Agaves: Living Sculptures for Landscapes and Containers

Request this title.

Gardeners and garden designers are having a love affair with agaves. It's easy to see why--they're low maintenance, drought-tolerant, and strikingly sculptural, with an astounding range of form and color. Many species are strikingly variegated, and some have contrasting ornamental spines on the edges of their leaves. Fabulous for container gardening or in-the-ground culture, they combine versatility with easy growability.
In "Agaves," plant expert Greg Starr profiles 75 species, with additional cultivars and hybrids, best suited to gardens and landscapes. Each plant entry includes a detailed description of the plant, along with its cultural requirements, including hardiness, sun exposure, water needs, soil requirements, and methods of propagation. Agaves can change dramatically as they age and this comprehensive guide includes photos showing each species from youth to maturity--a valuable feature unique to this book.

Coastal Modern: Sophisticated Homes Inspired by the Ocean

Request this book

In these luscious pages, you will be transported to fifteen of the most extraordinary homes inspired by the essence of the coast--every one a unique blend of beauty and comfort. In a style Tim identifies as Scandia surf, white paneling, blue-gray hand-blocked curtains, and timeworn driftwood side tables offer a quiet retreat from the owners' busy lives. Tim's native woods aesthetic plays out in a sprawling outdoor living room with a reed ceiling and a Balinese light fixture; lush foliage planted around the perimeter lends an exotic ambiance. And in a refined beach classic home, where nothing is too precious for the everyday and where flip-flops are welcome, furniture made from weatherproof fabrics and vintage nautical objects make the rooms feel as timeless as khakis and a white shirt.
Noted photographer Noah Webb captures the warmth and elegance of these seamlessly connected interiors and exteriors. Paired with Tim's unique insights into sophisticated yet undeniably fresh design, this beautiful volume will inspire you to channel all that you love about the shore into a truly livable modern home.

Outdoor Entertaining Idea Book ( Taunton Home Idea Books )

Request this book

The Outdoor Entertaining Idea Book" is the ultimate design guide for backyard fun, featuring hundreds of fresh, inspirational photos and jam-packed with thousands of ideas and nuggets of expert information about creating outdoor entertaining spaces. Filled with gorgeous photography and inspiring instruction, Tauntons latest Idea Book will help anyone create an amazing backdrop for their next get-together. Whether its for an intimate dinner party or a bustling family reunion, Natalie Ermann Russell shows homeowners how to create a wonderful variety of inviting outdoor spaces, from a fully functional kitchen to a contemplative garden room. She also lays out a full-course menu of plans for dining rooms, dry and wet bars, lighting details, media centers, and more.

Kitchens: Creating a Beautiful Kitchen of Your Own

Request this book

A beautiful, large-format follow-up to" House Beautiful's Home Book."" Kitchens big and small, old fashioned and coolly modern, stylish and inviting: "House Beautiful" presents the ultimate designs for the most loved and used room in the house. Some of the country's finest designers usher you through the kitchens they created--often their own--explaining how they arrived at their decorating choices and showcasing eye-catching options. The styles range from "Farm Nouveau" to quintessential Scandinavian to a bold, bright "Rhapsody in Blue." "Stalking the Look" sections help you source everything from lamps to unique appliances, and breakout sessions focus on special issues, such as planning, color consults, and energy efficiency. Includes kitchens designed for Jonathan Adler; Jeff Lewis (star of Bravo's "Flipping Out"); Carole Lalli, designer and former editor-in-chief of "Food & Wine" magazine; James Radin, who consulted on Diane Keaton's envy-inducing kitchen in the film "Something's Gotta Give"; and Food Network host and "The Barefoot Contessa" cookbook author Ina Garten.

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter: Scaling Back in the 21st Century

There's a grassroots movement in tiny homes these days. The real estate collapse, the economic downturn, burning out on 12-hour workdays -- many people are rethinking their ideas about shelter -- seeking an alternative to high rents, or a lifelong mortgage debt to a bank on an overpriced home.

In this book are some 150 builders who have taken things into their own hands, creating tiny homes (under 500 sq. ft.). Homes on land, homes on wheels, homes on the road, homes on water, even homes in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.

There are 1,300 photos, showing a rich variety of small homemade shelters, and there are stories (and thoughts and inspirations) of the owner-builders who are on the forefront of this new trend in downsizing and self-sufficiency.
Request Tiny Homes : simple shelter from the catalog. 

Maximizing Your Mini Farm: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

Mini farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family 's food on just a quarter acre and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require. Now expanding exponentially on his bestselling Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on Acre, Brett Markham gives you tips, tricks, and planning advice on how to make the most of your mini farm.
Request Maximizing your mini farm from the catalog. 

Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers' Movement

Booklist (04/01/2012):
Essays on the spirituality and physicality of farming; the skill-building and life lessons accompanying the increased connection to the earth; and improved self-sufficiency define the Greenhorn movement. Fleming, founder and director of this group promoting young farmers, joins other Greenhorns and biodynamic farm enthusiasts in gathering writings on farming as an expression of patriotism and hope, addressing local food surety and self-reliance advocates, and farmers new and established, all connected in a reconstitution of a local, resilient, and delicious food system. Financing, tools, and community are major categories. Draft-powered farmer Alyssa Jumars writes that she's never felt so alive as behind the great ass of a draft horse, and Jon Piana praises community effort turning a weeks-long harvest into an hour's labor. Charming line drawings reinforce the anthology's texts, supplemented by a far-ranging list of resources. Readers will also be interested in the documentary film The Greenhorns.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)
Request Greenhorns : 50 dispatches from the new farmer's movement from the catalog.