Home Ground: Sanctuary in the City

Dominique Browning, former editor of House & Garden has reviewed Dan Pearson's book in the New York Times (Dec. 2, 2011) : "It’s about the making of Pearson’s own garden in London, which took years, when he wasn’t busy with television and radio appearances and a frenetic global lecture schedule, to say nothing of designing some of Europe’s most beautiful and impressive gardens."
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The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate & Live Well

"Deborah Needleman is a terrific editor--of words, and now, of rooms and living spaces. In her very readable book, "The Perfectly Imperfect Home", the author offers her advice and expertise on a very important subject--how to make your house your home. She includes succinct advice from the great decorators, sage commentary on what to keep and what to throw away, and valuable rules for what to add to a room to make it exactly right--for you and your family. -"Martha Stewart
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Pale & Interesting: Decorating with Whites, Pastels, and Neutrals for a Warm and Welcoming Home

In Pale & Interesting, stylist Atlanta Bartlett and designer Dave Coote reveal their passion for decorating with a muted palette of subtle shades. The look combines their creative approach with the reality of busy family life, resulting in a stylish yet comfortable home that's easy to live in and easy on the eye. Atlanta and Dave start by taking a look at the design philosophy behind the look: Keep it Simple, Keep it Relaxed and Keep it Real. Next, in Putting It All Together, they map out the key elements of the look: Shades of Pale; Texture & Form; Mixing it Up; Waste Not, Want Not and Collecting. Finally The Rooms, takes a tour throughout the home, revealing how easy and enjoyable it is to live with chalky pastels, earthy natural tones, understated neutrals and muted vintage shades. Pale & Interesting shows how to tap into the look and draw on your own individual taste to create a fresh, light and airy home that's a joy to live in, every single day.
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Design*Sponge at Home

Bonney started the popular Design*Sponge website in 2004. Here she has collected projects and interiors submitted by her readers, illustrated with close to 550 color photographs. The "Sneak Peek" section showcases interiors created by 70 individuals. Fifty DIY projects feature clear instructions and materials lists as well as realistic difficulty and time-required labels. Although no instructions are given for the 50 "Before+After" projects, the variety of transformed furniture and decorative accessories will surely inspire readers. Also included is a vast list of resources for secondhand finds and inexpensive designer goods. A highly recommended compendium of ideas to inspire amateur decorators. Library Journal
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Christmas with the First Ladies: The White House Decorating Tradition from Jacqueline Kennedy to Michelle Obama

No home in America celebrates Christmas quite like the White House. Whether adorned with hand-made ornaments or thoughtful crafts, the White House has warmly welcomed celebrities, dignitaries, and hardworking Americans and epitomized the Christmas spirit. And behind each holiday celebration is a First Lady who lends her own style and grace to the festivities.
"Christmas With the First Ladies" is a look at the holiday magic that happens at the White House, capturing the Christmas decorating history and techniques from Jackie Kennedy through Michelle Obama. Each first lady's design aesthetic is profiled, such as Lady Bird Johnson's themes of home and family to help heal the nation after John F. Kennedy's death; Nancy Reagan's interest in renewing a child-like sense of wonder; and Laura Bush's "Red, White, and Blue " Christmas for a nation banding together.
With anecdotes and intimate photos of the presidential families during the holiday season, as well as personal craft and recipes used by the first ladies, "Christmas With the First Ladies" is the perfect centerpiece for holiday gatherings!
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Decorating with Evergreens

This book is packed with ideas for decorating for the fall holidays. Fresh flowers, fruit, and live greenery are combined to create beautiful wreaths, swags, garlands, centerpieces, Christmas trees, and more. It's overflowing with beautiful photography to inspire accompanied by text to give tips for incorporating these decorating ideas in your home. 
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The Complete Photo Guide to Window Treatments

"Both functional and decorative, window treatments dress up a room. Revised from the 2006 edition, this volume features about 30 more treatment styles. There is more depth to the instructions, and the inspirational photos have been updated. Fabric recommendations and materials lists introduce each style of window treatment, with clear, step-by-step instructions. Organization is consistent and well thought out, making this an easy manual to follow. With a wealth of updates, excellent tips, and great instructions, this edition is highly recommended." Library Journal.
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Designer Faux Finishing: Ideas and Inspiration for Sophisticated Surfaces

Faux finishing, or decorative painting, is the process of applying multiple layers of interior house paint and glaze to craft a textured or photorealistic pattern, such as wood grain, marbling, a cloudscape, and onward to more complex murals and "trompe l'oeil." Most of the other faux-painting titles in the market focus on either room shots *or* finished paint swatches but do not successfully evoke both inspirational and hard-working images. "Designer Faux Finishing "fills that empty niche. The room designs in "Designer Faux Finishing" will inspire homeowners to transform their homes into leather-worn libraries, ancient grottos or French streetscapes with just a little help from paint. Each image shows a faux treatment within the context of interior color, design, and lighting, enabling readers to make design decisions when working on their own or with interior designers. Twenty of these photos feature tutorials that deconstruct the techniques used and instruct readers on the nuances of replicating those looks in their homes.
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Simply Creative Faux Finishes with Gary Lord: 30 Cutting-Edge Techniques for Walls, Floors & Ceilings [With DVD]

Nothing can transform a room quite like paint! In this groundbreaking guide, professional decorative painter Gary Lord presents 30 brand-new finishes for your walls, floors, ceilings and furniture. Designed by Gary and 23 of the top names in the industry, these cutting-edge finishes bring style, sophistication and value to every part of your home. Each project shows you step by step how to use the newest tools and painting products on the market to achieve elegant, updated home decor without the expense of hiring a professional.
Everything you need to do it yourself successfully is included, such as:
- Complete lists of tools and materials
- Large, full-color step-by-step photos
- Tips from the pros that help you customize your project and avoid mistakes
- Detailed instructions for room and surface preparation
- Inspiring photos of completed projects in actual homes
- Bonus DVD takes you step-by-step through 5 spectacular projects
Whether you're a seasoned home decorator or a novice faux finisher, with this guide you'll have the inspiration and knowledge it takes to create a truly unique and beautiful home. Best of all, the designers featured here keep you ahead of the curve with their up-to-the-minute styles and techniques. From floors and walls to ceilings and beyond, make your home the best it can be.
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Designing with Conifers: The Best Choices for Year-Round Interest in Your Garden

With blue, green, and gold foliage and shapes ranging from spiky to weeping, conifers have the potential to be garden design stars. But they are commonly misused in gardens and landscapes, leading to looming spruces squashed against a house or rows of kettledrum-shaped yews along a sidewalk. When used correctly and creatively, conifers can be star players in creating beautiful, long-lasting plant combinations or a serene backyard haven.
"Designing with Conifers" shows readers exactly how to choose the best conifers for specific needs. Chapters cover shape, color, and conifers for specific sites an conditions, including front gardens, hedges and screens, topiary, dwarf conifers, shade gardens, Asian-style gardens, bonsai, and miniature railroad gardens. Also includes useful appendices that list of conifers for various problems and conditions, like conifers for areas plagued by deer and the best conifers for Christmas trees and Southern gardens. Each section is enlivened with gorgeous color photographs.
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Slow Gardening: A No-Stress Philosophy for All Senses and All Seasons

Though the title suggests that this will be a guide to low-maintenance, low-anxiety gardening, garden lecturer and author Rushing (Passalong Plants) invites gardeners to make enjoyment and creative expression central to the gardening experience. Whether one loves strict formality or careless chaos, Rushing delightfully urges gardeners to follow their own bliss in the garden. Marigolds in military lines, flocks of lawn flamingos, and homemade art are as welcome as boxwood parterres and immaculate lawns. Rushing is a horticultural inspirational speaker who offers solid advice along with encouragement. Beginning gardeners will benefit from his hard-won tricks of the trade, proven plant combinations, and easy maintenance plans. The more experienced will appreciate his tips on making compost, propagating plants, and engaging all the senses in the garden. All will find some inspiration in his infectious enthusiasm and good humor.
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Green Grows the City

Nichols, gardener and author of Down the Garden Path, A Thatched Roof, and A Village in the Valley moved into a house in the Hampstead section of London in 1936. He chronicles a garden transformation and includes tales of Gaskin, his manservant.

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Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening

"The real story of a 110+ acre commercial permaculture farm featuring 14,000 fruit trees with diverse understory plants, complete integration of rotationally grazed livestock, terraces and rainwater harvesting, and so much more. Anyone interested in taking permaculture to a larger scale in a cold climate will benefit from Sepp Holtzer's 40 years of practical experience implementing permaculture principles."--Eric Toensmeier, author of "Perennial Vegetables" and co-author of "Edible Forest Gardens"
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Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism & Rebellion in the Garden

This is an eye-opening alternative study of agricultural, national, political, and social movements from around the world that are intrinsically linked to gardening.

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Landscapes in Landscapes

A leading figure in the New Perennial planting movement, garden designer Piet Oudolf emphasizes plant structure as the most important aspect of a successful garden. Form and texture are valued as much as color, and perennials--prized for their beauty throughout a natural life cycle--are used almost exclusively. Oudolf challenges conventional approaches to gardening that rely on short-lived bursts of color and constant maintenance and shows the delights of working with versatile, expressive perennials to create lasting, ecologically sound panoramas that relate to the greater landscape and the shifting seasons.
This glorious full-color volume features twenty-three of Oudolf's most beautiful public and private gardens, including the widely acclaimed High Line and the Battery in New York City; the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park in Chicago; Wisley, the Royal Horticultural Society Garden in Surrey, England; the Pensthorpe Nature Reserve and Gardens in Norfolk, England; the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire, England; Il Gardino delle Vergini at the 2010 Venice Biennale; the Dream Park in Enkoping, Sweden; and his own perpetually evolving garden in Hummelo, The Netherlands.
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Garden Guide: New York City

A horticultural escape and guided tour through all the best- and little-known gardens in New York City s five boroughs.
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Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden

Chanticleer, a forty-eight-acre garden on Philadelphia's historic Main Line, is many things simultaneously: a lush display of verdant intensity and variety, an irreverent and informal setting for inventive plant combinations, a homage to the native trees and horticultural heritage of the mid-Atlantic, a testament to one man's devotion to his family's estate and legacy, and a good spot for a stroll and picnic amid the blooms. In "Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden," Adrian Higgins and photographer Rob Cardillo chronicle the garden's many charms over the course of two growing cycles.Built on the grounds of the Rosengarten estate in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Chanticleer retains a domestic scale, resulting in an intimate, welcoming atmosphere. The structure of the estate has been thoughtfully incorporated into the garden's overall design, such that small gardens created in the footprint of the old tennis court and on the foundation of one of the family homes share space with more traditional landscapes woven around streams and an orchard.Through conversations and rambles with Chanticleer's team of gardeners and artisans, Higgins follows the garden's development and reinvention as it changes from season to season, rejoicing in the hundred thousand daffodils blooming on the Orchard Lawn in spring and marveling at the Serpentine's late summer crop of cotton, planted as a reminder of Pennsylvania's agrarian past. Cardillo's photographs reveal further nuances in Chanticleer's landscape: a rare and venerable black walnut tree near the entrance, pairs of gaily painted chairs along the paths, a backlit arbor draped in mounds of fragrant wisteria. Chanticleer fuses a strenuous devotion to the beauty and health of its plantings with a constant dedication to the mutability and natural energy of a living space. And within the garden, Higgins notes, there is a thread of perfection entwined with whimsy and continuous renewal.
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The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff-And Making a Profit

Contrary to popular belief, a good living can be made on an organic farm. What's required is farming smarter, not harder. Wiswall shares advice on how to make vegetable production more efficient, better manage employees and finances, and turn a profit.
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Small Green Roofs: Low-Tech Options for Greener Living

Until now, the green roof movement has been limited to large-scale, professional endeavors and public buildings. But homeowners everywhere are catching onto the benefits of a green roof water conservation, energy savings, and storm water management. In "Small Green Roofs" authors Dunnett, Gedge, Little, and Snodgrass profile ordinary homeowners who scaled green roofs down to the domestic level.
"Small Green Roofs" is the first book to focus on small-scale and domestic green roofs. More than forty profiles of small and domestic-scale projects of all shapes and sizes include green roofs on sheds, garden offices, studios, garages, houses, bicycle sheds, and other small structures, as well as several community projects. For each project, details are given for design, construction, and installation, as well as how-to tips on how the roof was planted and cared for.
For readers looking for inspiration when hiring a contractor or taking the adventurous step of building their own, Small Green Roofs provides the knowledge and encouragement to make it possible.
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Growing Perennials in Cold Climates: Revised and Updated Edition

Revised and updated, this all-in-one guide designed for northern-tier gardeners from coast to coast features:
- more than 2,000 varieties proven to thrive in cold climates- five-star ratings to help you choose top-performing perennials
- new selections of varieties with variegated or brightly colored foliage
- new mail-order sources for hard-to-find varieties of each plant
If you are a gardener and winter temperatures in your region can dip below -20 degrees, this is the one guide you need. Comprehensive and fully illustrated, "Growing Perennials in Cold Climates" is an excellent resource for selecting, siting, planting, and maintaining perennials that flourish in northern climates. This expanded edition identifies the fifty most popular perennial groups, offers in-depth information on wild and cultivated varieties best suited to cold climates, and rates more than 500 of the choicest plants. In addition to the plant data, this book includes a concise course in perennial gardening, from preparing a site and buying potted perennials to composting, watering, mulching, fertilizing, weeding, staking, deadheading, pruning, protecting plants in winter, companion planting, and dealing with disease and insect problems. Owning this guide is like having a professional gardener at your side every step of the way. Written to make even the most sophisticated aspects of growing perennials easy to understand, this book will be indispensable to novice and advanced gardeners alike.
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Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts, and Other Miniatures

Schenk, author of three other horticultural books, points out that traces of moss have been found in 400-million-year-old fossils. There are 15,000 living moss species, 1,200 of them in North America. Schenk defines the varieties of moss plants and follows with chapters on moss gardens in Japan (a garden in Kyoto was designed in the fourteenth century) and on gardens in Europe and North America. There are chapters on mossy rocks, moss carpets, alpine gardens, growing moss in containers, and the use of moss as ground covers beneath bonsai trees. Schenk lists approximatety 60 plants alphabetically by genus, with advice on propagating, cultivating, and transplanting. (Booklist)
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Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

The unique information available in this book includes: how to grow food on a bale of hay; no-till gardening which provides yields equal to those of cultivated gardens; how to estimate and use the amount of shade cast by deciduous trees in the winter; scientific studies which dispel many companion-planting myths, (marigolds flunked the test!); how to judge appropriate fertilizer use based only on tree growth, how to use plants to discover soil potential, and much, much more.
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Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times

Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies -- working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.
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The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times

"Resilient" gardeners adapt to challenging health, dietary, weather, or financial situations to produce food that can sustain a family through adverse times. In this guide to becoming such a gardener, plant breeder Deppe "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" details her methods for safe and reliable food production—and covers more than strictly gardening—no matter your state of health or what climate you are in. She focuses on five crops with calorie, nutrient, and storage values: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and, yes, duck eggs. In each chapter, Deppe describes her experiences with specific varieties of crops (with particular reference to her own climate in coastal Oregon), specific techniques for success, and unusual recipes suited to the varieties she grows (all are designed for those with gluten intolerance).
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Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love

An Outside-the-Box Guide to Outdoor Living. Lets face it: most of us have the confidence to improve the inside of our homes with a fresh coat of paint, new rugs, furniture, and fixtures. But when it comes to the outside of our most prized possession, we don't know where to start. That's where Julie Moir Messervys "Home Outside" comes in. The acclaimed landscape designer walks the reader through the process of turning any property into the home outside you've always dreamed of. Focusing on key concepts like Finding Your Comfort Zone and Placing the Pieces, Messervy presents breathtaking plans for remarkable front and back lawns, entertainment areas, and contemplative retreats, as well as innovative ways to create a better flow between the inside and outside of a house.
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The Twilight Garden: A Guide to Enjoying Your Garden in the Evening Hours

To show how easily we can have inviting nighttime gardens, Leendertz (gardening columnist, "Guardian, UK; Family Garden" highlights night-flowering plants, foliage that sparkles in soft lighting, and exotic scents and sounds that lure mysterious creatures. She explains the heightened importance of creating coziness and using intriguing silhouettes, whether in a front garden or a more private, contemplative one. Several party ideas are included, some with kid-friendly themes. The majority of the book is a plant directory, including color photos and USDA zone information for over 60 plants.
(Library Journal)
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Landscaping for Your Home

Homeowners looking for an encyclopedic beginner's guide to landscape design, installation, and maintenance will find it in this new how-to book by garden writer and photographer Erler (Design Ideas for Home Landscaping). Erler describes how even the most inexperienced homeowner can design and create a garden that complements a house's style. She offers practical tips on laying out and installing the bones of the space (walkways, decks, fences, and beds) and the finishing touches that turn a yard into a satisfying garden (fountains, lighting, furniture, and art). She takes no horticultural experience for granted and even offers a visual guide to distinguishing a shovel from a spade. The lists of horticultural tips, recommended plants, maintenance checklists, step by-step guidance, and more than 400 color photographs and drawings make this a comprehensive guide filled with valuable inspiration and instruction.
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Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

Intensive growing methods can allow gardeners with small lots to offset seriously the yearly grocery bill. Markham has adapted, through years of experimentation, the techniques developed by such gardener-authors as Mel Bartholomew ("Square Foot Gardening") and John Jeavons ("How To Grow More Vegetables and Fruits"). In this revised and expanded version of his 2006 self-published book, now with almost double the text and with 250 color photographs, Markham suggests that a small family (with one outside income) can come out economically ahead by following his strategies, provided that their overhead is low and that they produce more calorie-dense foods in addition to vegetables and fruits. His instructions for projects show how to spend as little capital as possible in order to keep the operation economical, with plenty of references for more in-depth study. Although he does not cover wine and cheese making, there is plenty on soil minerals. VERDICT While not as hip as other recent books on urban homesteading, such as Carleen Madigan's "The Backyard Homestead" and Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen's "The Urban Homestead", this differs by focusing on practicality and the bottom line. A helpful addition, alongside Bartholomew and Jeavons, for the serious DIY gardener.Margaret Heller, Dominican Univ. Lib., River Forest, IL (Library Journal)
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Mid-Atlantic Home Landscaping

This larger-format edition provides inspiring ideas for making the Mid-Atlantic home landscape more attractive and functional. Starting with the 200 best plants that thrive in the region, area landscape professionals created 46 outdoor design concepts that readers can work with. More than 430 color photographs and drawings complement the easy-to-follow instructions for caring for and installing plants, paths, patios, ponds, and arbors.
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Edible Landscaping

Since Rosalind Creasy popularized the concept of landscaping with edibles a quarter-century ago, interest in eating healthy, fresh, locally grown foods has swept across the nation. More and more Americans are looking to grow clean, delicious produce at home, saving money and natural resources at the same time. And food plants have been freed from the backyard, gracing the finest landscapes--even the White House grounds! Creasy's expertise on edibles and how to incorporate them in beautifully designed outdoor environments was first showcased in the original edition of Edible Landscaping (Sierra Club Books, 1982), hailed by gardeners everywhere as a groundbreaking classic. Now this highly anticipated new edition presents the latest design and how-to information in a glorious full-color format, featuring more than 300 inspiring photographs. Drawing on the author's decades of research and experience, the book presents everything you need to know to create an inviting home landscape that will yield mouthwatering vegetables, fruits, nuts, and berries. The comprehensive Encyclopedia of Edibles--a book in itself--provides horticultural information, culinary uses, sources, and recommended varieties; and appendices cover the basics of planting and maintenance and of controlling pests and diseases using organic and environmentally friendly practices.
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Landscape Gardens on the Hudson, a History

The designed historic landscapes of the Hudson River Valley : Hyde Park, Sunnyside, Olana, Clermont, Lyndhurst, Montgomery Place, Locust Grove, Wilderstein, Springside, Idlewild, Blithewood, Millbrook, Kenwood, The Point, Philipse Manor, Van Cortlandt Manor, The Pastures (Schuyler Mansion) and more.
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Homegrown Harvest: A Season-By-Season Guide to a Sustainable Kitchen Garden

Written by the American Horticultural Society's foremost fruit, vegetable and herb experts, "Homegrown Harvest" provides lifestyle-changing advice that gardeners need for growing a year-round supply of healthy edible crops for their table. Specific local and regional advice enables gardeners to decide how and what to grow wherever they live in North America.
The book starts with planning what to grow, then how to grow it- whether in an allotment, containers, a raised bed or vegetable patch- as well as information on how to get the best from your soil.
Next, over the course of 12 seasonal chapters, from early spring to late winter, the book shows how to go from sowing to harvesting with clear instructions that help you stay on top of the joys and challenges of a productive garden.
From apples and asparagus, raspberries to radishes, this book shows how to apply age-old techniques in a timely fashion, to get the most from your plot.
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The Book of Little Hostas: 200 Small, Very Small, and Mini Varieties

Hostas are irresistible. Their sculptural leaves and appealing textures make it difficult to stop at one, and it is easy to fill a garden with them. Help is at hand with this attractive guide to the popular new small hostas that take up less space and are ideally suited to container cultivation. They can be used on their own or with companion plants to make charming displays on the patio, porch, or even windowsill.
Many small hostas are simply scaled-down versions of classic hostas, while others offer distinctly new attributes in terms of color, leaf shape, and patterning. Like full-size hostas, small hostas can be upright, flat, or cascading; there are varieties that are full of substance, and others that are fine and delicate; there are green ones, gold ones, blue ones, variegated ones, and splashed ones. Some are better garden plants than others, and a valuable function of this book is to showcase the very best of the new introductions. Photographs of the hostas in garden settings show how admirably they respond to imaginative display in a wide range of situations including waterside, woodland, and rock gardens.
Beautifully illustrated and highly informative, this handpicked selection of diminutive hostas will inspire hobbyists and gardeners alike and provide inspiration for new planting schemes.
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Continuous Container Gardens: Swap in the Plants of the Season to Create Fresh Designs Year-Round

The difference between container gardening and gardening in a container is not merely semantic. While the former implies a reliance on a standard mix of spectacular but short-lived annuals, the latter draws on the vast array of plant material one would use in any mixed border. Bending the boundaries of typical planter plantings, Townsend and Robbins begin with a basic design scheme that can be updated throughout the seasons. The key to this flexibility is a strong foundation on which central plants such as trees, shrubs, and perennials are supported by a cast of sequential secondary players. Highlighting 12 containers that illustrate a favorite theme such as foliage, structure, color, or movement, the authors deconstruct each vessels composition and subsequent adaptations and include such vital information as off-season care and proper container selection. With a bright, breezy, conversational style, the authors infectious enthusiasm and extensive experience will empower gardeners to think outside their usual container comfort zones.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
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Tips for Container Gardening: 300 Great Ideas for Growing Flowers, Vegetables & Herbs

Truth be told, you can grow almost anything in a pot — and you can place those pots anywhere … on a deck, patio or rooftop. That’s why so many people love container gardening. It’s versatile enough for suburban homeowners with acres of land as well as apartment-dwellers with no patch of ground to call their own. In fact, growing edibles in containers is a perfect way for homeowners and gardeners with limited space to have fresh food in their kitchens. Like each issue of Fine Gardening, this latest collection is brimming with 300 essential tips, savvy shortcuts, and tried-and-true techniques, celebrating the growing popularity of container gardening. Tips for Container Gardening promises to bring out the bountiful best in all containers, large or small.
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The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener (Revised, Expanded)

Coleman's personable work draws together the experience and wisdom of his 25 years as a vegetable gardener in Maine. It includes nearly all the material in the previous edition (LJ 11/1/89), communicating a respect and feeling for "the land" and its processes. Every page is imbued with the wisdom and careful observations he and his associates have gathered; from soil structure to "mobile greenhouses" that expand the growing season, each method is thought through to its ultimate impact on the earth and on economic survival. Well-presented graphics illustrate methods and techniques. This new edition includes sidebar references and notes, new chapters on creating fertile soil (without importing items such as manure from sources that may not use organic methods), and use of existing information channels to learn of new information. Of interest for even the smallest veggie patch grower. The Dirt Doctor's Guide to Organic Gardening presents many of the same sustainable concepts with the vehemence of its radio talk show host and news columnist author. Garrett gives tips on a broader range of home gardening, including landscaping and wildlife, and spends much effort on the abuses of past and current practice. Basics are presented briefly, with many eco-asides that help break up the dense, information-rich text. Lack of visuals makes the material harder to absorb, yet one is constantly copying out directions as they appear. These tidbits and the coverage of issues concerning Southern gardens make the title of value, though gathering the tips in an appendix or special section would have provided better access. For general collections.-Sue Gardner, Albert Wisner Lib., Warwick, N.Y. (Library Journal)
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Garden Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Plant, Grow, and Harvest

The latest addition to the bestselling Wisdom & Know-How series is a complete home reference for everything you need to know about gardening - from soil and fertilizers to growing flowers and vegetables"
Garden Wisdom & Know-How" is a large-scale practical guide to planting and maintaining a garden, indoors or out. The chapters are organized by topic-garden techniques and tricks, the flower garden, the edible garden, container gardening, garden design and landscaping, attracting wildlife, and so on-and packed with information. Readers will discover tips and techniques for maintaining a garden year-round; harvesting herbs; designing by bloom season; turning garden refuse into garden rewards; building teepees, trellises, and other plant supports; and much more.
Featuring handpicked selections from dozens of publications from Rodale Books, this massive collection is full of indispensable and trusted advice from some of the most respected gardening authors in the world. And with hundreds of black-and-white illustrations and photographs as well as step-by-step projects, key gardening resources, and essential information on countless plant species, "Garden Wisdom & Know-How" is a must-have volume for both the aspiring and the experienced gardener. (Rodale)
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Microgreens: How to Grow Nature's Own Superfood

Microgreens are superfoods you can grow at home. Hill explains all in this beautifully illustrated how-to. Microgreens resemble sprouts (germinated seeds) at a glance, but they are actually seedlings. Unlike sprouts, they are grown in soil and clipped at the stem once they produce two "true" leaves. They have stronger, more savory flavors and come in a great array of leaf shapes and textures. Microgreens are also remarkably nutritious. Hill, a lively advocate for these pretty little superfoods, covers every aspect of microgreen cultivation, preparation, and consumption, offering thorough instructions, helpful tips, and precise trouble-shooting. Planted in pots, herb and vegetable seedlings make very pretty houseplants. Hill identifies the many health properties of a variety of microgreens, including broccoli, flax, red radish, kale, beet, basil, parsley, and mustard and provides alluring recipes. This comprehensive microgreen handbook will be a revelation for everyone who enjoys cooking with fresh ingredients; indoor gardening; and eating locally, sustainably, and healthily. (Booklist Reviews)
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Best Garden Design: Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

For almost a century, the Royal Horticulture Society's Chelsea Flower Show has been the botanical ticket of the year in Great Britain. Landscape designer Young (deputy ed., The Garden magazine) culls the best ideas from the last five years' worth of entries, arranges them by categories such as entrance paths or sustainability, and then deconstructs them for home gardeners. He includes sections on types of plantings, e.g., perennials, herbs, kitchen gardens, and old roses, but the emphasis is on design via such factors as topiary, decking, garden art, and lighting. There are some great ideas for home gardeners here, but the book works best as a source of inspiration rather than a hands-on guide to the nuts and bolts of landscape design, for which Vanessa Gardner Nagel's Understanding Garden Design or Judith Adam's Landscape Planning are preferable. (Library Journal)
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New Backyard Idea Book

Former editor of Martha Stewart Living, Russell (Outdoor Entertaining Idea Book) nicely revises Lee Anne White's 2004 Backyard Idea Book. All of the photos and sections are updated, illustrating backyards of beautiful possibilities and the newest outdoor living trends, like kitchens and fire pits. With some small projects and interesting asides, this gorgeous book serves chiefly as a means of inspiration rather than construction guidance. (Library Journal)
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Paradise Under Glass: An Amateur Creates a Conservatory Garden

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but they should grow plants. At least that's what brown-thumbed gardener Kassinger thought when she decided to convert the deck area of her suburban Maryland home into a garden conservatory worthy of Victorian England. After having successfully jerry-rigged a hothouse setup with plastic sheeting and, yes, duct tape, Kassinger experienced the heady joy of not killing the meager plants she had installed there. "I can do this," she thought, and, in the difficult wake of her sister's premature death from brain cancer and her own bout of breast cancer, she proceeded to do it in a big way. Seamlessly blending her extensive research on the history of conservatories and plant exploration with her own personal anecdotes of raising everything from butterflies to Boston ferns, Kassinger's personal odyssey into the crystalline world of gardening under glass offers an uplifting and instructional message. (Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.
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The World of Trees

From well-loved oaks and pines to rare, spectacular species such as the snowbells of Japan, this lavishly illustrated work is an unparalleled guide to more than six hundred of the world's major forest and garden trees. An excellent resource for gardeners, botanists, and general readers alike, The World of Trees is a tribute to natural beauty by a superb prose stylist, an essential reference, and a practical guide for gardening. Hugh Johnson illuminates his subject in thorough and loving detail: the structure and life cycle of trees, how trees are named, trees and the weather, the use of trees in gardens and landscape design, and tree planting and care. The heart of the volume is a compendium of coniferous and deciduous trees grouped by family, describing and illustrating important species and varieties. It also includes a guide to choosing trees for the garden and an A-Z listing of the most important and popular species and varieties.

The World of Trees is a completely revised edition of Hugh Johnson's classic International Book of Trees featuring new photographs, systematic illustrations of all key tree parts, and current listings for the newest varieties and cultivars. (University of California Press)
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