Book picks similar to
Climbers & Wall Plants by Philippa Bensley


gardening
home-library
horticulture
house-and-yard

Homesweet Homegrown: How to Grow, Make, And Store Food, No Matter Where You Live


Robyn Jasko - 2012
    Jasko and Biggs are committed to turning you into a healthy, happy farmer even if you live in a big city high-rise. Built around eight comprehensive sections (Know, Start, Grow, Plant, Plan, Make, Eat, and Store), this wonderful 128-page guide walks you through all the steps of successfully nurturing a crop of delicious, healthy vegetables. Everyone from the base beginner to the seasoned farmhand will find something for them in these pages. (The recipe section alone is enough to keep you comin' back to this gem for years!) Narrated in a friendly, helpful tone by Jasko and buoyed by Biggs's great illustrations, this book is the definition of awesomely useful. Super, super, SUPER inspiring. Grow your own everything!

In Search of Lost Roses


Thomas Christopher - 1989
    Now the lovely, subtle-hued, richly perfumed old roses are making a comeback, thanks to the efforts of a stubborn band of eccentric characters who rescued them from back alleys, ramshackle cottages, and overgrown graveyards across the country. Thomas Christopher tells us the fascinating stories of the old roses—how they were created and made their way to America—and the unforgettable people who "rustle" them from abandoned lots and secret gardens today, revelling in the mystery of an "unknown yellow."

Gardening for Geeks: DIY Tests, Gadgets, and Techniques That Utilize Microbiology, Mathematics, and Ecology to Exponentially Maximize the Yield of Your Garden


Christy Wilhelmi - 2013
    Specifically marketed for the geek audience interested in gardening, beyond the basics of design and planting to offer a thorough explanation of the pop science behind gardening techniques, and to present an assortment of cheap DIY tests, gadgets, and techniques that utilize science, technology and gardening smarts to maximize the yield.

Floret Farm's Discovering Dahlias: A Guide to Growing and Arranging Magnificent Blooms


Erin Benzakein - 2021
    These coveted floral treasures come in a dazzling range of colors, sizes, and forms, with enough variety for virtually every garden space and personal preference, making them one of the most beloved flowers for arrangements.In these pages, readers will discover:• Expert advice for planting, harvesting, and arranging garden-fresh dahlias• A simple-to-follow overview of the dahlia classification system• An A–Z guide with photos and descriptions of more than 350 varieties• Step-by-step how-to's for designing show-stopping dahlia bouquets that elevate any occasionExpert Author: Erin Benzakein's gorgeous flowers are celebrated throughout the world. Her book Floret Farm's A Year in Flowers was a New York Times bestseller and her first book, Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden, won the American Horticultural Society Book Award.Filled with Wisdom: Overflowing with hundreds of lush photographs and invaluable advice, DISCOVERING DAHLIAS is an essential resource for gardeners and a must-have for anyone who loves flowers, including flower lovers, avid and novice gardeners, floral designers, florists, small farmers, stylists, and designers.Beautiful Present: This book is a beautiful present for Mother's Day and a thoughtful gift for nature lovers, flower enthusiasts, and gardeners. The colorful, flower-forward package pairs perfectly with a bouquet of flowers, seeds, or a vase.

Decorating with Plants: What to Choose, Ways to Style, and How to Make Them Thrive


Baylor Chapman - 2019
    Whether it’s a statement-making fiddle-leaf fig or a tiny tabletop succulent, a houseplant instantly elevates the look of your home. But where to begin? In Decorating with Plants, Baylor Chapman walks readers through everything they need to know to bring houseplants into their home. First, there’s Plant Care 101: from how to assess light conditions to tricks for keeping your plants alive while on vacation, Chapman gives readers the simple, foundational info they need to ensure their plants will thrive. Then she introduces us to 28 of her favorites—specimens that are tough as nails but oh-so-stylish, from the eye-catching Rubber Tree to the delicate Cape Primrose. Finally, she guides readers through the home room by room: Place an aromatic plant like jasmine or gardenia to your entry to establish your home’s “signature scent.” Add a proper sense of scale to your living room with a ceiling-grazing palm. Create a living centerpiece of jewel-toned succulents for a dining table arrangement that will last long after your dinner party. From air purification to pest control, there’s no limit to what houseplants can do for your home—and Decorating with Plants is here to show you how to add them to spaces big and small with style.

The Lydgate Widow


Alexandra Connor - 2006
    But the stories end abruptly on the day Adele and her sister are orphaned, and they grow up with only each other to rely on. Adele finds work in an antiques shop but when a wrongful accusation robs her of her reputation, her future looks bleak. So it's not hard for Col Vincent, a successful businessman, to persuade Adele to marry him. Adele grows to love him - until she realises that her husband is a violent man. In the 1930s, a woman who leaves her husband faces penury. Somehow Adele survives, and then news comes that will transform her life, bringing back the haunting memory of the Lydgate Widow - and the man who has loved Adele for decades...

The Garden Primer


Barbara Damrosch - 1988
    The new edition has gone 100% organic, which in Barbara Damrosch's hands also means completely accessible. It reflects the latest research on plants, soils, tools, and techniques. There is updated and expanded information on planning a garden, recommended plants, and best tools. Ecological issues are addressed much more extensively, covering lawn alternatives, the benefits of native species, wildlife-friendly gardens, and how to avoid harmful invasive species. More attention is paid to plants appropriate to the South, Southwest, and West Coast, while cold-climate gardeners are given detailed advice on how to extend the growing season. Simply put, the book is a richer and fuller compendium than ever before, with more text, more illustrations and garden plans, expanded plant lists, and gardener's resources. But Barbara Damrosch's core of practical, creative ideas and friendly style remain—she is still an "old-fashioned dirt gardener" at heart.

Organic Gardening: The Natural No-Dig Way


Charles Dowding - 2007
    Charles Dowding, who started the first vegetable box scheme in 1983, shares his philosophy, tips and techniques which have enabled him to run a successful organic garden supplying local restaurants and shops for over 25 years.

Kitchen Garden Revival: A modern guide to creating a stylish, small-scale, low-maintenance, edible garden


Nicole Johnsey Burke - 2020
    Kitchen Garden Revival guides you through every aspect of kitchen gardening, from design to harvesting—with expert advice from author Nicole Johnsey Burke, founder of Rooted Garden, one of the leading US culinary landscape companies, and Gardenary, an online kitchen gardening education and resource company. Participating in the grow-your-own movement is important to both reduce your food miles and control what makes it onto your family’s table. If you’ve hesitated to take part because installing and caring for a traditional vegetable garden doesn’t seem to suit your life or your sense of style, Kitchen Garden Revival is here to show you there’s a better, more beautiful way to grow food. Instead of row after row of cabbage and pepper plants plunked into a patch of dirt in the middle of the yard, kitchen gardens are attractive, highly tailored food gardens consisting of easy-to-maintain raised planting beds laid out in an organized geometric pattern. Offering both four seasons of ornamental interest and plenty of fresh, homegrown fruits, vegetables, and herbs, kitchen gardens are the way to grow your own food in a fashionable, modern, and practical way. Kitchen gardens were once popular features of the European and early American landscape, but they fell out of favor when our agrarian roots were displaced by industrialization. With this accessible and inspirational guide, Nicole aims to return the kitchen garden to its rightful place just outside of every backdoor.Learn the art of kitchen gardening as you discover: What characteristics all kitchen gardens have in commonHow to design and install gorgeous kitchen garden beds using metal, wood, or stoneWhy raised beds mean reduced maintenanceWhat crops are best for your kitchen garden A planting, tending, and harvesting plan developed by a proSeason-by-season growing guides It's time to join the Kitchen Garden Revival and start growing your own delicious, organic food.

Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever


Susan Warren - 2007
    The competition is furious; there's sabotage and treachery and the heartbreak of root rot, and many a weigh-off ends in tears. This year, more than just the grand prize is at stake. The Holy Grail is within reach: the world's first fifteenhundred-pound pumpkin. And Ron and Dick Wallace think they have what it takes to get it.Backyard Giants follows a tumultuous season in the life of a close-knit tribe of competitors as they chase down the ultimate pumpkin prize. In the grueling and gut-wrenching quest for truly colossal fruit,

Planting for Honeybees: The Grower's Guide to Creating a Buzz


Sarah Wyndham Lewis - 2018
    In recent years, the shrinking of green spaces has endangered the honeybee. Now Planting for Honeybees shows you how you can help these delightful pollinators to flourish by creating a garden as habitat for them. No matter how small or large your space – from a window ledge in the city to a country garden – Sarah Wyndham Lewis offers practical advice on which plants to grow and when and where to plant them. Charmingly illustrated with delicate drawings, this a jewel of a guide to treasure.

Chick Days: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens from Hatching to Laying


Jenna Woginrich - 2011
    There’s nothing more local than an egg freshly laid right in your own yard. But what should you expect when you’re adopting a couple of day-old chicks? In Chick Days, Jenna Woginrich, award-winning author of Made from Scratch, the homesteading memoir for the twenty-something generation, offers a highly entertaining and informative photographic guide for today’s fledgling chick parent. Fun for the complete newbie and for families with young children, Chick Days chronicles the journey of three chickens from newly hatched fluffy butterballs to grown hens laying eggs. Day by day and week by week, readers watch the three starring chickens grow and change, learning about chicken behavior, feeding requirements, housing, hygiene, and health-care essentials, and fun facts on all things poultry. As Jenna herself says, “Chickens are more than 12-piece buckets, country diner kitsch, and egg whites. They’re your backyard ambassadors to healthier eating and basic husbandry. Keeping chickens is a crash course in local eating. When you start collecting eggs you’ll be eating so local you’ll know the amount of cracked corn in the feeder at ground zero of your breakfast . . . ” Jenna’s witty commentary is accompanied by the photography of Mars Vilaubi, who raised the three chickens himself, along with his wife and son. Their accompanying “chick diary” notes particular things this family learned and did along the way to make chicken raising fun. Presenting just the essential information in a highly visual and inviting format, Chick Days makes every stage of chicken life fun, entertaining, and, most of all, doable. It’s sure to give any chicken lover or wannabe owner the confidence and enthusiasm to join the flock!

The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to Save the Planet


Dave Goulson - 2019
    Wherever you are right now, the chances are that there are worms, woodlice, centipedes, flies, silverfish, wasps, beetles, mice, shrews and much, much more, quietly living within just a few paces of you.Dave Goulson gives us an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives of these creatures, taking us burrowing into the compost heap, digging under the lawn and diving into the garden pond. He explains how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind are inextricably intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies, unappreciated heroes of the natural world.The Garden Jungle is at times an immensely serious book, exploring the environmental harm inadvertently done by gardeners who buy intensively reared plants in disposable plastic pots, sprayed with pesticides and grown in peat cut from the ground. Goulson argues that gardens could become places where we can reconnect with nature and rediscover where food comes from. With just a few small changes, our gardens could become a vast network of tiny nature reserves, where humans and wildlife can thrive together in harmony rather than conflict.For anyone who has a garden, and cares about our planet, this book is essential reading.

Straw Bale Gardening


Joel Karsten - 2013
    He has perfected the perfect way for anyone to have a garden without weeding, bending over, or using chemicals. If you follow his step by step methods and suggestions you will be assured to grow a beautiful and productive garden this year, even if you have never gardened before. The best part is that if the soil in your backyard is less than productive it doesn't matter at all. If you have sunlight and water, you will have a great garden this year. From the Arctic Circle in Northern Alaska to the heat of the desert in Saudi Arabia, people are using this method, and having great success. The booklet is full color with 78 pages, and has a perfect bind booklet binding.

Essential Succulents: The Beginner's Guide


Ken Shelf - 2018
    In Essential Succulents, budding succulent enthusiasts will gain the know-how needed to begin growing, decorating with, and enjoying these amazing plants.From simple houseplants and drought-friendly landscaping to decorative wreaths and trendy mason jar terrariums, Essential Succulents is the ultimate guide to learning which succulents are best for beginners, along with a basic understanding of how to care for and creatively design with them.Accompanied by beautiful photography of the succulents and projects presented, Essential Succulents includes: 50 easy-to-grow succulents that can grow in a variety of environments, as well as a care guide and arrangement tips for each. 8 easy DIY projects that include step-by-step instructions and are listed in order from easiest to more challenging. Guidance for growing indoor and container succulents, including what they need to thrive—such as the right light, soil, and irrigation. Instructions for creating outdoor succulent gardens that require minimal maintenance and saves money on water. Whether you’ve never cared for succulents before, or are interested in deepening your understanding of them, Essential Succulents will give you the confidence you need to explore your succulent-growing passion.