquil oasis, one that will reward your planning and work with a rich and everchanging beauty.

Customer Reviews:

The Fundamental of Building Japanese Garden!.......2007-06-12

This book shows how to use essential elements such as rocks, plants, laterns, and boulders etc., within a space. The diagrams in the book illustrated how to use those elements to balance and compensate each other and make your garden looks much bigger and more appealing to the viewers.

A great book to read before you start your weekend garden project. This book will give you inspiration and give your spirit alift. I built my Japanese Rock Garden after reading this book and other book that I bought "Ortho's All About Creating Japanese Gardens". A great garden will add value to your home so did my garden -- a friend of mine who is a realestate appraiser told me that I must added about $30,000 to my property although I spent only about $5000 on the materials.

Highly recommanded for anyone who are interested about Japanese Garden or do it youself gardener!!!!!

Touch ?.......2005-08-11

I think people have "japanese" gardens or any other type of garden but they for example don't have like english garden with a japanese touch. I don't have this book and i will not buy it, because i want a JAPANESE garden nor mexican-japanese-english-french or anything else garden

Just what you need.......2005-08-02

The title of this book is a bit misleading, in that it does not offer tips on adding a "Japanese touch" to your existing garden, but rather goes about explaining how to create a Japanese-style garden in the space available to you. In this manner, it is an extremely capable guide and leaves you with the confidence that you can accomplish building your own Japanese-style garden.

"A Japanese Touch for Your Garden" tells both the basic elements of a Japanese garden; rocks, plants, water, artificial elements, and also provides a blueprint for laying out and constructing a garden using these elements. Although packed with lovely pictures, the book is straight-forward and bare-boned, giving you the essentials of what you need. The authors briefly touches upon garden philosophy and such, but acknowledges that there are other, thicker books for the esoteric matters and they will focus on the practical.

The different sections of the book deal with things such as stone lanterns, bamboo fences, bridges, plants and trees...basically everything you will need. The focus is one how to select and use these available elements for the existing space you have to work with, and how to maximize them for the effect you want to achieve. The rear of the book also contains a guide of Japanese gardens in the US that you can visit, and suppliers of the various items you may want for your garden.

An excellent book, it is exactly what you need if there is a spare portion of your house or yard where you would like to put a Japanese garden. For a more deeper, spiritual look at Japanese gardens, look elsewhere. But to be inspired and begin construction on your own "World in Miniature," this is the place to start.

Wonderful book.......2005-07-19

This book contains wonderful pictures and offers many ideas for a Japanese style garden or balcony.

Best Guidebook for Planning Your First Japanese Garden.......2003-08-24

Not a coffee table glamour book, not a glossed-over editorial toss-off destined for the remainder bin. This is quite simply the best guidebook for the amateur of the Japanese garden who wishes to try out the concepts at home.

It can be very frustrating to take home some fancy book on Zen gardens, only to find that it contains no real help for creating one. This book's real, step-by-step, practical advice is what anyone is after. It does not pretend to be the end-all of the art, & rather it admits this right from the title (A Japanese TOUCH...) This book will get you the right LOOK.

I found especially useful the diagrams of how to get balance (especially through rocks) within a space. There are some very good illustrations of bamboo fencing, too. Botanical suggestions and lists of suppliers are also helpful, but these lists are not exhaustive. You can achieve the basic framework with this book, though. I have yet to find a better Japanese gardening book... room for improvement is in expanding the above lists and adding practical suggestions for more ambitious, larger landscaping. But this will get you the basics.

Bonus delight is the first entry, a mood-setting piece on one man's contemplation of mountains and forests... all to be found in his tiny Japanese garden.

Grab a copy and use it and love your results!

The Way We Garden Now: 41 Pick-and-Choose Projects for Planting Your Paradise Large or Small

Average customer rating:

Fantastic Book!!!
Finally! A gardening book I can really use!

The Way We Garden Now: 41 Pick-and-Choose Projects for Planting Your Paradise Large or Small
Katherine Whiteside
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0307351351
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Book Description

Energizing, Inspiring, Edible, and Exciting: That’s what bestselling author Katherine Whiteside says gardening ought to be. Whether you have a half acre of land in the country or a tiny patch of grass in the city, whether you’re an experienced digger or you’ve never held a trowel, Whiteside offers forty-one versatile projects that will make anyone into a proud gardener.

In The Way We Garden Now, Whiteside, known as House Beautiful’s Garden Goddess, tackles every aspect of creating beautiful and personal gardens, from making a new bed to adding decorative details. Always down-to-earth, Whiteside believes that “fretting over having a perfect garden is not fun, but getting out there and accomplishing basic garden goals will always leave you happily fulfilled.” To that end, she shows how to create the garden that’s just right for you by mixing and matching projects according to your skill level, space limitations, climate, and even how much time you have. The Way We Garden Now is graced with whimsical watercolors, fun sidebars, and Whiteside’s expert tips. In five accessible sections, she teaches you how to:

-Get going with ten easy, manageable projects that will turn your yard into a garden while helping you master basic garden chores
-Surmount design dilemmas with solutions such
as hedges, paths, and patios
-Organize ornamentals—from containers to a
cutting garden
-Add edibles: Start a small salad garden that can evolve into an organic herb and vegetable potager
-Be a gardener for all seasons with summer bulbs, winter gardens, spring shows, and more...

With all the information about the supplies you’ll need, preparations to make, and even a helpful rating of how big an undertaking each project is, this is an indispensable book from a wise and witty mentor—a gardener who has been there and tried that.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Book!!!.......2007-05-15

I loved this book! I read it in a weekend (very easy read) and will be reading tid bits of it throughout the year. It has great tips to be used throughout the entire year - for every season! The book shows you how to start beds from scratch, plant flowers, bulbs, gardens, how to make and use compost, container gardens, gardening journals, etc. Loads of information that can really come in handy. If you want a book full of lovely full page photos... this isn't the book for you. This is a very useable do it yourself book chuck full of information. The book has no photos but has beautifully drawn illustrations. This one's a keeper!!

Finally! A gardening book I can really use!.......2007-02-15

I am so thrilled to receive Katherine Whiteside's new book! This book is a great way to gear up to start a new project, and it will see you right through the whole process. It makes sense of gardening in all forms and gives you information you really can use.
This book is as pretty as it is useful and informative! I'd give it 10 stars!!

Making Yourself at Home: Finding Your Creativity and Putting It All Together

Average customer rating:

tablescapes
Lovely book! Lots of good idea and interesting info on Jane
Jane Seymour Home Book
Amazing book

Making Yourself at Home: Finding Your Creativity and Putting It All Together
Jane Seymour
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Mariel Hemingway's Healthy Living from the Inside Out: Every Woman's Guide to Real Beauty, Renewed Energy, and a Radiant Life

ASIN: 075662892X
Release Date: 2007-03-19

Book Description

The creator of a widely successful home collection, international celebrity Jane Seymour shares with readers her unique insights into and gives practical advice about interior design. In this book, she uses her home in Malibu as an example of dozens of innovative concepts and easy solutions for every room in the house that anyone can adapt to their own living spaces. AUTHOR BIO: Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe award winner Jane Seymour is an accomplished painter and author of seven books, including her most recent, Remarkable Changes, and a children's series. Seymour and her husband and business partner James Keach reside in Malibu, and they also have a 14th century manor house, St. Catherine's Court, in Bath, England.

Customer Reviews:

tablescapes.......2007-06-13

Jane has coined the word tablescapes to illustrate how to display things when decorating your home. I have been having a great time making ones of my own to aliven my home. When I started looking for things like what Jane suggested I found I have a lot of things that work. I reccomend this book to everyone. I believe trying the ideas she offers will work for anyone and will surprise you on how easy it is and how much better your home looks.

Lovely book! Lots of good idea and interesting info on Jane.......2007-05-22

In comparison to a similar but more self-indulgent book she wrote about two decades ago re: the "romantic life", this book is truly a joy to read. This time Jane is keeping it real...and I found that refreshing in a world that constantly fixates on "bling" and flashiness.

In addition to showing some very creative ideas on how to make a house into a home without breaking the budget, it also shows how Jane has gone through so much personal growth through tapping into her creative side with the painting and designing. I really appreciated seeing how her world has expanded beyond just the glamourour career and what-not...I enjoyed reading about her family and interests, too.

I especially liked the decorative ideas for sea shells.

Jane Seymour Home Book.......2007-05-09

Helpful tips, wonderful pictures and written in the personal wonderful style by Jane Seymour. What could be better?

Amazing book.......2007-04-20

This is a really great book, a must have for any Jane Seymour fan and anyone who's interested in how to put everything together in a house/apartment. The book is devided into different chapters where you can read about suggestions and watch big amazing pictures from Jane's own houses. It is very beautifully made book, I promise you wont regret it if you buy it! It contains a lot of decorating ideas on how to creat a home that's more personal, no matter if you're rich or poor. This is a book for everyone!

Designing Your Gardens and Landscapes: 12 Simple Steps for Successful Planning

Average customer rating:

Fabulous
No stone unturned!
The One With the Answers

Designing Your Gardens and Landscapes: 12 Simple Steps for Successful Planning
Janet Macunovich , and Janet Maconovich
Manufacturer: Storey Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1580173152

Amazon.com

In Designing Your Garden and Landscapes, Janet Macunovich lays out a simple 12-step plan that can enable you to design the perfect garden space while eliminating the guesswork. If you're a first-time gardener or a novice, chances are you'll find her sensible approach useful. The book was created as a how-to manual and workbook, so many pages leave space for priority lists or diagrams, and the plastic ring binder means it holds up to plenty of wear.

Macunovich begins by focusing on the importance of setting goals. Why do you want a garden? How will you be using it? What are your favorite plants? This process takes time and compromise, and provides the perfect beginning for moving on to the next steps: setting a budget and planning for maintenance. Once these basics are decided, the real fun begins--the actual design. Important subjects such as site assessment, plant selection, and border mapping are given thorough attention. Macunovich also does new growers a service by decoding plant-marketing comments. For instance, "does well in dry soils" can translate to both tolerating drought and rotting if overwatered, depending on your perspective. By the time you've finished these 12 steps, you'll have all the information you need to design a smart garden space. --Jill Lightner

Book Description

Both first-time gardeners and professional landscape designers will find that this is the book to reach for first. Macunovich's unique and practical 12-step approach takes the mystery out of landscape design. Through helpful checklists, practical illustrations, and creative design techniques, Macunovich makes it easy to plan a beautiful, functional, and elegant garden for every landscape.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous.......2003-03-03

Well worth the money. If you ever get a chance to see her in person, do it. Very Knowledgeable, very practical.

No stone unturned!.......2002-07-11

This book takes you through every step you will need to landscape your yard and garden. The format is somewhat like a workbook but with a ton of useful information presented in a way that makes it easy for even a "brown-thumb" like me to understand. I especially like how the author left room for notes and grids for designing the garden. Pair this with "The Encyclopedia for Organic Gardening" and you will need no other gardening literature.

The One With the Answers.......2001-07-12

Since moving into a new house, I've been devouring every landscape book on the market, in hopes of acquiring information that will enable me to transform the weed patch and ugly bush that are the only features of my front yard into something beautiful. This is absolutely the best of the "how-to" landscape books! A real laboratory manual of landscape design, this book avoids the two major failures of many others on the market. First, unlike those that offer page after page of photos of beautifully manicured lawns from which I am expected to magically intuit the rudiments of landscape design, this book assumes rightly that I know absolutely nothing about landscaping. Then, the author uses clear diagrams and graphs to gently but methodically guide me through all stages of a design and implementation process that will enable a previously clueless me to transform my ugly view into a photo-worthy scene. Second, this book avoids the weaknesses of landscape books that so overwhelm me with the theoretical intricacies of landscape design that I am tempted to throw in the trowel and hire the work out (perhaps the authors of those books wanted me to do that all along?). By contrast, this book sequences in clear and concrete language the questions requiring decision that I will confront, lays out a range of possible actions, and then offers specific suggestions (with diagrams and graphs) for implementation. This book is sturdy and it needs to be. Rather than grace your coffee table, it will be with you as you get down and dirty in your yard with tape measure, string, and clipboard to work through the pages of this book on your way to something beautiful.

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