Book Description
Library Journal noted, "Readers will probably start mapping their yards even before putting it down."
Customer Reviews:
High Desert Gardening.......2000-06-05
I found this book in our local library and liked it so well that I am pruchasing one. The plant listings and discriptions are concise and complete. There us information on propagation, altitude requirements, alternate species and group planting suggestions. All in all, a very good book for the high desert and native plant gardener, particularly for the new desert dweller.
High Desert Gardening.......2000-06-05
I found this book in our local library and liked it so well that I am pruchasing one. The plant listings and discriptions are concise and complete. There us information on propagation, altitude requirements, alternate species and group planting suggestions. All in all, a very good book for the high desert and native plant gardener, particularly for the new desert dweller.
Book Description
How does a garden differ from other habitats, both natural and semi-natural? Is it true that the modern home garden is largely a collection of hybrids between exotic species? These and other questions are answered in this guide to plant fertilizing, watering, pest and disease control, pesticide usage, greenhouses, lawn mowing, digging, pruning, hedge clipping, protecting plants from wildlife and traps. It also points out the role of the gardener as a conservator and how the garden can be an inspiration for a naturalist.
Amazon.com
In Noah's Garden, published in 1994, gardener and writer Sara Stein addressed the business of making a messy backyard--of restoring a naturally chaotic and dynamic "floral-faunal-microbial system" in the place of neatly tended, carefully selected and weeded, and ultimately artificial gardens. Just as charmingly written as its predecessor, Planting Noah's Garden furthers Stein's campaign to make lawns animated, full of disorder, life, and wildness. Studded with ringing tributes to alumroot, trillium, goldenrod, bellworts, and mayflowers, this is a lovely gardener's manifesto. Packed with practical instructions for planning and maintaining a garden of one's own, it's also wonderful entertainment for anyone with a green thumb.
Book Description
Sarah Stein's brilliant book Noah's Garden placed the author at the forefront of the new field of ecological gardening. Now, in Planting Noah's Garden, she tells the even more fascinating story of the many ways people in all parts of the country are redesigning their surroundings to welcome back the birds, butterflies, fireflies, and other creatures driven away by the sterility of the typical suburban landscape. In the second half of the book she offers specific information readers will find nowhere else: how to learn the common flora of your region; how to handle group wholesale orders; how to kill invasive plants; how to collect and plant wild seeds; how to start a tree island; how to plan a patio habitat - and much, much more. Planting Noah's Garden is both a call to action and a blueprint for a new gardening aesthetic.
Customer Reviews:
Thought-provoking...worth every penny.......2001-08-10
I bought this book because I have two children and one of the other reviewers spoke about how the author views children as part of the "mega fauna" of a landscape and gives her suggestions on how to make an interesting outdoor "habitat" for them, so to speak. In addition, I've always tried to take an ecologically sound approach to landscaping in my yard by gardening organically.
Truth to tell, I never really thought about whether or not it's ecologically sound to plant mostly exotic plants in my yard versus native ones. I congratulated myself that I let a meadow emerge in my back yard when I moved in. I never gave much thought to exactly what was growing in it. I've always believed that it is just plain wrong to collect plants from the wild...but are there times when it is not only justified but perhaps actually beneficial? If so, when?
In any case, the book definitely stretched my perceptions and gave me a whole lot to think about in terms of my own typical, "newly developed" suburban lot. I felt like the chapter about the author's niece, also about such a suburban lot, could have been about my own.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in gardening or ecology...and even those not currently interested could probably benefit! Worth every penny I paid...not just an enjoyable read, but a very informative one.
Part 1 is more of a great thing, Part 2 is Especially Useful.......2001-08-05
Stein's way with words allows her to provide a huge amount of information in entertaining narrative form to the degree that one just can't put the book down. This is the appeal and value of her "Noah's Garden" and continues in Part 1 of "Planting Noah's Garden." Part 2 is something extra: direct instructions, charts, and everything a reader wants to know about how to follow in Stein's footsteps (or spade holes). She provides a wealth of information on everything from how to get started with the complex process of eco-gardening to precise information on specific plants and projects. This is really Stein's answer to the hundreds of letters and questions she has gotten since "Noah's Garden" and what an answer it is!
Highly Reccomended!.......2001-04-01
I cannot encourage anyone who is even slightly interested in wildlife or butterfly gardening strongly enough - READ THIS BOOK! Along with Noah's Garden, Stein's first "eco-gardening" book, this is a great read for anyone who finds endless lawns boring, or has driven past a wooded lot daily, only to wake up one day and find it has been flattened to make a strip mall. I have read both books several times and used the advice in both to build an beautiful butterfly and bird garden (on a patio outside an apartment, no less) and I can't wait to apply it to a full-sized yard. This book doesn't just encourage you to make a difference - even if it's just a dent - it actually shows you how. I loved it, and I plan to give it as gifts in the future.
Essential reading for back yard, native plant oriented souls.......1998-07-21
This book is totally enchanting. When I first read "David Copperfield" I told myself that I would read it again in a few years and it would read differently. And it has."Planting Noah's Garden" has exactly the same feel. I have spent the last six months recommending this book to my naturalist friends. I have often though of passing my copy on, but have decided not to. I buy another copy instead. I have the feeling that this is a book that I will want to read again.and again.Sara states that "Children are part of the mega-fauna of every landscape." She writes about the basic need of children to look under rocks and logs, to climb trees..to discover the natural wonders that await them there. And, or course, she tells us how to make this happen.
If you enjoy planting things, if you enjoy your yard, your children and your grandchildren, buy this book. It is a masterpiece.
Book Description
Following on the success of Designing with Plants and Dream Plants for the Natural Garden, Piet Oudolf's landmark first book (co-authored by Henk Gerritsen), is now available in English. Thoroughly updated and revised, including several new chapters and many new photographs, it provides the definitive argument for the "natural garden." This updated edition of the book that started the "Dutch Wave," a movement that is now sweeping gardens from Europe to North America, shows how to plant a garden that can look wild but be tame at heart.
Hundreds of eye-catching plant combinations are explained in detail and provide ideas for every garden. The authors emphasize how gardeners can create moods and emotional responses with the deft use of themed plants. Foolproof lists and instructions for placing specific plants in particular garden habitats are included, as well as complete growing requirements. As ethereal, even lyrical, as these gardens and plants can seem to the eye, it is important to recognize that Oudolf and Gerritsen have chosen their plants for hardiness and suitability for garden habitats. These are tough plants that do not need to be pampered or coddled. The popularity of the "Dutch Wave," from England's Chelsea Garden Show to the healing garden at New York's World Trade Center has as much to do with the reliability and sturdiness of the plants as it does to their beauty and grace.
Customer Reviews:
Great photos but that's it.......2007-10-02
I had high expectations of learning more about the thought process that goes into the creation of Oudolf's garden's, useful information on structures and habits of particular plants. However there is none of that. The photos of gardens are beautiful and you can learn from looking - but info on individual plants is pretty minimal, and there is no discussion on the creating aspect of the gardens. I wouldn't recommend it.
Pretty decent book..........2007-03-19
After reading the foreward for this book, I was expecting to be able to learn about how Piet Oudolf designs, however there isn't any information regarding his designs in this book other than what plants he likes to use and the environment requirements for those plants. It's an interesting book, just not what I was looking for at the time.
Book Description
Many people approach gardening as a constant struggle with the outside world. They're perpetually at war with nature, investing in weed killers and fighting off deer and birds, all in an effort to preserve their garden as a pristine patch of earth. Marlene A. Condon proposes a radically different method: What if, instead of battling the natural world, we invite it into our backyards? The result is the nature-friendly garden, which attracts and meets the needs of common creatures--rabbits, toads, insects, squirrels, owls, and so on--while maintaining a thriving, varied landscape of flowers and plants. And as this thought-provoking guide demonstrates, coexisting with nature doesn't mean turning your yard into a bramble-infested wilderness. The sustainable, low-impact garden described in these pages is a model of environmental balance, fostering species diversity while keeping wildlife damage and invasive plant growth at an acceptable minimum. Best of all, it offers a privileged look at the workings of nature, and its advice on observing wildlife is sure to open up a new and fascinating world for even the most experienced gardener.
Customer Reviews:
Slowly Warming up to Squirrels, thanks to this book..........2007-05-29
I really liked this book on gardening and getting to know the wildlife in your backyard. Marlene Condon makes a good case for gardening in sync with nature versus gardening trying to fight nature, which always proves to be a never-ending. losing battle. I also appreciated very much the tips on feeding birds, and trying to understand the wildlife. The squirrels here in this neck of the woods are a very strange breed, very confrontational, rambunctious; one squirrel had a staring contest with me one morning when I knocked on the window to get it away from some things I had planted. They dug into all the container gardens I put outside, ate my bulbs - I was contamplating squirrel stew for a moment. This book has helped me overcome the squirel problem in a way; I'm sure the owl, or was it a hawk, a cat??? that had a certain squirrel snack on the deck also helped, too. Very inspirational with good tips on gardening. I think she should nearly have a call-in show on public radio....
A Different Way to Look at Your Yard.......2007-01-16
I originally found this book in the library and was so impressed with it, I bought a copy for reference. I have a different outlook on what the "ideal" yard should look like. Instead of the usual lawn, I have learned how wildlife and humans can coexist in a different, more natural manner.
An Indispensible Guide to Backyard Wildlife Habitat.......2006-12-22
Marlene Condon's understanding of the intricacies of the natural world shines from every page of this wonderfully informative book. Condon makes it clear, in succinct, inviting prose, that she has garnered and is willing to share a great deal of personal knowledge about the critters that flock (and creep, crawl, hop and wriggle) to her paradisical backyard "garden" ... a term which itself can too often mean simply a sterilized plot for producing vegetables, but in Condon's hands reveals its earlier, edenic meaning as a place where man and nature can live together peacefully.
Among the many positive aspects of this beautifully produced book (glossy pages, plentiful color photos, quality binding) I will mention just three: a plethora of delightful natural anecdotes and wildlife factoids that will surprise even the most jaded natural history reader; a crucial chapter on the necessity of accepting--and even celebrating--the role of predation in the natural cycle of life; and thorough appendices of nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and educational facilities that can perpetuate a reader's awakening desire to integrate wildlife into their gardening experience.
Through it all this book is thickly graced by the author's professional wildlife photography, itself worth the modest price of admission. If the Romantics were correct in identifying the crucial task of the awakening mind as perceiving the remote in the intimate, The Nature-Friendly Garden must be embraced as an important step toward peeling the scales of artificiality from our eyes and opening ourselves--and our gardens--to the myriad wonders that await us. Slugs, bugs and all.
Work WITH nature......What a great concept!!.......2006-12-05
This is a book that makes sense. First, the author inlists us to understand why things happen as they do, i.e. certain insects are drawn to certain plants etc., and then how to naturally deal with that so as not to pollute the earth, kill unecessarily. For me this approach results in making gardening much less a fight and it's gratifying to know you're helping the natural balance of things. I was so excited about finding and reading this book that I emailed friends, ordered another for my niece. It's the best approach to gardening and drawing nature to your yard I've ever read - and a perfect gift.
My New Favorite! (And First Review.).......2006-12-03
During my evolution towards becoming a member of the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habit Program and as a former professional landscaper, I have owned and read many nature-oriented/how-to, descriptive guides. This book has impressed me immensely. Originally, I borrowed it from the library having been drawn at first glance to the author's delightful photography but once I began to read it, I quickly determined (in a rare decision) that I wanted it "to have and to hold" forever and also, to give several copies as gifts. Seven months later, my instinct has stood the test of time. It is still floating around my house, to be picked up and enjoyed by all who encounter it.
As an earthing who is ideally striving with the rest of my species to lower our impact of destruction upon the planet, it is valuable to become as thoughtful as possible about the results of our interactions with the natural world. A Nature-Friendly Garden is full of charming anecdotes, practical ideas and philosophical orientation that will help spare the seasoned, but especially the beginning gardening enthusiast, the angst and results of making hasty, ill-conceived actions. Also, I highly recommend this book as required reading to (or by) the next generation!
Book Description
With the growing recognition that a wisely and sensitively planted garden has a lot to offer to wildlife and the food web, more and more people are looking for ways to make their gardens environmentally friendly. However, gardeners have tended to assume that they need a lot of space to create habitats for wildlife and to evoke wild and natural places. In Natural Gardening in Small Spaces, renowned plantsman Noël Kingsbury refutes that presumption, showing how even in a small garden you can create a sustainable ecosystem that looks great --- and, once established, largely looks after itself. More than 150 glorious photographs of small natural gardens provide visual confirmation of Noël Kingsbury's contention that even the smallest garden can provide a natural haven.
Customer Reviews:
Emphasis on natural.......2007-02-15
Kingsbury writes of creating habitat for insects and hedgehogs as well as people, of selecting plants for your soil and water conditions. (He even writes on what grows best in gravel and in bogs.) This book encourages gardeners to be curious and to experiment. It is for those artists who create with plants.
Perfect for the small garden.......2005-05-14
I have a townhouse and very little room to garden, but I've long desired to plan a garden that would blend in with the woods that back up to our house. This book has given me my inspiration and has cemented my decision to plan a garden that will be both natural, peaceful and beautiful. It may take a while, but I'll do it thanks to this book. Have no garden space at all? They even cover that in the "Natural Gardening without a Garden".
Amazon.com
"Gardening is by definition interference with nature," begins Ann Lovejoy cheerfully. That said, gardeners will save themselves no end of trouble by cooperating with nature insofar as possible. Thus naturalistic gardening, which has made real inroads into the more formal, traditional American gardens over the past few years. But naturalistic gardening doesn't mean just throwing a lot of seeds on the ground, or letting the weeds take over. Lovejoy's practiced advice helps gardeners get a handle on constructing a garden that is like nature, but with an element of art. Allow plants to follow their own natures by judicious placement, she counsels, and you will minimize their care as well as reveal their essential beauty.
Lovejoy includes enough practical instructions to allow anyone with a reasonable amount of gardening experience to create a successful naturalistic garden, and the inspiring patterns of the example gardens, beautifully photographed by Allan Mandell, are nicely explained. Lovejoy even gives a chapter to the hotly debated tropicalismo school of naturalistic design. The emphasis is very much on gardening in the northwestern United States, but anyone who yearns for a more natural look in the garden will benefit from the principles outlined here.
Customer Reviews:
Nature, plus........2003-05-23
The subtitle "Reflecting the Planting Patterns of Nature" clearly expresses the focus of this book, as do the first words of the Introduction "Natural gardening is not natural".
The writer, who has earned the American Horticulture Society Writing Award, has authored numerous gardening books and her approach is comfortably informal. She is knowledgeable about the topic, expanding the idea of using native plants and placing them where nature would have them to include the relationships between plant communities and inter-layering canopy trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers. Each of these may be native or non-native but they echo natural plant patterns of the area and accentuate the features of each plant and its place.
After reading the book I felt I had begun to understand that the look of a natural garden is uncluttered, well proportioned and, large or small, makes a statement about both the gardener and the place.
Based in the Pacific Northwest the writer uses gardens of Washington State, Oregon and British Columbia to illustrate her theme. The many color photographs of Allan Mandell beautifully illustrate the text. (Wonder of wonders these days when many book illustrations are pretty, but quite meaningless on the page.)
This is one of the most practical and yet most lyrical books I have encountered on the topic of natural gardening. It's an art that is not nearly as simple as it appears to be. The writer shows that it can be done with flair and style, even in a small garden and on a limited budget.
Serendipity.......2003-02-02
Ann Lovejoy has found a wonderful balance between native environments and a sensual and delicate intervention by the gardener.
A Very Interesting Book.......2001-12-24
Naturalistic Gardening, by Ann Lovejoy, is an excellent book, especially for anyone with woodlands on their property. But the book is useful too for those who just want to fashion gardens that retain that wild feel, that natural look.
The photographs from Allan Mandell are exceptional and capture well the spirit of this fine book. For those gardeners who have never read any of the many gardening books by Ann Lovejoy, this will be a treat. Ms. Lovejoy writes in a way that is always clear and easily understandable, and her writing has a voice that is fun, energetic, full of life.
All of the books by Ms. Lovejoy are quite good, as is Naturalistic Gardening. No mention is made of my own specialty, allergy-free gardening, and some of that component would be welcome here, but still, this is a book to provoke some real thinking--a book to inspire different, less rigid, less formal gardening. I enjoyed it very much.
An Excellent Book.......1999-06-22
Ann Lovejoy is inspiring and fun to read. This book seeks to help the gardener embrace her natural surroundings in creating a garden that mimics natural forms and "layers". Ms. Lovejoy shares insightful design information in a flowing and exuberant style of writing that sparks the imagination. I have so many great ideas for my wooded yard garnered from this book. Where I would have cut down trees, I clearly see gloriously shaded possibilities. And Mr. Mandell's photographs are so beautiful. You will love this book.
Book Description
With this start-to-finish guide anyone can design and build stone groupings modeled after geological formations found in nature with professional results. Practical tips for choosing stones and more than 20 sample designs are included.
Customer Reviews:
Food For Thought.......2002-01-16
Excellent for beginning to think about stonework, how to use it in your landscape, what it might look like..
It reflects the author's environmental/Japanese garden point of view, which is really an organic way of looking at landscaping in general.
Interesting to read, not many pictures [a few illustration] - a little dry in terms of food for fantasy...
and not really a how-to book for people who haven't done some fairly complex projects before.
But if you want to do some research on stone in the landscape this should be part of your process.
It Rocks!.......1999-04-13
After an interesting world-wide overview of famous rock structures, the authors show you how to use rocks to create balance, depth, and interest in your gardenscape. I love the contrasting factor of the rocks with plants. It adds a great deal of enhancement to even the commonest of botanicals. Linda Fry Kenzle, author of Gathering
Book Description
Updated and revised.
This book is both a valuable reference and a practical how-to guide to hundreds of plant species suited for cultivation beneath a canopy of mature trees. Here is all the information needed to get started: design, plant selection, planting and maintenance. These principles can be applied anywhere in North America in any size garden, from large estate to a cramped city lot.
This revised edition of
The Woodland Garden features new, beautiful color images throughout, a larger format and more text.
An authoritative guide for gardeners and landscape designers, this edition focuses on:
- Designing the woodland garden
- Building the woodland garden
- The canopy, plus a list of woodland trees
- The understory, plus a list of woodland shrubs
- Plants of the woodland floor
- Climbing plants
- Planting, pruning and maintenance
The authors list their favorite plants with detailed descriptions of the best woodland garden performers including lilies and rhododendrons. Practical information is provided for soil characteristics, adapting a property, working with a new site and converting an old garden. There are sections on fragrance, water, rocks, pathways, scale and unity, how to analyze a site and much more.
Helpful tips throughout offer useful advice gleaned from the authors' decades of collective experience: dealing with weeds and pests, preparing the land, watering, mulching and propagation.
Customer Reviews:
Thorough but dull.......2004-05-09
This is an updated version of a book that first appeared in 1999. It contains a great deal of well organized information presented in an attractive format. While much of the information is based on experience in the Pacific Northwest, it has validity for other areas too.
The writers are well-known and respected in the Pacific Northwest. They start by discussing the design of the woodland garden on various sites, and then offer ideas for building and developing the garden. This is followed by a chapter each on the canopy, understory, woodland floor and climbing plants. Each chapter concludes with plant lists. There follows a chapter on planting, pruning and maintenance and a list of the authors' favourite plants. There are pleasant colour photographs, black and white designs for gardens and sketches of rock placements.
The writers are knowledgeable and thorough but the writing tends to be dry and tedious to plough through. Other writers have addressed the topic in a much more readable style. I found no inspiration here - just text book-type info.
Impressions of "The Woodland Garden".......2001-04-05
This book focuses on the design and structure of woodland gardens. Content describes the layers of groundcover, upper story and middle layer. Extensive lists of appropriate plants with zone and cultivation information are provided and are very useful. I found the book a great help in thinking about my shady woodland area, and inspiring in terms of design ideas. The focus is on general principles of woodland design rather than giving diagrams to follow. There are some pictures of plants, but I would have preferred more pictures of general woodland scenes. I have read sections over & over and continue to find it enjoyable and useful.
Customer Reviews:
from a new mexico gardener..........2001-10-29
Of the many books I've read on southwest gardening, this was the most rewarding. I learned so much about native and adaptive plants that are suited to our climate and growing conditions here in the southwest. Also about the different "microclimates" that determine proper location of particular plants in the garden so they will thrive. After applying the valuable information from this book to my own gardening efforts I see miraculous results! This book is a MUST for New Mexico gardeners interested in beautiful, water conservative plants.
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Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region
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