Become a Skilled Doctor of Plant Care!

This easy-to-use reference fully explains more than 50 of the most common plant diseases -- where they occur, what they look like, what to do about them, and the long-term prognosis for the affected plants. Most important, gardening expert Barbara Pleasant recommends proven organic methods for controlling each disease.

The Gardener's Guide to Plant Diseases features:

-- Informal encyclopedia style, making information and answers very easy to find.

-- Illustrations that show the techniques for distinguishing between look-alike symptoms of different diseases.

-- Cross-referenced list of common vegetables and fruits and the diseases most apt to affect them.

-- Loads of facts on symptoms and tips for detecting diseases (including those diseases that are often too small to see).

-- Simple, inexpensive organic treatments to halt the spread of each disease and prevent its recurrence.

In this light-hearted book, poet and gardener James Fenton describes a hundred plants he would choose to grow from seed. 'It seemed a simple and interesting idea: what plants would you choose if starting a garden from scratch?' Includes chapters on flowers for colour, size, or exotic interest; herbs and meadow flowers; climbing vines and tropical species; the micro-meadow; raising plants from seed; and a wealth of personal tips and advice. As Fenton writes, 'the emphasis is on childish simplicity of approach, and economy of outlay.' Here is a happy, stylish, thought-provoking exercise in good principles, which exudes that rare thing: common-or-garden sense about gardens.

Whether you love growing, love creating, or just want to liven up your outdoor space, a container garden is just the answer. So many of us nowadays are crammed into our homes and a garden is a luxury that few can afford. But there is always room for a bit of greenery; whether it's herbs and spices to add fresh flavour to your food, or putting a jungle on your windowsill, a container can enable growers to bring nature to the most inhospitable and smallest spaces. Frances Tophill covers the sustainable, crafty and culinary aspects of container gardening. From urns and troughs to chimney stacks and hanging baskets alongside what to grow inside them - bonsai to annuals, bulbs, grasses and bamboos, tumbling and creeping plants and flowers - there are also 40 ideas on how to pair plants and pots, including upcycling existing items and creating your own containers.

Through this collection of delightful essays and beautiful illustrations, long-time contributor to Country Living Gardner Sharon Lovejoy shares the boundless joys of a country garden. Lovejoy has chosen to focus on the natural world to be found just outside the door, including hummingbirds, caterpillars, and dragonflies, but her informative and witty prose also covers traditional plant care. The very titles of her sketches convey pleasure in the vibrant country landscape and the life that teems within it: "The Bumble Bee Rumba," "Faeries in the Fuschias (sphinx moths)," "Holiday Feasts for the Birds and the Beasts," and "Conversations with Sunflowers." This compilation truly is-to borrow another of her titles-"Something to Crow About."

Making the most of Indigenous Trees is undoubtedly the most significant, useful and practical book ever to be published on this subject in South Africa. This third and revised edition contains 22 more tree species. The 163 tree species are alphabetically arranged according to the botanical name, illustrated with more than 850 photographs in full colour and discussed in detail. The following information is provided: An introduction section on tree propagation by seed, cuttings and truncheons. A detailed species description, diagnostic features, natural distribution and habitat. The ecological role and utilisation by mammals, birds and insects. Economic value and use by people, including use in gardens and on the farm, as a source of food for humans and animals, fibre and medicine. Properties of the wood and its utilisation by people. Specific guidelines on propagation and cultivation of each species. A map indicating the distribution of each species. More than 850 carefully selected colour photographs complement and illustrate the text. A table on the utilisation of indigenous trees by wildlife, references for further reading and an index to the common and botanical names are included. This valuable guide to indigenous trees should be within reach of every gardener, farmer, naturalist, nurseryman, forester and conservationist - in fact, anyone with a love and appreciation of trees.

'To see a meadow in bloom is a great delight - it's alive and teeming with life, mysterious, dynamic . . .' So Christopher Lloyd began his much-admired instructive and celebratory account of meadows, first published in 2004. Few people knew more about meadow gardening than Lloyd, who spent much of his long life developing the flowering tapestries in his garden at Great Dixter, creating scenes of great beauty and a place of pilgrimage for lovers of wildflowers and wildlife. In Meadows he imparted that lifetime's learning, exploring the development and management of meadow areas, explaining how to establish a meadow in a garden setting, describing the hundreds of beautiful grasses, bulbs and perennials and annuals that thrive in different meadow conditions and detailing how to grow them. Lloyd's classic text remains at the heart of this new book, which also includes - as well as much stunning new photography - an extensive introduction by Fergus Garrett, Lloyd's head gardener.

Aimed at a new generation of indoor gardening enthusiasts, this book is a perfect guide for anyone keen to see their plant offspring thrive. Plants have found popularity in the small home, and are being proclaimed the new stars of Instagram. This attractive little book is ideal for the novice "plant parent," providing tips on how to choose plants, and above all how to care for them and keep them thriving. Indoor-plant experts and Instagrammers Erin Harding and Morgan Doane bring the subject to life alongside their beautiful photographs of happy plants in the home.

It is one thing to produce tomatoes or pumpkins - or any other fruit or vegetable for the table - as they come into season, but it becomes another when you realise that most crops in the garden arrive in gluts with no more to be had for another year unless you do something about it. This book shows you how to make the best use of your highly nutritious, home-grown produce. Bob begins in the garden, showing you how to achieve a more continuous crop as well as how to extend your harvest. He then steps into the kitchen to demonstrate the best way to preserve and cook your crop by bottling, drying, jamming and smoking it. He uses his intimate and comprehensive knowledge of each crop to advise you on how best to treat it and store it. Try making fruit leathers, which are great for kids; freeze your own apple juice so you can have it every day of the year; experiment with making liqueurs and wines; preserve nuts in chocolate, and many, many more ingenious ideas.

From field to forest and stream to sky, capture the harmony and beauty of the natural world with just some paper, flowers, leaves, and twigs. Creating stunning yet fleeting works of art, artist Vicki Rawlins of Sister Golden defies the notion that art should be permanent. Using only the natural world and its gifts as her medium, Vicki forages for her materials and arranges them into stunning works of art. Equipped with just scissors and tweezers, and using gravity as her glue, Vicki creates magical scenes and detailed portraits out of twigs, leaves, and flowers. After documenting her finished piece with a photo, she gifts her materials back to Mother Nature, or repurposes them in her next creation. The process is therapeutic, and the possibilities are endless! A charming exploration of imagination and possibility, The Power of Flowers offers a window into the creative process behind these natural artworks and abundant inspiration with a striking kaleidoscope of art pieces, including: Famous faces, like Frida Kahlo, John Lennon, Einstein, Diana Ross, and more Whimsical scenes featuring blooming gardens, moonlit forests, seaside cottages, and woodland animals. Seasonal pieces inspired by the magic of the holidays Contemplative art reflecting love, inner strength, and positive energy. With her uniquely imaginative artistic vision, Vicki takes you deeper into her world by sharing her process, her sustainable approach to art, and anecdotes about what inspired her to create. Let yourself get lost in The Power of Flowers.

Ground covers are widely thought of as utilitarian - we turn to them when we have a problem that needs a solution. How fast will it fill an area? Can we put it into the tight spaces between pavers? How much foot traffic can it withstand? Yet these plants also offer a diverse range of beautiful and intriguing options with a variety of colours, textures, and forms. They can unify a landscape, knit together plantings and hardscape, and add extra layers of beauty, dynamism, and surprise. As a replacement for lawns, they can reduce our use of water, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, carbon-based fuels, and transform a yard into a diverse landscape of habitat and food for native insects, birds, and other wildlife. In this meticulously researched reference, nurseryman Gary Lewis profiles more than 4000 ground covers that can perform these roles with aplomb. No matter what kinds of conditions you're facing - shade, dry soil, heavy clay, excess moisture - there's a ground cover that will thrive and beautify your garden. Comprehensive, practical, and copiously illustrated, this indispensable volume belongs on the shelf of every designer, landscape architect, and serious gardener.

First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

HIGHGROVE: A GARDEN CELEBRATED is a commemoration of the beautiful, mature gardens planned and planted by The Prince of Wales over thirty years ago. The gardens at Highgrove evoke intense emotion. In January, the dramatic light and early snowdrops of the Stumpery are exquisite; the glistening emerald lawns and tree blossoms in Spring lift the spirits with a promise of what is to come; in Summer, the longed-for delphiniums in the Sundial Garden stand proudly to attention and dramatic leaf colours welcome Autumn to the Arboretum as the harvesting in the Kitchen Garden begins. In Winter the structural elements of the garden have their moment of glory as the year comes to a close and the cycle of the seasons continues. Lavishly illustrated with photographs that capture both the light and detail of this magisterial space, this beautiful book will delight and inspire gardeners of every level. It is an exquisite celebration of garden design, passion and inspiration.

This book provides a detailed historical and design analysis of the development of parks and modern landscape architecture in late 20th century China. It questions whether the fusion of international influences with the local Chinese design vocabulary in late 20th century China has created a distinctive and novel approach to the design of public parks. Hybrid Modernity proposes a new theory for examining the design of public parks built in post-Mao China since the reforms and sets the various processes for China's late 20th century socio-cultural context. Drawing on modernization theory, research on China's modernity, local and global cultural trends, it illustrates through a range of case studies ways hybrid modernity defines a new design genre and language for the spatial forms of parks that emerged in China's secondary cities. Featured case studies include the Living Water Park in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Zhongshan Shipyard Park in Guangdong Province, Jinji Lake Landscape Master Plan in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and the West Lake Southern Scenic Area Master Plan in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. This book argues that these forms represent a new stage in China's history of landscape architecture. The work reveals that as a new profession, landscape architecture has greatly contributed to China's massive urban experiment. This book is an ideal read for students enrolled in landscape architecture, architecture, fine arts and urban planning programs who are engaged in learning the arts and international design education.

This beautifully illustrated giftable gardening reference book is a complete guide to the growing and use of medicinal plants, combining exquisite botanical illustrations with practical self-help projects. Every day sees a discovery in the press about the new uses of plants, and it's certain that most of our most important drugs are derived from plants. From willow (used to procure aspirin) to periwinkle (used in chemotherapy to treat lymphoma) many common garden plants have provided cures in modern medicine. In this book readers can discover more than 200 life-saving plants and 25 home-grown remedies to make themselves. Each plant is catalogued and the traditional and modern uses are detailed, alongside a beautiful botanical illustration. Each home cure is described and illustrated with step-by-step photographs to show how you can be a gardener and heal yourself. Recipes include: Dried lemon balm, Passionflower sleep tea, Plantain balm, Rosehip syrup, Rosemary infused oil, Elderberry vinegar, Chickweed cream, Comfrey ointment, Nettle soup, Dried valerian root. The Gardener's Companion to Medicinal Plants is part of the Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing series and is accompanied by Growing Herbs, Growing House Plants, Growing Vegetables, Growing Orchids and Growing Fruit.

Garden history is more than the study of individuals such as 'Capability Brown' who created estates for a wealthy elite. A new approach, which includes insights from geology and archaeology, the perspectives of social class and gender, the history of art and architecture, science, technology and literature, is changing our perspective so that we can see gardens and gardening within wider social, economic, political and cultural contexts. Landscapes were created, formed and interpreted by town dwellers, women and lesser-known gardeners and designers as well as the 'great men' of the past. Based on papers given at a conference at the University of Birmingham, and written by distinguished scholars who are also writing for a wide audience, these essays highlight the wealth of recent research into landscape and green spaces in the West Midlands. The book ranges from the Picturesque movement in Herefordshire to William Shenstone's unique ferme ornee at The Leasowes, near Halesowen and the aspirational gardens and allotments of the Quaker ironmasters at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. Other contributions celebrate women's entrepreneurial activity in the nursery trade, chart the uncovering and restoration of a hidden eighteenth-century landscape at Hagley in Worcestershire and explore the lost Vauxhall pleasure gardens in Birmingham, which were established as a commercial venture in the eighteenth century. An examination of Victorian public parks reveals how their aesthetics were shaped by architecture made from the products of manufacturing industry while a study of three modest suburban estates considers how local industrialists shaped the environment of south Birmingham. The relationships between health, medicine and green spaces are explored through an analysis of the role of 'therapeutic landscapes' in late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century Worcestershire. Enhanced with maps, plans and black-and-white and colour illustrations, this is a volume of important scholarship that places the West Midlands at the heart of landscape history.

Published originally by Kegan Paul in 1935, this vital work by the western master of Japanese flower arranging covers all aspects, schools and historic styles of this important art form. An indispensable book for all those many people worldwide who practice this art.

Take a visual tour of gardens and homes in one Pacific Coast area, the South Bay of Los Angeles County, which includes Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo Beach. A distinctive feature of Southern California's beach communities is how often homeowners enclose their front yards. Because of the dense development in the residential neighborhoods adjacent to the ocean, some property lines have been clearly defined by fences, garden walls, and ornaments. Here find compelling photographs that will inspire homeowners and gardeners who are looking to define their own outdoor spaces. Organized by the function of the fences and types of enclosures, this book also includes sidebars about the evolution and history of some unique property divisions and homeowner stories.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to ikebana and other forms of Japanese flower culture. Unlike other books on the subject which focus on practice, the book provides both an academic discussion of the subject and an introduction to practice. It examines ikebana and flower culture from anthropological and sociological perspectives, analyses Japanese aesthetics, customs and rituals related to flower arrangements, and outlines ikebana history and the Grand Master Iemoto system. It considers how the traditional arts are taught in Japan, and links traditional arts to current issues in today's society, such as gender and class. This book also covers how to prepare ikebana utensils, preserve flowers and branches, and how to appreciate arrangements, placing an emphasis on acknowledging our five senses throughout each stage of the process. The book will be of interest to a wide range of people interested in Japanese flower culture - university professors and students, tourists and people interested in traditional Japanese arts.