They cover it all--from choosing your site and designing your garden to improving your soil, choosing and caring for your plants, and fighting pests and disease. Create the flower garden of your dreams with this comprehensive reference.

    Covering every aspect of vegetable gardening from preparing soil to manures, composts and fertilizers, from growing techniques to protection, pests, from diseases and weeds to making good use of space, this is a comprehensive guide to ensuring the best results from your garden or allotment. With cultivation information for over 100 vegetables, including site and soil requirements, cultivation, pests and diseases, and cultivars, this illustrated handbook is a must for vegetable gardeners of all levels and experience.

    Authored by three of the state's leading native-plant horticulturists and illustrated with 450 color photos, this reference book also includes chapters on landscape design, installation, and maintenance. Detailed lists of recommended native plants for a variety of situations and appendices with information on places to see native plants and where to buy them are also provided.

    Sure, it's even simpler than it was before. Of course, you don't have to worry about fertilizer or poor soil ever again because you'll be growing above the ground. However, the best feature is that anyone, anywhere can enjoy a square foot garden - children, adults with limited mobility, and even complete novices can achieve spectacular results. But, let's get back to the ten improvements. You're going to love them: 1. New Location - Move your garden closer to your house by eliminating single-row gardening. Square foot gardens need just 20% of the space of a traditional garden.2. New Direction - Locate your garden on top of existing soil. Forget about pH soil tests, double-digging (who enjoys that?), or those never-ending soil improvements.3. New Soil - The new "Mel's Mix" is the perfect growing mix. We give you the recipe, and best of all, you can even buy the different types of compost needed.4. New Depth - You only need to prepare a SFG box to a depth of 6 inches! It's true - the majority of plants develop just fine when grown at this depth.5. No Fertilizer - The all new SFG does not need any fertilizer - ever! If you start with the perfect soil mix, then you don't need to add fertilizer.6. New Boxes - The new method uses bottomless boxes placed above ground. We show you how to build your own (with step-by-step photos).7. New Aisles - The ideal gardening aisle width is about three to four feet. That makes it even easier to kneel, work, and harvest.8. New Grids - Prominent and permanent grids added to your SFG box help you visualize your planting squares and properly space them for maximum harvest.9. New Seed-Saving Idea - The old-fashioned way advocates planting many seeds and then thinning the extras (that means pulling them up). The new method means planting a pinch - literally two or three seeds - per planting hole.10. Tabletop Gardens - The new boxes are so much smaller and lighter (only 6 inches of soil, remember?), you can add a plywood bottom to make them portable. Of course, that's not all. We've also included simple, easy-to-follow instructions using lots of photos and illustrations. You're going to love it!

    But aren't they hard to grow at home? No! says orchid grower extraordinaire Steve Frowine. In this handy guide, he shows you step by step how to select the right orchids, keep them healthy, encourage blooms, and even propagate your own plants. Discover how to: * Select orchids that will thrive in your home * Water, fertilize, repot, and propagate orchids * Decipher complicated orchid names * Get familiar with favorite orchid varieties * Create spectacular orchid displays

    Her first book—The Well-Tended Perennial Garden—is Timber's best-selling title and widely considered the bible of perennial maintenance. 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants is packed with useful tips, practical hints, and Tracy's own gardening experience. It is sure to find a place on the shelf and in the heart of every gardener. Tracy has identified 50 show-stopping plants that anyone can grow. Each selection is a dynamic choice for nearly every garden. Even better? All 50 plants have passed Tracy's test for toughness, beauty, and durability. These are Tracy's personal favorites, chosen after years of studying how to make beautiful outdoor spaces with a minimum of maintenance.

    Our beginners guide contains all the essential information you need in order to succeed. It covers the basic techniques, well illustrated with over a hundred images, and explains everything you need to know in an understandable way. Bonsai Empire is the world's most visited Bonsai website and has provided beginners with quality information for over a decade. We have developed this guide to help you get a taste of this fascinating and living art, and hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do! This book includes: - Over 100 stunning images - Over 80 pages - Explanations of the basic techniques - Care guides on the 10 most popular tree species - Background on the history, definition and styles Walter Pall: "Now here is the ultimate book to lead beginners. I am happy to have been able to contribute to this" Mauro Stemberger "Very clear" and "With great quality drawings and pics"

    From building and working with traditional compost bins to starting an indoor worm-composting operation, Composting For Dummies makes these often intimidating projects easy, fun, and accessible for anyone!Digging into compost basics -- get a handle on the benefits of composting and the tools you'll need to get startedChoosing the best method and location -- find the best composting method and location that's right for you, whether it's above ground, in a hole, in a container or bin, or even right in your kitchenBuilding your pile -- learn which ingredients can go into your compost pile, what stays out, and how to mix it all up in the right proportionsStepping beyond traditional composting -- get the lowdown on vermicomposting (letting worms eat your garbage), growing green manures to compost later, and sheet composting in the same spot you plan to plantOpen the book and find:A step-by-step guide to compostingThe right gear and tools for the jobTips on constructing your own composting containers and binsMaterials you can safely compost (and those to avoid)Cover crops to improve your soil now and compost laterRecommendations for using your finished compostWhat worms contribute to your compostTroubleshooting advice if your compost pile isn't cooperatingLearn to:Turn household food waste, yard clippings, and more into nutrient-rich compostBuild and maintain your own compost binUse worms to aid in composting, both indoors and outGive your vegetable and flower gardens a boost of energy

    Written by experts and endorsed by the American Horticultural Society, this is truly the most comprehensive gardening reference available.

    This new collaboration with fellow Dutch plantsman Henk Gerritsen deals with a selection of some 1200 plants most suitable for Oudolf's New Wave naturalism, which emphasizes the importance of plant structures in providing all-season interest. The gardener can prune back plants after flowering to create a perpetual spring — at least until the onset of winter — but the authors prefer to follow nature's example and let plants finish flowering, not only to please the birds and butterflies, but for the beauty that well-chosen plant groupings offer as they reach the end of their life cycle. Many illustrations in this book demonstrate the striking effects of Oudolf's favorite plants in fall and winter.

    Now DK brings this ancient practice into the 21st century, explaining how to grow and care for bonsai trees with a clear step-by-step approach.Offering easy-to-follow advice and simple photography, Bonsai demystifies the art of bonsai with sequences covering the traditional styles of Chokkan, Moyogi, Shakan, and Kengai, as well as deadwood bonsai styles such as Ishizuki, Yose Uye, and Sharimiki.For bonsai enthusiasts in search of fresh ideas, innovative techniques, and new ways to display their living art, Bonsai is the must-have book of the season.

    Give your landscape a vibrant new palette that is both sustainable and low-maintenance through plantings of herbs, shrubs, mosses, and more. Barbara W. Ellis provides a variety of full-color lawn designs and professional planting advice to get you started. You’ll be amazed as your ordinary lawn transforms into a striking display of color and texture.

    He has spent decades creating and perfecting his roses, which combine the charm and fragrance of the Old Roses with the repeat-flowering and wide color range of the traditional tea roses, also called Modern Roses.David Austin English Roses are vigorous, hardy, heat-resistant and disease-free. The bushes have a pleasant rounded habit and bear large, delicately scented blooms throughout the summer. The relative ease of growing a David Austin English Rose has inspired gardeners everywhere to try their hand. Interest in North America was so overwhelming that in 1999, the company opened an office in Tyler, Texas, which ships to the USA and Canada.The roses are organized into seven classification groups. Each rose profile features a description and cultivation techniques opposite a stunning full-page photograph. There are 32 new photographs, 22 of them of the new varieties released between 2011 and 2016. They are:Old Rose Hybrids - Sir Walter Scott, The Poet's Wife, The Lady Gardener, Lady Salisbury, Queen Anne The Leander Group - Bathsheba, The Ancient Mariner, Olivia Rose Austin, Fighting Temperaire, Carolyn Knight, Boscobel The English Musk Roses - Roald Dahl, Desdemona, The Lark Ascending, Tranquility, William and Catherine The English Alba Hybrids - Royal Jubilee Some Other English Roses - Imogen, Thomas A Becket The Climbing English Rose - The Lady of the Lake, The Albrighton Rambler, Wollerton Old Hall The English Cut-flower Roses.David also recounts how he set out to create the English roses, beginning with his first, the fragrant Constance Spry, released in 1961. In eloquent prose he reveals his passion for these roses and his lifelong dedication to their improvement. He describes their growth habits, flower form, foliage and name origin, and provides valuable cultivation tips and instruction on how to cut and arrange roses.This book displays beautifully why David Austin English Roses are beloved by gardeners everywhere. It is an essential selection for every rose lover and gardener. Artists will enjoy it for the glorious photographs.

    It offers precise step-by-step instructions on how to work with each of the 15 classic bonsai styles.

    Dinosaurs had feathers.The appendix isn’t useless but there are nine body-parts that are.Coliseum gladiators were obese and staged their fights.The first robot was built 2,400 years ago.The Bible never says what The Devil looks like.Leprosy doesn’t exist.This book corrects many misconceptions people have about the human body, books, dinosaurs, words, disorders, quotes, religion, and unsolved mysteries (that have actually been solved.)Read on to find out the real reason why movies were made, how angels are actually described in the Bible, discover what happened to the ancient Mayans, and the answer to the ultimate question: which came first - The chicken or the egg?