Excellent guide to organic gardening and design
354443
The author teaches garden design classes near Seattle, Washington and shares her outlines here. She is a strong advocate of naturalistic gardening and encourages gardeners to seek out the native plants growing in their particular area and use them to their greatest advantage in an entirely organic way. She begins by discussing the principles of design with the "five senses of the garden" (welcome, enclosure, entry, flow, and place) and continues with other design principles such as "green architecture" (elements of the garden such as plants and structures), creating natural backdrops, "sandwich gardening" (intermingling plants in the same location), and using combinations and vignettes. Other informative sections focus on paths and walkways, layering plants to scale, and problem-solving. Helpful charts list specific plants for certain situations. The last third of the book focuses on maintenance and offers clearcut advice and instructions on mulching, composting, etc. Included at the end of the volume is a 34-page workbook for readers to list plant choices, set goals, and create their own garden plan.
2909850
This book is very helpful and it taught me about organic gardening procedures. I had a huge interest to learn Hydroponics gardening and this book fulfilled my expectation. We can easily make yourself self-sufficient by hydroponic gardening. My cousin has this type of garden and she suggested me about his book a few days ago. Inside of this book the author has explained about the basis of hydroponic system. This book guided me about how to maintain my garden and system. I have learned some techniques about how to identify the different coating on my produce. I am glad to read this book and will definitely suggest this book to all.
1350237
Wonderful book. Not only is it gorgeously photographed, but a gardener facing difficult conditions will find a wealth of specific ideas for plants that will survive in windy, hot, and frosty situations with minimal top soil. (Perfect for my shale slopes in upstate NY.) It's also a great resource for anyone who'd love to improve an urban environment in a way that respects wildlife, the environment, people, and aesthetics. It's full of intriguing takeaways for design and seasonal gardening practices. I thought it would be just a pretty coffee table book, but it's far more. Highly recommended! I read this out of the library, but I may purchase it someday. Not one you could fully enjoy on a black and white Kindle.
514179
This is easily my favorite gardening book.  Already it is dog-eared and well-worn.  A lovely combination of useful information, beautiful photos, and very good writing.  The author tells you what she has learned over 30 years of gardening in the hot and humid southeast and does so in a way that is a pleasure to read.  I highly recommend it.
2850011
As beginning with territorial seeds steve solomon does a great resource for the organic gardener...ideal location information with lots of great tips. I highly recommend it.
3598561
I am a landscape contractor/designer and I picked up this book perhaps 10 years ago and I keep coming back to it. It's one of my favorites and I have alot of garden books.

Alice Recknagel-Ireys writes in a wonderful, warm, easy-to-understand manner and the book is beautifully adorned with photographs, plans, and plant lists for each of the 16 or so designs implemented on sites of various sizes. I love her timeless style-modern, but with classic elements. She blends formal and casual style in seamless fashion. Each design study takes you a bit into the mind and creative process of this exceptional American designer with unusually personal accounts of her relations with her clients . It's a pleasure to read! I feel like she's a bit of an undiscovered treasure, though she's written four books and designed over 1000 gardens, including many prominent private and public gardens.
3770020
Fantastic book that provides lots of food for thought on the garden design front.  Introduces a "vocabulary" of garden style that is very helpful when thinking about your own garden, or enjoying other gardens!
4308193
Geoff Hamilton's Organic Gardening is an excellent resource for the "weekend gardener" and even more valuable for the expert gardener.  I actually grew artichokes this year using Hamilton's advice(I live in the northeast).  I am in awe of the myraid of information contained in this book.  Buy it! Buy it! Buy it!
14885
As an avid Pacific Northwest gardener who has recently moved to New York City I was thrilled to find such a bounty of useful information for the urbanite. This book is not just for people who have a lot of space, or land or money. This book is about offering hundreds fun, easy, and fascinating ways to approach health, healing, gardening, and shamanism.

The book has extensive and accesible information about how to bring all aspects of nature into your life via plants, colors, scents, flowers, food, design, mentality, you name it, and provides a good amount of its content in convenient lists, tables, recipes, charts and how-to's.

In addition to having useful information about every facet of gardening and health, this book also contains some of the most unique and comprehensive historical information about the featured plants and techniques.

The Shamanic Gardening author clearly took a holistic approach to writing this book. It provides useful information for your body, mind, soul, and of course your garden. I could not recommend it enough!
2793933
I love this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys gardening. It not only has excellent information about organic gardening, but it could easily be called "everything you need to know about gardening" --- from purchasing your seed, to types of soil to use,to harvesting your vegetables, to preparing your garden for the next year. I would highly recommend it.
89445
Planting Design Illustrated is an excellent and unique book. It covers important information: planting design principles, concepts and methodology. It covers gardens in all major civilizations, and focuses on what you can learn from these great masterpieces and use them in your landscape practice.

Everything that you need to know about planting design is covered, including plant list, iconography, ways to lay out planting presentation drawings, construction planting plans, plant lists, special consideration, coordination of site plan, floor plan and elevation, interaction of interior and exterior spaces, gray spaces, the views from plants from top, the principles on irrigation design (head to head coverage) and the relationship between plants and buildings.

I disagree with another review on the drawings of the book: I think they are simple and straight forward; they are is fine for the book. This is a book on design principles and concepts as well as methodology, and is NOT a book on how to do rendering.

Overall, I am very impressed by the book. It is an excellent one-stop shop for planting design that I am grateful to have in my library.

Michael Howell, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
Terra Luma Design
Vancouver, British Columbia
1207718
I read a lot of garden books, so was pleasantly surprised to find this one. It's refreshingly different! Most garden books promote a single approach, and you end up comparing one book against another. This book is a major departure from that. Instead of promoting a single style, this book is an overview of 20 different gardening (and outdoor dcor) styles. Reading it, you really start thinking "What type of garden style do I really want?" The author even compares this to deciding on a fashion approach and way to dress. Instead of an eclectic grab bag of things, a garden can be distinctive. What a great idea.

So each of the 20 sections is a celebration and description of each style, and then also has a good amount of how-to materials. The styles covered are wide ranging: everything from "abstract vogue" to "organic modern" to "scandanavian wild." The photos in this book really pop, and the book is full of some amazing ideas.

Memorable are the bold fire pits, the natural swimming pools, the outdoor furniture, and the many elegant porches. This book is stunning and one I know I'll read over and over again.
1607459
I have had this book by Sharon Lovejoy on my coffee table since it arrived weeks and weeks ago.  It is full of very useful information, gardening tips, recipes for natural garden products and pest control, etc.

Sharon's beautiful and colorful illustrations throughout make it a delight to read.  I can see pulling it off the shelf when the snow is falling in January, just to think good gardening thoughts... and become inspired.

This little book would make any gardener happy to receive it as a gift.  It would be useful for the beginner as well as a Master Gardener.  I highly recommend it.
986688
This book offers a comprehensive list of the plants used and developed by Piet Oudolf.  And list them under a few different categories of uses as well as offering their colors, heights, and a couple other traits.  If you want to start a business in the likeness of Oudolf I think this listing of plants offers a extensively comprehensive if not brute force method for doing so.  Of course if one wants to design gardens of this complexity a few classes on art or design would definitely not hurt as design work takes training of the mind and eye and Piet's gardens are very complex.  His approach is also intuitive (in my opinion) and therefore training/practice is more than likely a must.
3942062
Horticulturist and plant scientist Dr Linda Chalker-Scott's Sustainable Landscapes & Gardens is an insightful and no-nonsense approach to sustainable gardening. It is a collection of integrated text books with contributions from 21 experts from horticulture and academia. Now let's not assume that this is a dry scientific tome, in fact it achieves its goal of delivering scientific text in a palatable way to suit all garden lovers who hunger for more research.

The book is divided into five chapters that are themselves individual booklets contained in a binder. This allows for the relevant chapter to be removed as needed as opposed to hauling around a large reference book. Now this appeals to my logical nature. Well, we gardeners are a practical bunch after all!  There are also additional supplementary chapters that can be purchased from the author's website.

The author generously shares her vast knowledge of horticulture in an engaging way. Her style is friendly yet never light weight; scientific research is the back bone to this book. From the start we are guided through the difference between horticultural fact and myth, enabling us to decipher marketing text and peer reviewed findings. Clarity about the merits of scientific research is eloquently set out with a rundown of creating a scientific experiment, discerning reliable sources and discussing the meaning of sustainability. She has given the reader the tools to critically examine the science of gardening, and all that in just chapter one!
Planting, Taking the Plunge guides the reader through the sometimes confusing process of purchasing healthy plants, all delivered with wonderful practical insight. This chapter also covers the art of tree planting however with a twist! This is where the conventional wisdom of horticulture is usurped by pure scientific research. Peer reviewed findings indicate that woody perennials thrive when planted as bare root.  Linda pulls no punches as she advices the reader to wash away all the compost from the roots of a container tree and give the cleaned roots a really good old tussle, and even a root prune to stimulate new growth. These roots are tough, they can take it and the research supports this claim!
Another unusual departure in tree planting is the objection to the use of organic soil amelioration. In fact a tree planted with regular native soil will establish and thrive long term in comparison to those with organic material included in the back fill. In a step by step guide, the reader is led through the process of tree planting with clear instruction. This approach illustrates the best practice for healthy sustainable planting.

Interior chapters present the finer points of soil type, pesticides and proper usage and nutrient management. The subject of nutrient excess and the impact on the environment underpins the ethos of the book. The relevance of relying on indicator plants to discern nutrient levels as revealed in the lush green foliage of healthy plants. Let the plants tell us what they need and not apply fertilizers adroitly is the principle message.  In fact the main theme of the book is embedded in common sense and having the confidence to rely on observation of plant health. This is clearly illustrated in "What's Wrong With My Plant?" chapter, a combination of examples and colour images create an important reference for all gardeners.

Dr Linda Chalker-Scott's gift is to present plant science and the often maligned term "sustainability" as practical and understandable to everyone. If you are a hobby gardener or horticulturist who cares about how things work and desire to work sustainably, then this book is for you. So in keeping with the spirit of this book, let's get our hands dirty!
3500994
Love this book! It beautifully done first of all, and very "no nonsense" in it's approach to integrating flowers with your vegetables in a sustainable garden. The author has strong opinions about the plants she most likes, but the reasons are well researched and sound. Her experience is exhaustive in the field of horticulture reaching back generations, and she has applied her knowledge in urban gardens of New York City, and her home in England. Alys includes old family recipes and preserving techniques that are very valuable as well. An awesome reference for the sustainable organic garden.!
4424415
I am very pleased with this book. There is a wealth of information covering all aspects of container gardening with plenty of illustration and organization.  This is a worthwhile volume!