Zen Buddhist priest Shunmyo Masuno understands that today's busy world leaves little time or space for self-reflection, but that a garden--even in the most urban of spaces--can provide some respite. In his words, "The garden is a special spiritual place where the mind dwells." With this in mind, Masuno has designed scores of spectacular Japanese gardens and landscapes with the aim of helping people achieve a balanced life in the 21st century. This book explores Masuno's design process and ideas, which are integral to his daily Zen training and teachings. It features 15 unique gardens and contemplative landscapes completed in six countries over as many years--all thoughtfully described and documented in full-color photos and drawings. Readers will also find insights on Masuno's philosophy of garden design and a conversation between the designer and famed architect Terunobu Fujimori. Zen Garden Design provides an in-depth examination of Masuno's gardens and landscapes--not just as beautiful spaces, but as places for meditation and contemplation.

Who knew you could do so much with brick, concrete, stone, and even asphalt? Forget the plain old, unadorned concrete slabs of the past! Today's landscape designers add curb appeal and value to homes using a wide pallet of colorful and textural products. This practical guidebook will help anyone looking for ways to improve the appearance of their home through hardscaping. These beautiful images will help you to: Choose a style that complements your home. Learn the technical terminology for hardscaping and speak your contractor's language. Pick a plan that fits your budget and style. Create containers and border areas for dynamic gardens and landscaping displays.

This groundbreaking guide presents a powerful alternative to traditional horticulture - designed plantings that function like naturally occurring plant communities. Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, two leading voices in ecological landscape design, reveal how plants fit together in nature and how to use this knowledge to create landscapes that are resilient, beautiful, and diverse. As practical as it is inspiring, Planting in a Post-Wild World is an optimistic manifesto pointing the way to the future of planting design.

Legendary gardener and plantswoman Beth Chatto describes how she transformed a piece of wasteland into a lush and blooming garden in this beautiful book, filled with helpful tips and practical advice. The story of how Beth Chatto created her gravel garden on 'possibly the driest, and the most windswept, piece of soil in England' has a message of hope for gardeners everywhere. At the outset she promised herself: 'This garden was not to be irrigated in times of drought. Once established the plants must fend for themselves or die.' The results, eloquently described by the author and beautifully portrayed in Steven Wooster's specially commissioned photographs taken through the seasons, testify to the triumphant outcome of the adventure. Showing how her principles can be applied on any scale, this book is an essential read for any gardener facing water shortages and poor soil. Rich with hard-won tips and expressed in Beth Chatto's matchless style, this is a gardening classic.

Grow a glass garden--and beautify any space with the exquisite decorative items you've created. George W. Shannon and Pat Torlen, two master teachers and artists who run the On The Edge Glass Studio, offer an array of glorious patterns for stained glass flowers, butterflies, birds, birdfeeders, planters, lanterns, and mobiles. Using dozens of close-up photos, they teach all the basics of both copper foil and lead came construction, from materials and tools to how-to techniques. "A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club."

Do you share your garden with a car? Worried that your neighbour's trees are blocking your light? Is your garden too big? Too small? An awkward shape? Or maybe you just don't know where to begin... Whether you are grappling with a particular dilemma or just need some inspiration, this guide leads the way forward with sharp design advice and beautiful images. Read this book and the prospect of tackling your own garden will seem suddenly less daunting and more fun.

Michael Littlewood's Landscape Detailing is now well established as a valuable source of reference for architects, landscape architects, other professionals and students designing external works.Volume I, Enclosures, covers walls (free-standing, screen and retaining), fences, gates, barriers and bollards. Each section begins with technical guidance notes on design and construction and then provides a list of points against which specifications can be checked. This is followed by a set of drawn-to-scale detail sheets. These details can be traced for direct incorporation into the set of contract drawings. A list of relevant British Standards, references, bibliography and a list of associations and institutions indicate where further guidance can be obtained. As a ready reference for landscape designers and as an indispensable time-saving tool, Landscape Detailing is an essential for the design office.

Pure Deck-adence: A Guide to Beautiful Decks is a fantasy collection of real-life deck photos from all over the United States. From the humblest of condo balcony walkouts to the most elaborate sprawling wood structures, Pure Deck-adence explores the many possibilities of add-on outdoor home improvements. This pictorial essay explores America's fascination with outdoor living, from barbecue-centered constructions to the new immersion in hot tub culture. More than 240 full-color photographs provide a rich resource of ideas for those who dream of expanding their homes, and their horizons, with wood decks.

Drawing inspiration from forest gardening and permaculture traditions, the award-winning garden designer Mary Reynolds encourages us to create a bond with the land to restore its health and feel its energy. She demonstrates how to create a magical garden that is an expanding, living, interconnected ecosystem. The Garden Awakening is thus a garden design book with a difference, where Mary encourages us to look at the land the way a parent looks at a child - as a gift and a responsibility. Mary shows how using an integrated living system in the garden removes the need for the incessant war on nature. She explains how to design a balanced ecosystem in the garden using the ancient multi-tiered approach of forest gardening, a system based on observing and mimicking nature. This design approach allows ecosystems to be whole and in balance while providing a place for human beings to live happy and productive lives. This beautifully illustrated book is both art and inspiration for any garden lover seeking to create a positive and natural space. It combines practical step-by-step instructions with spiritual, ancient Celtic stories to help you awaken any garden space, nurturing it to benefit both the land and the people in it. To transform a garden into a beautiful, wild area that embraces the spiritual side of nature, Mary suggests elements that should guide our design. She describes these elements in a winning manner and in detail, explaining the importance of communicating with the land and working with it, rather than bending it to the gardener's will. Her advice is to introduce patterns, shapes and symbols of nature like circles and spirals and selecting areas for rest and meditation as part of the design. After restoring its wellness and forming an alliance with the land and listening to its needs, she suggests first planting a shelterbelt (hedgerows, trees and tall shrubs) to protect from exposure. Then Mary shows how to bring the plan to life by planting the seven layers of a forest garden: Upper Canopy Trees Sub-canopy trees Shrubs Herbaceous plants Ground cover Underground plants Climbers and vines The Garden Awakening includes detailed lists of plants for the different forest garden layers, with information on preferred soil type, height, spread, fruiting time, and much more. There are tips on pest and slug control and natural remedies for the treatment of leaf blight, scab, mosaic disease and other garden problems. Mary's activism and support for a gentler approach to gardening is the subject of the movie 'Dare to be Wild', It is a romantic story of the local girl made good and plots the acceptance of her wild gardening principles by the garden design establishment. The Garden Awakening leaves us in no doubt that we need to nurture and protect our soil by allowing it to be a bit wild. It gives us the knowledge to do just that.

Japanese Style Companion Planting brings the techniques of a master farmer in Japan to home gardeners all over the world, with over 175 easy-to-follow color illustrations and detailed texts. Japanese gardeners typically work with small plots and are experts at making the most efficient use of available garden space. They have long understood that when compatible vegetables and fruits are grown together, the result is increased yields, healthier plants, fewer pest problems and better taste. Vegetables from small gardens are the mainstay of Japan's famously healthy cuisine and movement towards farm-to-table dining tradition. Author Toshio Kijima is head of the Biotechnology Department at Tochigi Agricultural Station in Japan and principal of the Nogyo Daigakko School of Natural Farming. In this book, he provides 88 different plant pairings, including common favorites such as: Tomato with basil Eggplant with green beans Carrots with edamame Iceberg lettuce with broccoli Strawberries with garlic Green beans with arugula Blueberry bushes with mint ...and dozens of other pairings that yield tasty, nutritious vegetables and fruits, all grown without the need for pesticides or chemical fertilizers. This book also covers excellent combinations for relay planting, such as watermelon followed by spinach, spinach followed by broccoli, broccoli followed by potato, and many more. Clear and precise instructions are given for each combination--from planning and preparing your plot to planting depths and spacing--all accompanied by detailed color drawings and photographs. Information on the theory and basics of companion planting will ensure a smooth transition to sustainable gardening techniques that millions of home gardeners are using!

The perfect companion to Merrell's bestselling Dream Homes and More Dream Homes, Dream Gardens is a stylish sourcebook of 100 modern and contemporary gardens from around the world. Now available in paperback for the first time, this critically acclaimed volume presents an array of wonderful locations and garden-design ideas, from small, sophisticated, minimalist city gardens to large, richly planted gardens in breathtaking rural locations. Each garden is beautifully photographed to show all its key features and essential details, while concise descriptions explore the aims and achievements of some of today's most influential garden designers. With full captions identifying the plants depicted, Dream Gardens is a valuable source of information and inspiration.

In 'The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden', Roy Diblik shares his unique approach to growing perennials so that readers can reap the benefits of a beautiful garden with minimal maintenance. He lays out fifty self-sustaining perennial communities on a grid, which can be implemented in a variety of sites and different scales. Each segment only requires up to 25 minutes of maintenance every 2 weeks. The 'Know-Maintenance' approach develops gardeners' knowledge of how their plants will interact and gives them a greater understanding of their site and soil. This will allow them to create a spectacular planting display using the huge range of colours and forms offered by perennials.

Plant, soil, moss, twine--that's all you need to create the exciting form of bonsai known as koke (moss) dama (ball). Moss Ball Bonsai provides all the information you need to make these self-contained gardens, using different types of plants--from flowering trees and ferns to grasses and cacti. A sampling of 100 different kokedama shows how even the most common of house plants can shine in this appealing no-pot environment, while a section on mosses acquaints you with the many tones and textures of this versatile plant family. With this bonsai guide, you will learn how to: Create and maintain a healthy home for your miniature garden's root system Use inexpensive house plants and cuttings as the basis of your kokedama Make beautiful (and quirky) group plantings within a single project Find, collect and propagate moss And more! Whether resting on a pottery dish or suspended in the air, these little indoor gardens are a wonderful way to add a touch of artistry and greenery to your home or work space.

Proven Winners is America's #1 plant brand. They search the world to bring gardeners the healthiest and most beautiful annuals, perennials, and shrubs. And now they bring their expert plant knowledge and creative design ideas to their first book, The Proven WinnersGarden Book. This definitive guide starts with lessons on how to prepare a space, tips on choosing the right design, and a primer on buying the right plants. Twelve garden plans are included that provide home owners with simple design ideas for a welcoming entryway, a garden that attracts birds and butterflies, a fragrant flower garden, and more. There are an additional 25 container recipes that add colour and curb appeal to gardens of all sizes. The Proven Winners Garden Book is an essential resource for anyone new to gardening and everyone looking for trusted advice.

'The most romantic, creative person in garden design I know.' Piet Oudolf 'Jinny's genius is to marry a beautiful vision to an extraordinary empathy with the landscape into which that vision will fit, resulting in a pastoral harmony second to none' Victoria, Lady Getty Prolific designer Jinny Blom embraces a wide variety of styles, from large garden spaces to formal walled gardensand contemporary installations. What defines her work is her skill with plants and her ability to create a garden that responds to the history of the site and the wider landscape. The gardens Jinny creates are as different as their owners and their locations. In this book, Jinny shares her insight into the creative process she has developed while designing more than 250 gardens around the world. The Thoughtful Gardener contains modern takes on traditional forms, and is split into six sections: seeing, understanding, structuring, harmonising, rooting, and liberating. All of Jinny's gardens share a commitment to beautiful craftsmanship and considered planting. Structure and detail are important, and receive close attention. The styles vary considerably - logical, calm, beautiful, romantic, naturalistic, formal, sometimes spare - but the principles remain firm. Jinny designs for the long term, with consideration for the environment; these gardens are built to last. Reflecting Jinny's highly individual character, there is plenty of wit and quirkiness alongside the expert knowledge, and it will appeal to the widest audience of garden lovers. Thoughtful and beautiful, yet practical and informative, this book marries artistry with functionality.

Naturalistic planting design offers an exciting alternative to traditional garden making. Rich in plants, sustainable and good for the environment, naturalistic gardens are also beautiful, uplifting places that resonate with the energy of the natural world - but they can be challenging to get right. In this seminal book, leading exponent of the technique Nigel Dunnett shares his peerless ecological and horticultural wisdom and fascinating working methods to ensure success with every project. By following a simple set of rules and principles in a unique 'Planting Design Toolkit' discover how to read the landscape and create 'designed plant communities' that are layered to sustain interest throughout the year. Learn how to design planting that captures the spirit of nature, fosters immersive, emotionally engaging experiences and reduces the need for maintenance. The information is in-depth, practical and generously supported by a wealth of case studies, illustrations, plans and diagrams. This is the essential go-to guide for anyone wishing to join the adventure and plant the naturalistic way.

A beautifully designed, full-color personal account of what it means to become a gardener, filled with specially commissioned color photography, watercolors, and fine art. To make her new house in Connecticut truly feel like home, Catie Marron decided to create a garden. But while she was familiar with landscape design, she had never grown anything. A dedicated reader with a lifelong passion for literature, Marron turned to the library of gardening books she'd collected to glean advice from a variety of writers on gardening and horticultural topics both grand and small. Marron's quest to become a gardener, however, was about more than learning the basics about mulch or which plants work best in the shade. She sought something far more elusive: to identify the core qualities and characteristics that make a person a gardener and an understanding of what a garden could mean to her as it had to multitudes of other gardeners over the centuries. In Becoming a Gardener, Catie Marron chronicles her transformation into a gardener over the course of eighteen months, seeding the details of her experience with rich advice from writers as diverse as Eleanor Perenyi and Karel Capek, Penelope Lively, and Jamaica Kincaid. As she digs deeper into her readings and works in the garden itself, Marron not only discovers the essence of gardening but in the words of Michael Pollan, "the endlessly engrossing ways that cultivating a garden attaches a body to the earth." A delightful blend of informed opinion, personal reflection, and practical advice, Becoming a Gardener explores topics as varied as the composition of dirt, the agricultural wisdom of avid kitchen gardeners George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the healing power of digging in the soil, and the beauty of finding solitude in nature. Throughout, Marron carefully plants special illustrated features, such as musings on the merits (and detriments) of the rose, essential tools, moonlight gardening, children's books which feature gardens, and her favorite gardens around the world. Also included is an annotated list of recommended writers, books, and films related to gardens and gardening, and a monthly to-do calendar. Featuring specially commissioned illustrations by the Danish team All the Way to Paris, and stunning photographs by acclaimed photographer William Abranowicz that capture the pastoral beauty of Marron's Connecticut garden, Becoming a Gardener is a very special and moving portrait of life and the enduring power of literature and nature that is sure to become an instant classic.

For everyone from beginners to masters, the one essential book to growing, grooming, and caring for your bonsai tree.
Bonsai is the ancient craft of carefully regulating the growth and shape of trees in order to produce miniature versions of mature trees. Dating back over one thousand years to ancient Japan, bonsai trees are some of the most beautiful and meticulously looked-after plants in the world, and in recent years bonsai have exploded in popularity in the Western world.
"Bonsai," written by world-renowned bonsai expert Peter Chan, is the essential compendium for anyone interested in trying out bonsai for the first time or adding more bonsai to their existing collections, detailing everything you need to know about buying and maintaining a magnificent bonsai tree, including:
- How to pick the right bonsai for you
- Tools and supplies to ensure your bonsai prospers
- How to shape your bonsai into different styles
- How different pots affect the growth of your bonsai
- And much more
With hundreds of color photographs and easy-to-read directions and explanations on a variety of subjects, "Bonsai" is the only book you'll ever need to successfully start and maintain your own beautiful bonsai tree collection.

Plants in Design emerged from Brad E. Davis's and David Nichols's love for plants and well-designed landscapes and a previous frustration with landscape design guidebooks. While most landscape and garden design resources focus either on design principles or on plant materials, the unique strategy of Plants in Design provides a palette of options organized by mature size and scale, covering many genres of plants from grasses to herbaceous perennials, woody shrubs and trees, and even annuals and interior plants-all of which are necessary for consideration when composing a well-designed landscape. Plants in Design combines two fundamental components of landscape and garden design: (1) principles and uses of plant material (e.g., color, line, texture), and (2) resource information for analyzing and selecting a broad range of plant materials, from annuals and ground covers to shrubs and trees, for southern landscapes (USDA hardiness zones 6 to 9). Introductory chapters discuss plants and their uses in creating outdoor landscapes in settings ranging from small-scale applications (e.g., courtyards, walkways) to medium- and large-scale projects (e.g., streetscapes, parks). Richly illustrated with approximately 1,750 color photographs, Plants in Design depicts plant shape, form, characteristics, and landscape use, both to aid identification and to envision how individual plants might appear in a composition. The authors promote the use of native species to benefit native wildlife and point out the dangers of many nonnative plants widely used in the past and now threatening natural ecosystems. Featuring five hundred southern landscape plants organized into fifteen categories, ranging from large trees to ferns and flowering annuals, plant accounts include scientific and common names, hardiness zones, flowers and fruit, growing conditions, and pests and diseases. The guide also includes drawings, a hardiness zone map, glossary, bibliography, index, and design-use tables for quick reference.

'Designer Matt Keightley's first book is a thing of beauty and a valuable source of design inspiration - a stylish guide to a stylish garden.' - Gardens Illustrated Do you want your outdoor space to look as stylish and as well designed as your home? RHS Design Outdoors will give you the ideas and know-how you need to make that happen. Award-winning designer Matt Keightley has curated a collection of 35 gardens, created either by him or by other leading contemporary designers, that will provide the inspiration to transform your outdoor space. Gardeners features include award-winning designers Jo Thompson, Tom Stuart Smith, Tony Woods, Charlotte Rowe and Andrew Wilson. For each case study there is a detailed plan, information on the plants and materials used and a wealth of gorgeous photography by leading garden photographer Marianne Majerus. The designs are organized into five categories: Showstoppers at Home - high-design concepts that are nonetheless achievable; Family-friendly - gardens that incorporate play areas and socialising; Minimalist - spaces with larger areas of hard landscaping and bold, restrained planting; Plants First - gardens where more than half of the outdoor space is planted; and Other Spaces - roof terraces, basement areas and front gardens. This wide array of garden styles means that there is inspiration for all types of garden, and for all types of gardener.

Go beneath the soil with this hand-drawn guide! This book is sure to become your go-to reference for all things bonsai. Beautifully illustrated with details and views a camera simply can't show, Introduction to Bonsai offers a unique and insightful look at these mini ecosystems. This complete guide contains all the information you need to create and maintain your own bonsai: Handy monthly bonsai maintenance schedules detail proper watering, pruning, wiring, transplanting and other upkeep activities throughout the year Leaves, fruits, flowers, and processes are presented up-close to help make growing and upkeep as successful and simple as possible Diagrams show where, how much, and in what direction pruning, wiring, watering and other maintenance should be performed Clear, detailed illustrations of every part of the bonsai ensure that you'll see everything you need to see, exactly as you need to see it--making this a great resource for collectors and enthusiasts at all levels Learn the specific ways to care for more than 40 types of popular bonsai trees, including: Flowering Bonsai--cherry blossom, dogwood, azalea and lilac Fruiting Bonsai--crab apple, persimmon, Chinese quince and burning bush Coniferous and Deciduous Bonsai--maple, Japanese beech, black pine and salt cedar Prepared by the editors of Japan's popular Bonsai Sekai (Bonsai World) magazine,this handbook is designed to make care and maintenance easy for bonsai beginners--from seeds to root systems and from basic watering to your first transplant.