Best of
Horticulture

2016

House of Plants: Living with Succulents, Air Plants and Cacti


Caro Langton - 2016
    T....

Grown & Gathered


Lentil Purbrick - 2016
     The first part of the book is Matt and Lentil's guide to producing your own food. The information, advice and projects can be used whether you have a 3-acre block or a courtyard with planter boxes. The Grow chapter shows you how to grow vegetables and fruit in whatever space you have, using the most earth-friendly practices; Gather explains how to forage for things like mushrooms, native greens and wild fruits; Nurture provides guidance on raising your own animals, from chickens and bees to cows. The second part of the book features over 100 delicious, nourishing and creative wholefood recipes. There's a host of staples, everything from how to prepare and sprout grains in a traditional way, to making and maintain a sourdough culture, and techniques and recipes for preserving and pickling. Other super tasty dishes include greens and kimchi pancakes; sweet and spicy turnips; fig, bacon and zucchini pizzas; duck ramen; and carrot crepes with burnt oranges and labne. This is a specially formatted fixed layout ebook that retains the look and feel of the print book.

Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change


Larry Weaner - 2016
    The constant tilling, weeding, irrigating, and fertilizing create perpetual disturbance in a plot's ecology--and waste countless hours in a dubious struggle against nature.In Gardening Revolution, Weaner offers a radically new approach based on the ways plants and wildlife behave in nature. He advocates for a more fluid style, choosing plants that are adapted to the soil and climate and then capitalizing on positive developments as they occur. This lushly photographed reference is for anyone looking for a better, smarter way to garden.

The Bold Dry Garden: Lessons from the Ruth Bancroft Garden


Johanna Silver - 2016
    Her lifelong love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens, The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. The Bold Dry Garden offers unparalleled access to the garden and the extraordinary woman responsible for it. In its stunningly photographed pages, you’ll discover the history of the garden and the design principles and plant palette that make it unique. Packed with growing and maintenance tips, profiles of signature plants for a dry garden, and innovative design techniques, The Bold Dry Garden has everything you need to create a garden that is lush, waterwise, and welcoming.

The Bee Friendly Garden: Easy Ways to Help the Bees and Make Your Garden Grow


Doug Purdie - 2016
    They love to live in urban environments, where it's a short flight path from one type of plant to the next. But conventional gardens that favour lawns and pesticides over flowers and edible plants are scaring the good bugs away...The Bee Friendly Garden is a guide for all gardeners great and small to encouraging bees and other good bugs to your green space...Includes: - How bees forage and why your garden needs them - A comprehensive plant guide to bee friendly plants - Simple changes anybody can make - Ideas for gardens of all sizes - Natural pest control and companion planting advice

Native Plants of the Midwest: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 500 Species for the Garden


Alan Branhagen - 2016
    Plant profiles for more than 500 species of trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, ground covers, bulbs, and annuals contain the common and botanical names, growing information, tips on using the plant in a landscape, and advice on related plants. You’ll learn how to select the right plant and how to design with native plants. Helpful lists of plants for specific purposes are shared throughout. This comprehensive book is for native plant enthusiasts and home gardeners in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, northern Arkansas, and eastern Kansas.

A Botanist's Vocabulary: 1300 Terms Explained and Illustrated


Susan K. Pell - 2016
    They make note of a plant label in a botanical garden and then go home to learn more. They pick up fallen blossoms to examine them closer. They spend hours reading plant catalogs. But they are often unable to accurately name or describe their discoveries. A Botanist’s Vocabulary gives gardeners and naturalists a better understanding of what they see and a way to categorize and organize the natural world in which they are so intimately involved. Through concise definitions and detailed black and white illustrations, it defines 1300 words commonly used by botanists, naturalists, and gardeners to describe plants.

Herbarium


Caz Hildebrand - 2016
    Sacred, almost mystical qualities have often been associated with their long history of curative and ritualistic practices. Today, as a wider variety becomes more accessible, and their properties receive more attention, we can benefit from a fuller understanding of the power of herbs.Herbarium explores the histories, associations, and uses of 100 herbs, as well as providing ideas for how each herb can be used to improve both food and well-being. Each entry features a specially commissioned illustration with texts that include the botanical name, place of origin, varieties, and areas where the herb is most commonly grown. The essence of each herb is explored in a brief history peppered with interesting anecdotes, complemented by suggestions of classic combinations and helpful tips for gardeners. A reference section includes advice on how to grow and keep herbs, herb-food pairings, and using herbs for health and beauty treatments.A contemporary reboot of the traditional herbarium, this book will expand readers’ knowledge, improve culinary skills, and enhance their appreciation of the incredible world of tastes offered by herbs.

National Geographic Birds, Bees, and Butterflies: Bringing Nature Into Your Yard and Garden


Nancy J. Hajeski - 2016
    For the new homeowner choosing shrubs and flowers for landscaping or the retired couple with bird feeders out the picture window, this thorough text combines tips and advice with solid science. Rich, colorful photographs illustrate every page. What types of bird feed attract your favorite birds? Which flowers will bring the most butterflies into your backyard? What can you plant to promote the health of the beleaguered honeybee? All these questions and more will be answered amply in this beautiful gift book.

The Perennial Matchmaker: Create Amazing Combinations with Your Favorite Perennials


Nancy J. Ondra - 2016
    Ondra helps you to jump-start your perennial garden with her one-plant-at-a-time approach for choosing plant partners. Having spent more than 30 years growing and experimenting with perennials and plant combinations, Ondra shares her extensive experience in this in-depth guide to eye-catching color combinations, dramatic textural displays, and stunning seasonal effects.The Perennial Matchmaker features 80 individual perennial profiles, close to 400 exquisite photographs of plant partnerships, and Ondra’s insight into the wide array of plants that make great combinations, including annuals, bulbs, grasses, shrubs, and other perennials. Each plant profile gives dozens of ideas and suggestions for pairings, including region-specific choices, Ondra’s top-choice perfect match, and an at-a-glance summary of the best color partners.Whether you are just dreaming of your first perennial garden or are a long-time gardener who wants to elevate plantings for a more cohesive and exciting look, The Perennial Matchmaker is your go-to guide for creating stunning plant medleys.

Wild Suburbia: Learning to Garden with Native Plants


Barbara Eisenstein - 2016
    Author Barbara Eisenstein emphasizes that gardening is a rewarding activity rather than a finished product, from removing lawns and getting in touch with a yard's climate to choosing plants and helping them thrive. Supplementing her advice with personal stories from her decades of experience working with native plants, Eisenstein illuminates the joys of tending a native garden-and assures us that any challenges, from managing pests to disapproving neighbors, should never sap the enjoyment out of a pleasurable and fulfilling hobby. For plant lovers curious about their own ecosystems, Wild Suburbia offers a style of gardening that nurtures biodiversity, deepens connection to place, and encourages new and seasoned gardeners alike to experiment and have fun.

Homemade for Hamsters: Over 20 Fun Projects Anyone Can Make, Including Tunnels, Towers, Dens, Swings, Ladders and More


Carin Oliver - 2016
    The projects use materials and tools commonly found around the home. Treats may also be used and the book includes a list of those that are safe and not safe for a hamster.The 20 projects are grouped according to the type of activities that hamsters enjoy and that enrich their life. Simple text explains how the projects meet these needs and how some just provide fun. The Nibble Necklace, for example, gives a hamster a chewing workout, and it is great for climbing and swinging, too. The Maze simulates a wild hamster's search for food. Making the projects and understanding their benefits will help a child to bond with their pet and commit to its care.The projects are:Running Projects -- Wheel, Tunnels, Amazing Mazes, Obstacle Course Climbing Projects -- See Saw Tube, Climbing Wall with Ladder, Treehouse, Platform and Ramp, Swing, Bendy Bridge Digging Projects -- The Sand Bath, Miniature Landscape with Digging Pit, Digging Tower Chewing Toys -- Walnut Shell Toy, Treat Tubes, Treat Ball, Nibble Necklace Resting Toys -- Hideaway Caves, Hammie Hill Hideout, Castle, Round House. Any and all hamster owners, regardless of age, will enjoy making these great projects as much as they will enjoy watching their pet having fun and staying fit and healthy.

Planting Design for Dry Gardens: Beautiful, Resilient Groundcovers for Terraces, Paved Areas, Gravel and Other Alternatives to the Lawn


Olivier Filippi - 2016
    This book offers low-level planting designs that are ecofriendly and so beautiful they redefine the conventional distinction between lawn and plant borders. Inspired by the wild plant communities of Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S., these rigorously trialed plant combinations can be used on terraces, paths, gravel beds and flower borders, as well as areas that are traditionally laid to lawn. Plant choices include the tough new macrothermal grasses, carpeting groundcovers and stunning wild flower mixes that thrive among gravel and stone. With a plant directory that lists over 200 tough but beautiful dry garden plants and Filippi’s innovative maintenance techniques, this book will delight all dry garden owners

In Bloom: Creating and Living with Flowers


Ngoc Minh Ngo - 2016
    Like the author's exquisite first book, Bringing Nature Home, this much-awaited follow-up title presents stunning arrangements and ideas for interiors inspired by the beauty of flowers. Ngoc Minh Ngo has recorded the work of artists, designers, and tastemakers who demonstrate the many ways that flowers can enhance our homes and work spaces. Each chapter focuses on a unique way to incorporate floral designs into interiors, from flower arrangements made from foraged greenery to wall painting evoking Monet's water lilies to paper flowers that never lose their vibrancy. Renowned photographer Oberto Gili fills his house in Italy with treasures from his bountiful garden that inspire his work, and landscape designer Miranda Brooks puts to use her passion for all things botanical in the decoration of her beautiful Brooklyn home. With exceptional photography that captures the beauty of these flower-inspired homes and text that shares how these imaginative artists and designers achieved their botanical creations, this is an irresistible book for flower lovers, decorators, and homeowners.

Making Small Farms Work


Richard Perkins - 2016
    From a rural situation, nestled in the heart of Scandinavia, Ridgedale is a dedicated high-quality local food producer engaged in educating the next generation of agrarians with the design and management strategies to create farms for the future. The face of small-scale agriculture and the future of our food supply chain is changing. Pioneer educator and farmer Richard Perkins has dedicated his life to sharing effective solutions around the world, and this relatively remote farm has been receiving a lot of international interest as increasing numbers of people seek to participate in a regenerative economy. Covering every aspect of designing, installing and managing this diverse and productive farm, including the crucial decision-making processes and economics that make it all work, this book is full with hundreds of colour photographs, spreadsheets and details capturing the rapid development of the farm, with practical information on:Holistic Decision MakingProperty SelectionGetting Started with Designing a PropertyUnderstanding Ecosystem ProcessesKeyline DesignWater SystemsTrees and Woody CropsDetailed Descriptions of Installing SystemsFencing on FarmsPastured Broiler Enterprise DetailsBuilding a Farm Slaughter FacilityPastured Eggs and Egg MobilesGrasslands & GrazingCreating a Market GardenTools and TipsFinancial Planning

Herbal Medicine: Homemade Herbal Remedies for Common Ailments


Joanna Winters - 2016
     This book contains easy-to-follow steps to help you cure the most common ailments with all-natural resources. All the essentials are covered: Acne, Allergies, Arthritis, Asthma, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Common Cold, ... This book will teach you how to treat these in an all-natural way! The medication prescribed by doctors for some of the most common ailments often has nasty side effects. This has urged thousands of people to start treating these common ailments with homemade herbal remedies. This book will teach YOU how to start using herbal medicine to your advantage. In This Book You Will Learn How To Treat... Acne; Arthritis; Allergies; Asthma; Athlete's foot; Common cold; Eczema; Diabetes; Flu; Fatigue; Gas; High blood pressure; High cholesterol; and many more common ailments with medicinal herbs! Download your copy today and receive a FREE BONUS report on the top 10 healing herbs! Don’t wait to change your life for the better and upgrade your life quality today! Buy this book, start treating these common ailments in a 100% natural way and begin reaping the benefits of living a much happier and healthier lifestyle. Buy the physical book and receive the kindle edition as a FREE BONUS! Or scroll up and download your copy TODAY for instant access! Tags: herbs, herbal remedies, natural remedies, ailments, acne, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, asthma, athlete's foot, cancer, common cold, cold, depression, earache, eczema, flu, fatigue, gas, giardia, gingivitis, herpes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, bladder infection, indigestion, herbal medicine, herbalism, medicinal herbs, healing herbs, herbal recipes.

The Plant Lover's Guide to Magnolias


Andrew Bunting - 2016
    In The Plant Lover’s Guide to Magnolias expert Andrew Bunting shares a plant directory including 146 of the best magnolias for the garden. Featuring information on growth, care, and design, along with hundreds of gorgeous color photographs, it covers everything a home gardener needs to introduce these delightful trees into their garden.

How to Grow Your Own Nuts: Choosing, Cultivating and Harvesting Nuts in Your Garden


Martin Crawford - 2016
    Nut trees are perennials, requiring little maintenance or soil cultivation, so it is no surprise that nuts are the ideal forest garden crop. How to grow your own nuts is a beautifully presented and comprehensive guide to selecting, cultivating, harvesting and processing all types of nuts. Here are old favourites like hazelnuts and walnuts alongside less common varieties such as hickories and butternuts and the exotically named chinkapin. Filled with gorgeous illustrations of trees and nuts in all stages of maturity, this book will inspire gardeners, homesteaders and commercial farmers with its clear and detailed instructions. For everyone who wants to grow their own food and aim at self-sufficiency, this book is a must.Throughout the book we learn how delicious, nutritious and versatile nuts are. Nuts are at the heart of our culinary tradition. They have everything for health: magnesium to lower blood pressure; low carbohydrate to control blood sugar; high protein to keep our energy up, and healthy fats to help absorb vitamins. They are chock full of antioxidants. Eating a daily portion of nuts could lengthen your life, as nuts decrease the risk of heart and neuro-degenerative diseases. Recent Harvard studies indicate that eating pecan nuts increase the survival rates of prostate cancer. For vegetarians and vegans in particular, nuts are a crucial source of protein, but they are enjoyed by many more worldwide as a delicious alternative protein from meat. Martin describes how nuts can be planted singly in a small area, ingroups in an orchard or nuttery, as silvopasture around grazing animals, in alley cropping between cereal crops or intercropping between fruit bushes.Nuts are also multipurpose trees and the A-Z describes their many secondary uses from timber, oil, dyes, fodder and cosmetics to medicines and honey. The beautiful spring blossom, particularly of almond and sweet chestnut, are highly attractive to bees.Every page is rich with the authenticity, passion and experience of a master grower and forest gardener. Whether you are planning to grow nuts at home or  commercially, this book is essential reading.

The Plant Lover's Guide to Clematis


Linda Beutler - 2016
    With their lush flowers, long season of bloom, and attractive seedheads, they are eagerly sought by almost every gardener in the temperate world. The Plant Lover’s Guide to Clematis by clematis expert Linda Beutler includes information on using the plants in the garden, designing with them, and growing and maintenance tips. A plant directory highlights 196 of the best cultivars and species. Full of suggested companion plants and hundreds of gorgeous color photographs, this book covers everything a home gardener needs to introduce these delightful plants into their garden.