You'll also learn about more than 130 plants that accept reduced light and moisture levels-long-blooming woodland gems like epimediums and hellebores, and even lush foliage plants like evergreen ferns and hardy gingers, shrubs, climbers, perennials, ground covers, bulbs, annuals, and perennials- there is an entire palette to help you transform challenging spaces into rich, rewarding gardens.

    Even non-gardeners will find this book of essays a source of profound pleasure, for Raver is a writer who transcends her subject even as she illuminates it, writing with such passion, wisdom and stylishmess that her book will enchant anyone who reads it.

    Each entry includes identification characteristics related to leaves, buds, and stems. Most are accompanied by an illustration of the leaf or branch. Additional facts about each plant are available on topics such as flowers and/or fruits, diseases and insects, landscape value, propagation, and native habitat.

    The renowned biologist Daniel Chamovitz builds on the original edition to present an intriguing look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the schedules they keep, and now, what they do in fact hear and how they are able to taste. A rare inside look at what life is really like for the grass we walk on, the flowers we sniff, and the trees we climb, What a Plant Knows offers a greater understanding of their place in nature.

    Sure, it’s a tall order, but The Living Landscape shows you how to do it. You’ll learn the strategies for making and maintaining a diverse, layered landscape—one that offers beauty on many levels, provides outdoor rooms and turf areas for children and pets, incorporates fragrance and edible plants, and provides cover, shelter, and sustenance for wildlife. Richly illustrated and informed by both a keen eye for design and an understanding of how healthy ecologies work, The Living Landscape will enable you to create a garden that fulfills both human needs and the needs of wildlife communities.

    Showcase colorful blooms and striking foliage in conditions from full sun to full shade, with easy, budget-friendly garden plans and season-by-season care tips.

    Thomas and readers' expectations. This edition is packed with wit, wisdom, tips, advice, facts, fun, and recipes, including . . .• traditionally 80 percent-accurate weather forecasts• creatures from hell• readers' wacky coincidences• making sausages at home• wildfires' effect on weather• love potions• beauty secrets• odds of almost everything• unmasked mysteries of plant seed dispersal  Plus, Moon phases and other celestial sightings, tides, gardening tables, best days, and too much more to mention.  Added value this year:• 96 full-color pages—16 more than ever!• full-color winter and summer weather maps• updated Reference section The Old Farmer's Almanac is often imitated, but never equaled. Accept no substitutes!

    It allows you to maximize the use of space while taking advantage of the natural abilities of each plant. This guide to companion gardening covers the following topics: What companion planting is and how it can benefit you. How good companion plants are discovered. Organic gardening and companion planting. Companion planting strategies. Allelopathy: The chemical abilities of plants. Beneficial insects in the garden and how to draw them in. How to repel pest insects. Planning your garden using companion planting. Companion planting information on more than 70 fruits, vegetables and herbs, including good and bad neighbors. This book provides a strong basis for those looking to learn companion planting and is guaranteed to be a reference guide you turn to time and time again when looking for companion plants to grow in your garden. Buy this book now and get started growing a bigger and better garden through companion gardening.

    And he’s never stopped studying, because he wants to give the best, most up-to-date information to the listeners of his nationally-syndicated Public Radio show, “You Bet Your Garden.” He offers the fruits of his labors in this illustrated guide that reveals why compost is the answer to virtually every garden question. McGrath explains why compost improves soil structure; why it provides the perfect amount of food for every plant; how it fights plant diseases more safely and effectively than any chemical fungicide; and how to make your own. This is a must-have on every gardener’s bookshelf!

    If you need to fit homesteading into a few hours each weekend and would like to have fun while doing it, these projects will be right up your alley, whether you live on a forty-acre farm, a postage-stamp lawn in suburbia, or a high rise.The July volume includes the following projects: Planting a fall garden Freezing food Hanging your clothes out to dry Making a budget The second edition has been revised and expanded to match the paperback, with extra photos and feedback from weekend homesteaders just like you, plus permaculture-related avenues for the more advanced homesteader to explore.

    Not only are backyard vegetable plots popping up in places long reserved for lawns, but some renegades are even planting their front yards with food. People in apartments are filling their balconies with pots of tomatoes, beans, and basil, while others are gazing skyward and "greening" their rooftops with food plants. Still others are colonizing public spaces, staking out territory in parks for community gardens and orchards, or convincing school boards to turn asphalt school grounds into "growing" grounds.Woven through the book are the stories of guerrilla urban farmers in various cities of North America who are tapping city trees for syrup, gleaning fruit from parks, foraging for greens in abandoned lots, planting heritage vegetables on the boulevard, and otherwise placing food production at the centre of the urban community. Additional stories describe the history of urban food production in North America, revealing the roots of our current hunger for more connection with our food, and the visionaries who have directed that hunger into action.Throughout the book, sidebars offer practical tips for how to compost, how to convert a lawn into a vegetable bed, and what edible plants are easy to grow with children, among other topics.

    Unsurpassed as a field guide for its authoritative information on collection and medicinal preparation. Focuses on the plant life of rocky and arid lands of the West, and includes detailed information on the preparation and use of these vital herbs.

    At once a biography of an extraordinary 18th century gentlewoman and a meditation on late-life creativity, it is a beautifully written tour de force from an acclaimed poet. Mary Granville Pendarves Delany (1700-1788) was the witty, beautiful and talented daughter of a minor branch of a powerful family. Married off at 16 to a 61-year-old drunken squire to improve the family fortunes, she was widowed by 25, and henceforth had a small stipend and a horror of a marriage. She spurned many suitors over the next twenty years, including the powerful Lord Baltimore and the charismatic radical John Wesley. She cultivated a wide circle of friends, including Handel and Jonathan Swift. And she painted, she stitched, she observed, as she swirled in the outskirts of the Georgian court. In mid-life she found love, and married. Upon her husband's death 23 years later, she arose from her grief, picked up a pair of scissors and, at the age of 72, created a new art form, mixed-media collage. Over the next decade, Mrs Delany created an astonishing 985 botanically correct, breathtaking cut-paper flowers, now housed in the British Museum and referred to as the Botanica Delanica.Delicately, Peacock has woven parallels in her own life around the story of Mrs Delany's and, in doing so, has made this biography into a profound and beautiful examination of the nature of creativity and art.Gorgeously designed and featuring 35 full-colour illustrations, this is a sumptuous and lively book full of fashion and friendships, gossip and politics, letters and love. It's to be devoured as voraciously as one of the court dinners it describes.

    Stressing the utility of raised beds and wide rows, gardening expert Dick Raymond shares his time-tested techniques for preparing the soil, starting plants, and controlling weeds. With helpful photographs, clear charts, and profiles of reliable garden vegetables, Joy of Gardening will inspire you to grow your best crop ever.

     Annie Spiegelman's down-to-earth wit and wisdom create the perfect primer for anyone with a passion for home-grown veggies or fresh-cut flowers, no matter what their skill level, location, or resources. Includes advice on: •Learning to worship the worm and build a compost pile •Landscape designs-start small in order to create a basic plan for a plot •The secret to healthy soil (the only way to have a healthy garden) •Irrigation systems and strategies to conserve water •Proper pruning-from roses to trees •How to combine vegetables to make them thrive •How to let your garden go native and become drought tolerant •Edible landscaping and gardening in small spaces Talking Dirt is a one-stop handbook that features resources for shopping, learning, and promoting environmentally sound garden practices within local communities.