By a mile, this is the most brilliant and most influential essay ever written on English garden history. For two centuries it mapped the whole landscape of the subject. However, the author was partial in the highest degree. Horace Walpole believed in progress, in modernization, and the superiority of everything English to almost everything that had gone before. He had a special dislike of Baroque gardens, as exemplified by Versailles, which for him symbolized absolutism, tyranny, and the oppression of nature.

The author traveled throughout North America, Europe, Great Britain, and Australia to learn how growers harvest the best bud in the world. Instructions and examples from actual growers, combined with basic cultivation techniques, makes this a valuable grow guide.

Gardens are immobile, literally rooted in the earth, but they are also shaped by migration and by the transnational movement of ideas, practices, plants, and seeds. In "Paradise Transplanted," Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo reveals how successive conquests and diverse migrations have made Southern California gardens, and in turn how gardens influence social inequality, work, leisure, status, and our experiences of nature and community. Drawing on historical archival research, ethnography, and over one hundred interviews with a wide range of people including suburban homeowners, paid Mexican immigrant gardeners, professionals at the most elite botanical garden in the West, and immigrant community gardeners in the poorest neighborhoods of inner-city Los Angeles, this book offers insights into the ways that diverse global migrations and garden landscapes shape our social world.

Cancer is a leading cause of death among adults. Research has shown that the chances of developing cancer can be reduced by lifestyle changes. Increasing numbers of people are turning to the use of dietary vegetables, medicinal herbs, and plant extracts to prevent or treat cancer. Their ready availability as over the counter supplements has contributed to an explosion in the use of herbal extracts and related compounds for health enhancement. The spectacular growth of the multi-billion dollar functional food and nutraceutical business, touting health claims sometimes based upon limited research data, underscores the need for this up-to-date reference. This book brings together a leading group of experts on the different aspects of nutrient supplementation, foods, and plant extracts in cancer prevention and treatment. Their conclusions and recommendations present the most current knowledge from which to springboard future research and create a scientific database for accurate health claims.

At the turn of the 20th century, gardening was changing. Where formerly the plant had been the servant of the gardener, now the gardener was the servant of the plant. At the same time, gardening was turning from the pastime of dukes, to the recreation of millions. This new kind of gardening needed evangelists, but got more than it bargained for in the impossibly egotistical Reginald Farrer, whose passion for the most difficult of all plants, alpines, would nevertheless inspire generations of gardeners with a love of flowers with their own intrinsic beauty. "Half-poet, half-botanist", as Vita Sackville West described him, he became one of the very greatest in the last great age of plant-hunters, and wrote books of unforgettable method and style. Through their influence, he did for English gardening what half a century later Elizabeth David would do for cooking, and changed everything for ever. This life of Reginald Farrer offers a window on the opulence and the drama of the world of Edwardian horticulture.

Would you like to learn to braid a plant support arrow, cast a flower vase in concrete, or set your own pedestal in stone? "Rustic Garden Projects" is filled with attractive ideas for making your garden homey, decorative, and unique this gardening season. From the simple to the sophisticated, quick to time-consuming, follow these step-by-step instructions to build elegant, functional items for your garden and patio.
Discover such delightful do-it-yourself garden projects such as:
A swing for two
A small stone staircase
A lion head fountain
A decorative birdbath
Garden party vases
A Japanese-style trellis
Concrete votive holders
And so much more to craft, build, and enjoy
Packed with detailed materials and hundreds of photographs and instructional illustrations, "Rustic Garden Projects" is the ultimate guide to get you started decorating your garden, your backyard, or even your city stoop. Plus, each project includes practical shopping lists, tips on which tools to use, and the plants and flowers that will pair best with your new creation. Don't spend tons of money and long drawn-out hours with landscaping companies--the answers you need are right here

A testament to the influential nature of educational and community gardening programs for teens Part engaging conversation, part comprehensive fieldwork, Growing a Life demonstrates just how influential educational and community gardening programs can be for young teens. Follow author Illene Pevec as she travels from rural Colorado to inner city New York, agrarian New Mexico to Oakland, California, in order to study youth gardening and the benefits it contributes to at-risk teen lives. Extensive research, supplemented by beautifully candid interviews with students, illustrate the life altering physical and mental benefits that mentored gardening programs can provide. Giving readers the opportunity to examine the largely unexplored topic of urban gardening, the programs discussed present models for future educational and community based gardens. Each destination brings with it an abundance of programs geared toward educating teens by giving them the tools they will need in order to have fruitful futures. With an emphasis on positive psychology, Growing a Life delves into the minds of underprivileged teens and what gardening means to them.

There aren t many books more beloved than The Tale of Peter Rabbit and even fewer authors as iconic as Beatrix Potter. More than 150 million copies of her books have sold worldwide and interest in her work and life remains high. And her characters Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck, and all the rest exist in a charmed world filled with flowers and gardens. Beatrix Potter s Gardening Life is the first book to explore the origins of Beatrix Potter s love of gardening and plants and show how this passion came to be reflected in her work. The book begins with a gardener s biography, highlighting the key moments and places throughout her life that helped define her, including her home Hill Top Farm in England's Lake District. Next, the reader follows Beatrix Potter through a year in her garden, with a season-by-season overview of what is blooming that truly brings her gardens alive. The book culminates in a traveler s guide, with information on how and where to visit Potter s gardens today. Richly illustrated and filled with quotations from her books, letters, and journals, it is essential reading for all who know and cherish Beatrix Potter s classic tales."

Step-by-step instructions lead readers through the process of creating their own rockwool hydroponic garden. Included are tips from professional growers for making plants grow faster and more lushly in rockwool.

The biggest mistake gardeners make each season is starting out too big and then quickly realizing their large plot requires too much weeding, watering, and backbreaking labor. Vertical gardening guarantees a better outcome from the day the trowel hits the soil-by shrinking the amount of "floor" space needed and focusing on climbing plants that are less prone to insects, diseases, and animal pests. Notable author and gardener Breth Markham has tried and tested thousands of varieties of vegetables, flowers, and fruits and recommends the best plants for space-saving vertical gardening. His grow-up, grow-down system also shows which ground-level plants make good companions underneath and alongside climbing plants. Best of all, many of greatest climbers and mutually beneficial plants are available in seed packets in every local garden center. With a mix of DIY and commercially available string supports, trellises, pergolas, raised beds, skyscraper gardens, and topsy-turvy planters, the vertical garden system reduces work, increases yields, makes harvesting easier, and can be practiced in spaces as small as a container or a one-by-four-foot strip. Vertical Gardening features WITH color photos of vertical methods and showcases beautiful, trouble free perennials, shrubs, vegetables, annuals, and fruit perfect for this new, rewarding way to garden.

First published in 1829, this monograph examines the history of gardening and contains reference sections on growing vegetables, fruit and flowers. This new version has been annotated by Peter King to make it accessible to modern readers.

With food costs on the rise, people are turning to their own backyards for affordable and delicious produce. Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida helps amateur gardeners get closer to their food and save money. It is also an invaluable guide for small farmers who wish to expand their operations in order to participate in farmers markets or CSAs. Experts Ginny Stibolt and Melissa Contreras provide simple and accessible advice for successful, pesticide-free vegetable gardening in Florida, where soil types vary and mild winters do not clear out all pests. They offer suggestions for opportunities beyond the home garden, advice on what to do with over-abundant harvests, and strategies for developing a community garden. Stibolt and Contreras also address pest management, appropriate bed types, irrigation, seed saving, proper harvesting, and food safety. Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida arranges plants by family to help growers design their crop rotation schemes and features some unconventional but robust Florida native plants that are suitable to grow alongside traditional vegetables, such as meadow garlic, tomatillos, Seminole pumpkin, spotted horsemint, jicama, and prickly pear.