Giant perennials are show-stoppers in the garden. There is something magical about the fact that starting from nothing in spring they rise to towering heights by midsummer only to disappear again for the winter. These are plants that make a statement and can be used to provide a backdrop to a herbaceous border or as specimens to draw the eye and amaze the visitor. From the astounding gunnera, 2.4m (8ft) with its leaves as big as the biggest golf umbrella, to the spectacular verbascum (giant mullein) as tall as a tree at 1.8-2.7m (6-9ft), or the socking great Eupatorium purpureum, with 2.1m (7ft) tall stems and cinnamon pink flowers. Quite simply these plants make us feel like Lilliputians. Covering a wide range of herbaceous perennials, including some biennials and bulbs, Giant Perennials provides at-a-glance information for everything you need to know about these amazing plants. In addition to design ideas and planting suggestions, Giant Perennials has an extensive directory of these majestic plants with easy-to-use symbols that show you size, spread, planting situation, cultivation needs and hardiness. Whether you have a large country garden or a small town plot, you can give you

This volume collects 50 stories of gardening invention, innovation and discovery. Among them is that of Thomas Hyl, who in 1577 devised the first water sprinkler; Nathaniel Ward who began a craze for indoor gardening in 1829 with his terrarium case; and Henry Telende, who in 1720 grew England's first pineapple. From the invention of the trellis, flower pots and the waterscrew in the ancient world; via secateurs, jute string and flame guns in the Victorian age; to the Gro-Bag and Flymo of modern times, the ingenious achievements make an inspiring international collection.

Lovers of Japanese meditation gardens, tea ceremonies, exquisite rice papers, and finely-bound collections of haiku will be charmed by the look and feel of handmade paper in the jacket and endpapers, and the tranquil Eastern sensibility of this beautiful volume in which each exquisite verse and original woodcut expresses a generous thought -- based on the elements of the garden -- for making life more hopeful, beautiful, and productive. Be the wind chime Turn storms into song Be the pebble Let time smooth you