Planting the Dry Shade Garden: The Best Plants for the Toughest Spot in Your Garden

Award-winning author Rice has written more than 20 books that speak to gardeners on both sides of the Atlantic. He tackles the garden's heart of darkness: dry shade, the space under trees or overhangs where plants go to die from lack of light and water. This man has ideas to change that; his experience includes training at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England, which has plenty of trees casting shade. He goes into detail that helps gardeners better understand the situation and possible solutions: not all shade is the same; some mulches are better than others. The heart of the book profiles more than 130 plants that are made in the shade. Little is written on this common and trying garden condition, as his reading list indicates, so Rice fills a need. Owners of shaded gardens, rejoice. Includes 125 color photos. (Aug.) Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.
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The Art of Creative Pruning: Inventive Ideas for Training and Shaping Trees and Shrubs

Imaginative pruning and shaping of living plants can create landscapes, evoke far off places and memories, . . . surprise and even shock, with interconnected species resulting not in defined categories but rather a family tree, or a map of a river system of endless tributaries, flood plains . . . or . . . some vast web of interconnected strands. In smoothly flowing, evocative text, Hobson introduces recent approaches to topiary, ranging from an amateur's gravity-free South Carolina garden to the professionally developed, extraordinary topiary in the French Marqueyssac Garden, captured poetically in the early morning fog. Deciduous hedges segue from screens to architecture: arches forming gateways, buttresses creating seating bays, crenelated battlements defining fortifications, and sophisticated, bare-trunked, raised hedges elegantly lining a garden thoroughfare. Hobson presents examples of Asian aesthetics that involved microcosms of nature created without removing plants from their natural state, as with Western pruning, but instead manipulating and enhancing that natural state. A love affair with living sculpture, this coffee-table book exceeds expectations with how-to diagrams, tips on maintenance and tools, and a list of references accompanying genuinely breathtaking full-color photos.
(Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
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The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible: How to Grow a Bounty of Food in Pots, Tubs, and Other Containers

Anyone can grow, harvest, and enjoy homegrown veggies, even without a yard, bestselling garden guru Smith persuasively argues as he presents his step-by-step approach to container gardening. A garden of containers, pots, buckets, and found objects can stand alone or complement an earth garden, with some advantages, including ease of tending, portability, and fewer insect and disease problems. From soil formulas and layouts for three-container gardens on small balconies and porches to transforming five-gallon plastic buckets into self-watering containers, developing artful arrangements, and pruning, Smiths bible will encourage many new vegetable growers. Useful tips for hanging containers to maximize use of vertical space on patios, grouping plants of similar mature sizes and growth rates, and using organic controls are presented as attractive endeavors, beautifully documented in numerous full-color, full-page photos. With an index, suggested reading list, average last-frost dates and hardiness zone maps, and listings of suppliers, Smiths practical, assuring, timely, and handsomely produced how-to will see brisk traffic.(Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
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Small-Space Container Gardens: Transform Your Balcony, Porch, or Patio with Fruits, Flowers, Foliage, and Herbs

You don't need a yard in the suburbs to surround yourself with homegrown beauty and produce. Richardson, writer of an award-winning blog about gardening in tiny spaces, offers a comprehensive approach to getting started on a balcony or wee patio. The book is organized by principles (color, weather, wildlife, pests, etc.), which is particularly helpful for those just starting container gardening. For them, the book is filled with resources: planting schemes, do-it-yourself projects, short appendixes. Those with more gardening experience may find the plants Richardson highlights limiting. The authors attention to succulents is distinctive; those forgiving plants lend themselves to the container gardening environment. Gardeners living in less mild climates than Richardson's Southern California should remember that whatever is too delicate to winter outside must be hauled indoors for the duration, taking up what might be precious limited space. That said, container gardening is flexible, and Richardson makes it verdant, affordable, and fun. 150 color photos. (Feb.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information.
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Small Is Bountiful: Getting More Crops from Your Pots

Imagine the satisfaction of diving into a plate full of food that you grew yourself. Stepping out onto your patio and picking fresh ingredients for a meal is a special experience that is possible almost all year long. "Small Is Bountiful" shows you how to use the latest practices of high-density patio gardening to grow a cornucopia of mouthwatering fruits, delectable vegetables, and fresh herbs in large and small plant containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets.
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Gardening Made Simple: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Gardening

Gardening Made Simple is a comprehensive step-by-step guide to creating beautiful gardens, including all the basics of planting, growing, and caring for trees, shrubs, flowers, fruits, vegetables, lawns and other greenery. With plenty of clear and explanatory full-color photographs, it gives beginners the inspiration and simple guidance they need to achieve their green-thumb dreams.
A helpful introductory section covers basic tools and techniques and shows you how to choose the right garden plans and plants for your Zone, prepare your soil, manage pests, and prune, mulch, fertilize, and water with ease.

• 65 step-by-step gardening projects
• 145 easy-to-grow plants
• Sections on container gardening, growing your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs, flower gardening, landscaping with trees, shrubs, vines, and groundcovers, and foolproof houseplants
• 1,200 color photographs throughout, including step-by-step photos and shots of finished projects, as well as colorful illustrations and easy plant-by-number diagrams
• Ask the Garden Doctor question-and-answer content
• "Better Homes and Gardens" Test Garden tips throughout

No matter your gardening experience and skill level, "Gardening Made Simple" provides the inspiration, insight, and advice you need to grow the garden of your dreams.
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Landscaping for Privacy: Innovative Ways to Turn Your Outdoor Space Into a Peaceful Retreat

The area around your home is your haven, your sanctuary, your refuge from the noise and irritation of traffic, eyesores, and nosy neighbors. Or at least it could be if there was some sort of barrier between your front yard and the sidewalk, or if you didn't have to stare at the back of the neighbors' garage when you want to relax on your patio.
"Landscaping for Privacy" brims with creative ideas for minimizing or even eliminating the nuisances that intrude on your personal outdoor space. Scores of real-world examples show you how to keep the outside world at bay by strategically placing buffers (such as berms or groups of small trees), barriers (such as fences), and screens (arbors or hedges, for example) around your property. And the helpful plant lists tell you precisely which varieties to choose in order to enhance your sense of seclusion.
If you've ever felt frustrated by the lack of privacy whenever you step outside your home, this inspiring book will steer you toward an achievable solution.
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