Announcing the changing of the seasons and the coming of summer, Lilacs are ubiquitous both within gardens and as a wild flower. Their scented flowers are well-known to many with whorls of fragrant blossom sitting perfectly at nose-height. Symbolising first love, their fleeting bouquet can provoke a sense of nostalgia. As a garden flower they became a popular choice in the eighteenth century, particularly across North America, and lingering shrubs and blooms in the wild are a telltale indication of where earlier dwellings might have been. Naomi Slade explores a wide range of different Lilacs, drawing our attention to the varying shades of pink, lavender, mauve, burgundy and of course, lilac, and also to white, blue and yellow varieties. Lilacs are durable plants and this book offers advice on how to care for and propagate your flowers, how to identify rare species and practical tips for how to get the most glorious blooms and the most bountiful cut flowers.

Bees play a vital and irreplaceable role in pollinating our flowers, fruits and vegetables. The more bees in your garden the healthier, more productive and more pleasant a place it will be. Yet bees are declining rapidly and many people, even if they do not wish to keep bees themselves, are asking what can be done on an individual basis to help the bee. This book is a response to that request. It will demonstrate in one accessible volume how each of us can play our part in providing a bee-friendly environment, no matter how much gardening space and/or time we may have. It includes: * How bees forage, what bees you can expect to find in your garden and what plants are best for them. * Why honey bees are so important; what they need to thrive and how they detect and access those requirements; and what varieties of plants are best suited to provide those needs. * How the gardener can offer and maintain a bee-friendly garden, followed by a season-by-season account of what beefriendly plants are in flower and when, and what jobs the gardener can be doing during these times to help bees thrive. * A gazetteer of selected bee-friendly plants, arranged by type of plant in seasonal sub-sections. * Illustrative, practical planting plans, including a culinary herb garden, a potager, a wild flower garden, and a 3 seasons traditional border.

A green-fingered gardener, Amy Stewart has always delighted in the sight of freshly cut flowers, but she grew increasingly curious and uneasy about the journey those flowers take to reach her bouquet. In Gilding the Lily, Stewart introduces us to the people, places and plants that make up this multi-million-pound industry, from a lily grower in the American Northwest to the rose fields of Ecuador and the tulip greenhouses in Holland. Gilding the Lily is a page-turning enquiry into the controversial practices that lie behind each bloom, including the treatment of the workers in the fields and greenhouses, the issue of patenting and the use of pesticides, and the financial forces that drive the quest for the "perfect" flower. It is also a wonderful story about the romance and the reality of growingand cultivating flowers.

This is an illustrated guide to varieties, cultivation and care, with step-by-step instructions and over 150 beautiful photographs. It features full photographic directory of over 40 varieties, including cluster-flowered roses, miniature roses, ground-cover roses, large-flowered roses and rugosa roses. For each variety, full botanical information is provided on history, growth, hue, height, spread and suitability. It offers step-by-step guidance on planting, propagation and pruning, and how to deal with common pests and diseases. It includes instructions on using roses for hedging and ground cover, and combining them with other plants. It is a highly accessible guide to some of the world's best-loved plants, celebrating their diversity and beauty. It offers everything you need to know at a glance in one handy and superbly illustrated practical guide. The rose is the quintessential flower of the summer, and apart from the beauty of the flowers, many modern varieties have the twin advantages of a long flowering season and disease resistance. With hues ranging from delicate pastels to glowing reds, yellows and oranges, the range has never been wider, encompassing roses for growing en masse or in conjunction with other plants, as hedges, ground cover or in containers. This beautiful book explains how to use modern roses to their best advantage, and features a directory of over 40 varieties. There are practical instructions for planting, propagating and pruning roses, ensuring a magnificent display in all types of garden.