Gardening Books

If you liked the 2005 version, you will love this one, too! A clean, good-sized calendar with big numbers and outstanding photo compositions of a range of flowering plants and trees. Phillips and Rix pioneered this way of presenting the different stages of plant development in their 2-volume masterpiece, The Botanical Garden, and this calendar will remind you every day of the lush beauty and diversity of the Plant Kingdom. Each composition has notes describing what you see, and at the bottom of the calendar page is a full paragraph about the genus or species.

I love this calendar because it has enough space for me to write three or four appointments in each box. The illustrations are beautiful, and also educational.

But the reason I'm taking time to write this review is that when I first ordered this, it did not arrive on time (because it was shipped via the US post office.) I was able to reach Amazon by phone, and when I explained I needed it soon, to start recording 2006 appointments, they sent me a replacement by overnight shipment at no additional charge. I was very impressed by a website offering this level of personal customer service. Many thanks!!!! I hope someone will read this post, and pass my thanks along to the people behind the scenes who do the work.

The Bountiful Flower Garden is a beautiful, lavishly illustrated compendium for growing and showcasing cut flowers from the southern garden. Beginning with the influences of the European, Asian and American heritages. The Bountiful Flower Garden reveals how to extend the life of cut flowers in order to bring their beauty indoors. It details when, how and where to cut, as well as when and how to employ chemical extenders. The Bountiful Flower Garden offers the reader invaluable information on other plants effective in cut-flower arranging. The Bountiful Flower Garden is enhanced with lists, essays, and step-by-step instructions regarding trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, annuals, foliage plants, and berry/fruit plants. The Bountiful Flower Garden is the definitive guide and a wonderful book for family gardeners and interior designers to simply browse through in search of ideas and possibilities for enriching the atmosphere and decor of homes and offices.

I've given away most of my gardening books-from lack of interest. Checked this one out from the library and must buy it so that I may underline. Mr. Welch GETS IT. He knows we want beauty in our lives, but we can't babysit picky plants that when they succeed, we're too proud of them to cut!. Here is the definitave word on how to grow inexpensive masses of color from seed and how to preserve cut flowers in the vase. Quite a few of his plant suggestions were new to me for my zone--This book gives me information for the exact reason I raise flowers, to play with them!

An amazing look behind the scenes at the unsung work of a true Master Artist. Thanks to a generous gift from the late Lila Acheson Wallace (Reader's Digest founder), Chris Giftos brings colors and life to an already breathtaking architectural wonder, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book is full of rich photographs that showcase his talent in different environments. The Temple of Dendrum, The Cloisters, The Great Hall. A wonderful gift for anyone who loves flowers!

This book never ceases to amaze me when I pull it off the shelf for a little inspiration or food for my soul. Chris Giftos is aptly named for he gifts us with this book and his designs. Each arrangement featured suits the area and rooms of the Met as just the right thing for the surroundings. His knowledge of color and combinations of flowers is insightful. Fabulous photos and design aside; it is also an interesting read.

"A Bouquet From The Met" is well worth the price if you are at all interested in floral design, either professionally or as a hobby.

Lila Acheson Wallace was an incredible woman to have allowed New Yorkers the enjoyment of Giftos's flowers at the Met. I can't wait until the day when I can see it all up close.

This book was full of helpful information in the production and care of the berry plants. Recomended for those who are wanting to learn more about your berries and how to get the best out of your plants.

I found the information in this book essential to producing the
best Blackberries.

This book is an excellent reference source in understanding the processes on breeding the top favorite ornamental plants. The book is well written to support the serious amateur plant breeder to even the professional. The introductory chapters provide a quick education on genetics and its applications to plant protection and trademarks. The book is well illustrated and provides and excellent source of collections, suppliers, plant societies and references for each ornamental plant. Well worth the purchase!

This book has been sorely needed: a book about breeding ornamental (as opposed to crop) plants, and geared toward the serious amateur plant breeder. However, even professional plant breeders should find much of interest in this book.

There are introductory chapters on general breeding and basic genetics, clearly written and none of it heavily technical. This will be especially useful to the beginning breeder. The rest of the chapters are written by different plant breeders, discussing different genera or groups of plants. Although this makes the quality somewhat uneven and some of the information redundant, it's both fascinating and instructive to see how the goals, objectives, and techniques are similar, as well as different, between the different plant groups and different breeders. By and large, these breeders are not professionals, they are just regular people who like to grow plants and have gotten bitten by the hybridizing bug. All have valuable information to pass on based on their own experience, so even if you buy this book for information about breeding Saintpaulia, or Hemerocallis, or another particular group, be sure to read ALL the chapters as much of the information is applicable to plant breeding in general.

The book is handsomely produced and very nicely illustrated, with excellent color photographs of the plants and line drawings to help illustrate certain techniques. This book is required reading for anybody who is interested in plant breeding as a hobby.

a great book to share with your kids a bedtime. all stories about how to be wise& thoughtful. the illustations are great, too.

We have a (pretty verbal) 3-year old, and this is perfect for her. Moving slightly away from all-picture books, this has just the right length stories, right mix of pictures and story, and each story has a moral which Buddha spells out at the end. (Or if you were uncomfortable with that, you could just say "The moral of the story is".) These prompt some nice bedtime conversations. Also there are enough stories in the book that we've been reading a different one every night for a month, so we aren't pounding our head against the wall when she picks this book up night after night. Each story has one (lovely) full-page illustration and is 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 pages long, borrowing small bits from the original illustration throughout. The stories are entertaining and most are new to us. The publisher does a few other similar books and we will definitely pick them up.

This book explains how to make a garden on a budget in language you can understand, you don't need to go out and buy expensive fertilizers etc, A lot of things you can get for free, if you think you want to start a nursery or greenhouse this may help you also. This book will show you how to use different containers for plants, how to create new plants from the parent plant. Explains tools etc. A really good book for us thrifty people!

If you've ever wandered through a friend's or neighbor's garden and seen something so remarkable and yet so simple that you can't believe you didn't think of it yourself, you have some idea of what it's like to read this book. The author has done a wonderful job compiling information on everything from amending soil and fending off pests to creating garden structures from free materials. This book is a motherlode of ideas. I've been using the library's copy, but I'm going to spend a few of my well-pinched pennies on a copy of my own.

The hubs were constructed according to the plans. A trench below the frost line was dug to create a dry earth frost barrier. All materials came from the local building supply, except the roll of greenhouse glazing plastic. The 25 foot dome was built of 2x2s cut from 2x4s. The dome stood five or six years in Idaho without any maintenance. I used 10 50 gallon drums filled with water and painted black for heat storage, and had tomatoes on the vine in December, though they had stopped growing when the daylight hours declined. A large snow while I was traveling took it down. Maintenance would have prevented this.

The authors take you through the process from choosing a site to other uses for the greenhouse like using it to help heat your home!

A very easy read and no exotic tools or techniques need to complete the project.

While this isn't an all inclusive guide to japanese gardening, its a fun and inspiring read. After reading this book I set about building my own japanse style garden; and while I didn't find myself referring to it for specifics of actually building the garden - I did find myself referring to it for motivation. Egan's self-effacing sense of humour is particularly enjoyable, as he struggles with such tribulations as moving a large rock, or dealing with a leaking pond (problems that I also found myself dealing with). I would highly recommend this book to any do-it-yourselfer thinking about building a japansese style garden.

Get this book if you have been suspicious about the hype surrounding the Zen of garden building or if you want a hilarious account of a brave amateur confronting the sham purity of Japanese garden design. But this is also a serious and wryly understated account of how to confront the task armed with the basic philosophy of the design of a garden and teahouse, and as well, a humorous introduction to the kind of characters you might meet if you go past the DIY stores to meet the suppliers.

This book is a wonderful resource for anyone who loves to grow bulbs, whether indoors or out. The authors list the bulbs by genus and includes additional information such as the best species for all relevant USDA zones. The book also explains techniques for outdoor planting and indoor forcing, in addition to suggesting planting combinations. Overall, this book has made an irreplaceable addition to my gardening library.

This book is a wonderful resource for anyone who loves to grow bulbs, whether indoors or out. The authors list the bulbs by genus and includes additional information such as the best species for all relevant USDA zones. The book also explains techniques for outdoor planting and indoor forcing, in addition to suggesting planting combinations. Overall, this book has made an irreplaceable addition to my gardening library.