Tomorrow's Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening

With a keen eye for aesthetics matched by a strong concern for the environment, garden expert Stephen Orr has developed a sense of what a modern garden should be: small, visually pleasing, and responsible. In Tomorrow’s Garden, he presents gardens in 14 American cities that have been scaled back and simplified without sacrificing beauty or innovative design.
A devoted supporter of the organic gardening movement, Orr advises gardeners to think about their gardens as part of an interconnected whole with the surrounding environment—with an eye to water usage, local ecology, and preservation of resources. However, for those who are afraid that a sustainable garden means a lack of flora and fauna, Orr believes that a garden, first and foremost, should be a thing of beauty. He encourages flower lovers to plant flowers, and he showcases gardens filled with traditional and exotic plants that are designed with both visual appeal and the environment in mind.
With detailed case studies, stunning photographs, and an appendix of resources and information to help gardeners achieve their ecological best, Tomorrow’s Garden will teach you the true definition of sustainability and show you how to create beauty without excess in the 21st century and beyond.

The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design

Guided by world-renowned landscape architect James van Sweden and horticulture expert Tom Christopher, any gardener can learn the secrets of the gardener’s art and absorb the essence of inspired garden design. In their gifted hands, creating your own perfect garden, with its own alluring mysteries, turns out to be not only easy but a delight.
Whether it’s a ten-foot-square city terrace or a ten-acre expanse, the same principles apply: the intelligent use of positive and negative space, of form and scale, of light and shadow, of rough and smooth textures. Do you want a garden you can immerse yourself in? A garden you can smell and listen to as well as observe? An exuberant garden or a contemplative garden?
In this elegantly written and visually stunning book, van Sweden reveals the secrets of famous gardens around the world and encourages you to find inspiration in the arts—in painting (from America’s classic regional artists to the abstract expressionists), music (from classical to jazz), sculpture, even dance. He introduces you to famous artists who share how their art has influenced the design of their own gardens, and teaches you to think not in terms of borders and beds or even paths and meadows but of a tapestry woven from sky, trees, rocks, vines, flowers, grasses, and space.
Richly illustrated throughout with magnificent photographs, The Artful Garden both tells and shows, sharing with beginning and experienced gardeners a wealth of inspiration and practical help. “What’s my message?” van Sweden asks in conclusion. The wise answer: “Don’t squander the potential for surprise and wonder.” This beautiful book guarantees everyone who reads it a priceless store of gardening wisdom.

In A Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms

In A Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms by Gina Hyams celebrates Mexico's hidden oases where lovers meet for margaritas at sunset and families gather for spirited fiestas. The dazzling array of featured properties includes rustic coastal hideaways, elegant Spanish Colonial mansions, rural haciendas, and Modernist architectural masterpieces. Melba Levick's stunning photographs capture page after vibrant page of bold Mexican design elements: swirling mosaic floors, elaborate frescoes, hand-carved stone fountains, and lush native plants. Gina Hyams' informative text explains the historic roots of these uniquely Mexican outdoor spaces. Garden design enthusiasts, fans of Mexico, and anyone who appreciates a siesta in the sun need only open this book to hear the quiet babble of fountains and glasses clinking to toast another beautiful sunset.

About the Author
Melba Levick has published more than 40 photography books on travel, architecture, and design, including Mexicolor (0-8118-1893-4) and Mexicasa (0-8118-2806-9). She lives in Los Angeles and Paris. Gina Hyams is the author of several books on travel, tradition, and the arts, including Incense (0-8118-3993-1). She lives in Northern California.

Book Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
  
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 1, 2005)
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN-10: 0811841308
  
• ISBN-13: 9780811841306
  
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches
  
• List Price: $24.95
  
• Price: $16.47
  
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Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden and Designed Landscape

Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden and Designed Landscape by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden encompass all possible elements that can be used to capture, channel, divert and make the most of the rain and snow that fall on a property. Using the innovative and attractive approaches described here, it is possible to enhance outdoor spaces and minimize the damaging effects of drought, stormwater runoff, and other environmental challenges. Nigel Dunnett & Andy Clayden have created a comprehensive guide to water management techniques for the garden and built environment. Filled with practical, manageable solutions for small and large-scale implementations and utilizing authoritative research with state-of-the-art case studies from all over the world, Rain Gardens is the first book on sustainable water management schemes suitable for students and professionals.

About the Author
Nigel Dunnett is a senior lecturer in the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield, England, where he has developed innovative research programs into naturalistic and ecologically-informed planting for gardens and public landscapes. He writes regularly for leading horticultural magazines and journals and lectures widely throughout the UK. He lives in Sheffield.
Andy Clayden is a landscape architect, garden designer, and a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, England.

Book Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
  
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated (April 1, 2007)
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN-10: 0881928267
  
• ISBN-13: 9780881928266
  
• Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.8 x 0.9 inches
  
• List Price: $34.95
  
• Price: $23.07
  
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Designing with Succulents by Debra Lee Baldwin

Designing with Succulents by Debra Lee Baldwin is the best book ever published on the subject of succulents. Succulent plants offer dazzling possibilities for garden design and require only minimal maintenance to remain lush and alluring year round. Featuring the work of more than 50 professional garden designers and creative homeowners, this complete design compendium is as practical as it is inspirational. Lavishly illustrated with over 300 photographs, it gives design and cultivation basics for paths, borders, slopes, and containers; hundreds of succulent plant recommendations; and descriptions of 90 easy-care, drought-tolerant companion plants. Beginners and experienced designers, landscapers, and collectors alike will find what they need to visualize, create, and nurture the three-dimensional work of art that is the succulent garden.

About the Author
Debra Lee Baldwin is a writer, editor, artist, and photographer based in southern California. Her articles have appeared in Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens, and elsewhere. She has won awards from the Garden Writers Association of America, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the San Diego Press Club. She lives in Escondido, California.

Book Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
  
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated (April 1, 2007)
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN-10: 088192816X
  
• ISBN-13: 9780881928167
  
• Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 1 inches
  
• List Price: $29.95
  
• Price: $19.77
  
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Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens

Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens by Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrook was created with the aim of conveying the awesome diversity and beauty of California's native plants and demonstrating how they can be brought into ecologically sound, attractive, workable, and artful gardens. Structured around major California plant communities--bluffs, redwoods, the Channel Islands, coastal scrub, grasslands, deserts, oak woodlands, mixed evergreen woodlands, riparian, chaparral, mountain meadows, and wetlands--the book's twelve chapters each include sample plans for a native garden design accompanied by original drawings, color photographs, a plant list, tips on successful gardening with individual species, and more. Both residential and professional gardeners will learn the benefits of going native with gardens that require less water and fewer fertilizers, attract wildlife, engage the senses, create a sense of place, and, at the same time, preserve our rich natural heritage.
Designing Native California Gardens includes:

• More than 600 selected native species recommended for the garden.
  
• More than 300 photographs of native plants, natural plant communities, and residential native gardens.
  
• Recommended places to visit for viewing each plant community.
  

About the Author
Glenn Keator, a California plant specialist, is author of Introduction to Trees of the San Francisco Bay Area (UC Press), The Life of an Oak, Plants of the East Bay Parks, and Complete Garden Guide to the Native Perennials of California. Alrie Middlebrook is the founder and president of Middlebrook Gardens in San Jose, California, a design company that specializes in California native gardens. She is author of Eating California. They have been hiking California and teaching classes on California native plants for thirteen years.

Book Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
  
• Publisher: University of California Press (June 4, 2007)
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN-10: 0520251105
  
• ISBN-13: 9780520251106
  
• Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
  
• List Price: $27.50
  
• Price: $18.15
  
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The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs

The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs by Tracy Disabato-Aust, Martin Knapp, Stacey Renee Peters and C. Colston Burrell is a design book with a difference. Written for gardeners who are passionate about plants of all kinds (hence the "mixed garden" of the title), it reflects decades of professional experience and artistic innovation. As with her bestselling book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, master designer and plantswoman Tracy DiSabato-Aust provides not only inspiration but also scrupulously organized information on design and connoisseur plants --- all from original research dating back to her degree work in horticulture. Her new offering is a master class of design fundamentals, with an emphasis on often-neglected topics, such as site evaluation, color theory, and planning for maintenance.
It is also a gallery of detailed design plans that show how ideas are put onto paper and then translated into three dimensions. Lessons learned in its first two parts are strengthened in an "Encyclopedia of Plant Combinations"; each entry notes the design considerations at play and provides tips on how to keep the combination looking its best. And the lifetime care needs and unique design characteristics of featured plants are summarized in the useful charts and lists that conclude the book. The result is a nearly foolproof guide to every aspect of designing superior gardens with superior plants. With more than 250 color photos and illustrations, this book is as much a feast for the eyes as it will be a trusted reference for the library shelf.

About the Author
Tracy DiSabato-Aust, an award-winning designer and a nationally recognized horticultural author, professional speaker, and consultant, has been in the landscape industry since 1978, working, studying, and teaching at gardens in Belgium, England, Canada, and the U.S. She is the owner of Horticultural Classics and Consultations—a garden design company. DiSabato-Aust has contributed articles and photographs to many national magazines, including Fine Gardening, Country Gardens, Garden Gate, Midwest Living, American Nurseryman, Real Simple, and Garden Design. Her own and her clients' gardens are regularly featured in books and magazines and on Channel 4 News in Columbus, Ohio. Extremely popular as a lecturer, Tracy has appeared on television and has been a guest on many national radio gardening programs. She resides near Columbus, Ohio.

Book Details

• Hardcover: 460 pages
  
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated (January 1, 2003)
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN-10: 0881925594
  
• ISBN-13: 9780881925593
  
• Dimensions: 11.5 x 10.5 x 1.3 inches
  
• List Price: $39.95
  
• Amazon.com Price: $26.37
  
• You Save: $13.58 (34%)