Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design
A revolutionary pioneer of the naturalistic New American Garden style, van Sweden (Architecture in the Garden) explains how gardeners can glean inspiration and borrow effective techniques from the arts. Whether the muse is painting or jazz, mystery novels or modern dance, van Sweden offers practical advice on how thoughtful examination can help the amateur gardener understand and control color, line, volume, light, and movement in the garden. He encourages the gardener to think in terms of composition, orchestration, rhythm, and pattern, and shows how these are employed successfully in his own award-winning gardens. One need not be a connoisseur to benefit from this advice. Less important than whether one has cultivated taste is whether one can understand why one's preferences are personally appealing. Van Sweden offers straightforward advice for translating that idiosyncratic understanding into an assured garden design. Particularly illuminating are his conversations with artists, including painter Robert Dash and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, about how their artistic visions find expression in their private gardens. Like the author's classic Bold Romantic Gardens, this is a refreshing, innovative source of inspiration. 98 photos. (Feb.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Rosemary Verey: The Life & Lessons of a Legendary Gardener
Decades before Martha Stewart, Verey was a fiercely determined, supremely talented, and ambitious gardening superstar modestly camouflaged in sensible shoes and pearls. Her laburnum walk at her home at Barnsley House is one of the most famous garden images in the world. Her roster of clients included Prince Charles and Elton John. Her books were the definitive references for aspiring Anglophile American gardeners. In this well-crafted, very personal biography, one of her apprentices, attorney and gardener Robinson, paints a loving but clear-eyed portrait of this great designer. Those who only know this doyenne of British gardening through the genteel, authoritative voice of her books will meet a more complicated character in these pages. Beneath her calm upper-class exterior was a very ambitious woman, motivated by financial pressures, troubled by family relationships, and pinched by vanity. In this intensively researched and absorbing tribute, Robinson has revealed her friend and mentor's struggles as well as celebrating her talents, grit, and graciousness. 39 color and black-and-white photographs.Publishers Weekly (12/24/2012)
Thursday, June 20, 2013
The Beautiful Edible Garden: Design a Stylish Outdoor Space Using Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs
Bennett and Bittner specialize in blending herbs and edibles with ornamentals in limited yard space with an eye toward sophisticated design. Aided by 200 color photos by David Fenton and Jill Rizzo, the authors, who live in California (and it shows in plant selection), offer guided steps and insights for putting together an edible garden that sings with beauty. A mushroom centerpiece, a fruit and nut orchard, and a plum wreath are among the book's innovative offerings. The authors take readers through the process of planning, preparing, and planting with lucid and accessible instruction that includes the principles of landscape design. Even so, don't be fooled by the step-by-step approach. The book is detailed and thorough, and requires thought to assimilate its valuable information. Best first to read it carefully, front to back. Then take it in hand, grab a shovel or spade, and get into the dirt, which, if directions are followed, is destined to become your canvas, your masterpiece, and your dinner. Publishers Weekly (12/17/2012)
A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts
It is not an exaggeration to write that horticulturist and author Norris (Iowa Gardener's Travel Guide) is crazy about bearded irises. In this funny and informative guide, he shares his passion for the flower and his expertise gained from years as one of the country's most respected iris breeders. Norris is a charming guide. It's difficult not to be seduced by his enthusiasm and tantalizing descriptions of the colors, textures, ruffles, and patterns of the iris species. For those who have never grown the flower, he provides an overview of the different types of irises and straightforward advice on cultivation and propagation. Those who already grow this perennial garden favorite will find it impossible to explore this gallery without compiling a wish list for their own gardens. A resource section with specialty nurseries, public iris gardens, and organizations, along with an index, make this a complete guide. 318 color photos. (June) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information.Publishers Weekly (05/07/2012)
The Organic Seed Grower: A Farmer's Guide to Vegetable Seed Production
The rising demand for organic fruits and vegetables in our supermarket produce aisles has recently put more pressure on agricultural companies to supply an equally organic variety of seed stock. In this exceptionally informative and well-organized guide to producing organic vegetable seeds, Washington State University plant-breeding specialist Navazio frames this demand as a golden opportunity for small farm operations and other botanically inclined entrepreneurs to fill a burgeoning business niche. After an introductory section providing a short history of agricultural seed collections, as well as a brief lesson on reproductive crop biology, Navazio gives well-explained, detailed instructions on cultivating seeds from the nine different families of vegetables, from Alliaceae (leeks and onions) to Solanaceae (peppers and tomatoes). A third section overviews tricky topics, such as calculating isolation distances between different crops and dealing with seed-borne diseases. Although Navazio's guide is primarily aimed at small and large seed-production enterprises, novice gardeners can also benefit from learning how to harvest and store their seeds for future growing seasons.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)Booklist (12/15/2012)
Bathroom Ideas You Can Use: Secrets & Solutions for Freshening Up the Hardest-Working Room in Your House
A 176-page design and inspiration book that is packed full with gorgeous photos of beautiful bathrooms and highly desired bathroom fixtures. This is a hardworking, editorially-driven source book, guide book and manual for people who are beginning the bathroom remodeling process. "Bathroom Ideas You Can Use" contains page after page of useful information and intelligent discussion, but still features hundreds of beautiful photos of rooms, materials and fixtures. All of the most common fixtures are included: multi-head shower stalls, tubs and spas, vanities, lavatory sinks, toilets and bidets, vent fans and even saunas and infrared steam baths. Accessories can transform a plain bath into a luxury salon, including: towel warmers, anti-fog mirrors, cabinetry and cabinet organizers, paper holders and towel rods, shower doors, and home electronics. Whatever your plans may be, from a simple refreshing to a complete makeover, your next bathroom remodeling project starts here.
World's Fair Gardens: Shaping American Landscapes
In today's linked world, new ideas speed around the globe at a fantastic rate, regional differences are losing their sharpness, and international events all seem to share the same homogenous corporate veneer. Editor and author Maloney (Chicago Gardens: The Early History) chronicles a time when international exhibitions such as world's fairs were crucibles of innovation. The nine great fairs that were held in the United States between 1876 and 1940 left their mark on America. The millions who visited the fairs were introduced to European planting schemes and exotic tropical plants, new technologies that ranged from the miraculous mechanical lawnmower to breathtaking outdoor electric lights, and engineering feats that would change the landscape of some of America's greatest cities. The fairs also solidified the reputation of many of America's most important landscape architects, whose work still remains in some former host cities. It's hard to imagine any single event being so influential today. Those interested in the history of American landscape design will find Maloney's tour an illuminating guide. 53 color and 70 b&w illus. (Nov.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. Publishers Weekly (10/15/2012)
The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food
In this enchanting narrative part memoir, part botany primer, part political manifesto Ray, author of the acclaimed Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and lately returning to her childhood obsession with farming, has a mission: to inspire us with her own life to "understand food at its most elemental... the most hopeful thing in the world. It is a seed. In the era of dying, it is all life." Ray is inspired by the eccentric, impassioned, generous characters she visits and interviews, gardeners and farmers who populate the quietly radical world of seed savers, from Vermonter Sylvia Davatz, self-proclaimed "Imelda Marcos of seeds, "' to the more phlegmatic Bill Keener of Rabin Gap, Ga., who gives Ray two 20-inch cobs of Keener corn, grown by his family for generations, as well as Greasy Back beans and some rotten Box Car Willy tomatoes to save for seed. Despite the book's occasional tendency toward polemic, avid gardeners will relish recognizing their idiosyncratic, revolutionary sides in its pages, and it's likely to strike a spark in gardening novices. Even couch potatoes will be enthralled by Ray's intimate, poetically conversational stories of her encounters with the "lovely, whimsical, and soulful things happen in a garden, leaving a gardener giddy." Agent: Sam Stoloff, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Aug.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. Publishers Weekly (06/04/2012)
Friday, June 14, 2013
Candice Olson Favorite Design Challenges
Candice Olson Favorite Design Challenges follows the model established by Candice Olson Kitchens & Baths. It features two dozen of Candice's stunning room makeovers, described in Candice's approachable and authoritative voice. Her gorgeous room sketches and design boards show how each design took shape. More than 200 full-color before-and-after photos provide a wealth of visual inspiration, while Candice's tips and insights into what makes each space work give readers practical knowledge for planning their own room redos.
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