This handy pocket guide introduces local gardening enthusiasts to some of southern Africa’s most beautiful, beneficial and easy- to-care-for indigenous plants, giving guidance on how best to use them and how to ensure that they flourish.

It offers:

• A selection of 145 garden-friendly, low-maintenance trees, shrubs and bedding plants perfectly adapted to our local soils and weather conditions
• Text that’s direct and simple
• Full-colour photographs that show plant details and ‘in context’ planting
• Icons indicating at a glance whether a species is evergreen or deciduous, frost-hardy, suitable for a sunny or shaded position, fast or slow-growing, water wise, fragrant and attractive to insects or birds.

An essential handbook for easy-care beautiful gardening.

The author, Glenice Ebedes, is the owner of Grounded Landscaping. She is a graduate of Lifestyle College and an active member of the Guild of Landscape Designers. She specializes in indigenous, wildlife-friendly gardens and her gardens regularly feature in magazines.

Illustrated and offering original plans for several small gardens, as well as an extensive plant directory, this title will be an inspiration to all gardening enthusiasts offering a wealth of information, helpful hints and practical advice. Small gardens are no longer the exception but have become more the rule and there is a vast range of plants available to suit a small garden's every need. Hybridists and horticulturists have cultivated many smaller, compact varieties of classic favourites. The title tells you about these and how to create a beautiful garden in your small space.

This inspiring book offers expert information on how to create the perfect Japanese-style garden in any location, large or small. It presents the history of Japanese gardens and the principles underlying them. Sections on the five classic Japanese garden styles (pond gardens, dry gardens, tea gardens, stroll gardens and courtyard gardens) explain their key characteristics with practical tips on how to achieve them. Fifteen projects for creating complete Japanese gardens follows, with clear explanations, illustrations and gorgeous photography. A plant directory then details the various types of plants with advice on flowering habits and hardiness, while the final section outlines the maintenance of a Japanese garden including a calendar of care. Whether you want to develop a stroll garden in a natural space, or a small dry garden with minimal plants and rocks, this beautiful volume is an essential companion.

Written by commercial-scale grower Mel Thomas, "Cannabis Cultivation" divulges the expertise, tips, and insight he learned at the helm of one of the world's largest marijuana growing operations. Ideal for beginners and anyone interested in learning more about growing marijuana indoors, the book is free of technical jargon and boring theory, and its step-by-step directions enable anyone to grow and harvest the highest quality marijuana using simple techniques and inexpensive, everyday gardening tools. All of the important factors that influence growth rate, yield, and potency are covered, including lighting, planting mediums, pH, nutrients, water systems, air, and temperature. With extra focus on small gardens and security, this is the perfect book for the home grower and medical growers.

Eco-friendly gardening is fast catching on. Butterflies are visible signs of a healthy garden, and, with their whimsical flight patterns and glorious colours, they are among the most alluring of our aerial visitors. Gardening for butterflies shows how to attract these beautiful insects, giving step-by-step instructions for planning and planting a garden that will cater for the greatest number and diversity of butterflies. Using a Durban garden as a case study, it includes a recommended layout and plant lists for this area, as well as for other regions around the country. The book showcases 95 garden butterflies and moths, showing their full life cycle, including pupa, eggs and caterpillar. Stunning photography and point-form text ensure accurate identification of each stage in the cycle, and an interesting introduction discusses such topics as the extraordinary process of metamorphosis and the curious habits of these mercurial insects. Whether you’re tempted to undertake a full-scale transformation of your garden to attract butterflies, make smaller adjustments to it, or if you simply want to identify those insects already visiting your space, this book will amaze and enchant you.

Aquaponics is a revolutionary system for growing plants by fertilising them with the waste water from fish in a sustainable closed system. A combination of the best of aquaculture and hydroponics, aquaponic gardening is an amazingly productive way to grow organic vegetables, greens, herbs and fruits, while providing the added benefits of fresh fish as a safe, healthy source of protein. On a larger scale, it is a key solution to mitigating food insecurity, climate change, groundwater pollution and the impacts of overfishing on our oceans. This is the definitive do-it-yourself home manual, with an introduction by Charlie Price, head of Aquaponics UK. It focuses on giving you all the tools you need to create your own aquaponic system and enjoy healthy, safe, fresh and delicious food all year round. Starting with an overview of the theory, benefits and potential of aquaponics, this book goes on to explain: system location considerations and hardware components; the living elements - fish, plants, bacteria, and worms; and, putting it all together - starting and maintaining a healthy system. Aquaponics systems are completely organic. They are four to six times more productive and use 90 percent less water than conventional gardens. Other advantages include no weeds, fewer pests, and no watering, fertilising, bending, digging, or heavy lifting - in fact, there really is no down side! Anyone interested in taking the next step towards self-sufficiency will be fascinated by this practical, accessible and well-illustrated guide.

Laetitia Maklouf is a garden writer and busy mother of three who has realised that the secret of gardening without becoming overwhelmed is to do something small every day. She's packed this book with little bursts of activity - spruce, chop, nurture, fuss or tackle a larger project - that can all be managed in five-minute forays. Spruce the lawn by raking fallen leaves in October, or fuss with your snail defences in May. Nurture your hardy annual seedlings in December, and chop your hydrangeas in March. Every day, rain or shine, do something for your garden with whatever time you can spare. Before you know it, you will have a daily gardening habit and a beautiful garden you can enjoy all year round.

Creative gardening with indigenous plants, now in its second edition, is an invaluable handbook for South African gardeners. In this comprehensive guide the authors set out to popularise the use of indigenous South African plants in gardens, parks, on roadsides and anywhere where previously exotic plants were preferred. This book covers more than 300 plants, all illustrated by stunning photographs in full colour showing the whole plant as well as selected features such as flowers, fruit, leaves and bark. The text comprises a description of each plant, its usages - including medicinal uses and snippets of folklore - and advice on cultivation. Introductory chapters cover topics such as propagating plants from seeds and cuttings, gardening in the different climate regions, and using indigenous plants to attract birds and insects to the garden. Taking a very practical approach, using symbols, distribution maps, plant size and flower colour, the authors lead the reader to the correct plant to choose for the application, whether this be tree, shrub, annual, perennial, climber or water-loving plant. This all-inclusive book is a must for gardeners, horticulturists, landscape designers and anyone involved in the South African nursery industry.

Consumer interest in tea has grown rapidly in recent years and continues to climb. Worldwide there are 25,000 cups of tea consumed every second - more than billion cups per day! For tea drinkers interested in the freshest flavour, growing the leaves at home is the ideal solution. Lucky for them, tea is not an exotic, hard-to-grow crop - it can be successfully grown anywhere that camellias can be grown. In Grow Your Own Tea, readers will learn how to cultivate, harvest, and process this venerable crop. Parks and Wolcott share details on how to get started; describe cultivation, long-term maintenance, and harvesting; show how to grow tea plants in containers; and describe how to process and store harvested tea leaves. Grow Your Own Tea includes information on how to produce white, green, oolong, and black teas.

BBC presenter Jules Hudson (Countryfile, Escape to the Country) is passionate about walled gardens. In this book, he looks at walled gardens throughout England and Wales and explores their history, innovative design and cultural heritage. The walled garden was once an essential component of every country house, its shelter providing ideal conditions for growing food, flowers and medicine. This book from the National Trust looks at walled gardens throughout England and Wales and explores their history, innovative design and cultural heritage. Walled gardens are a feature of British gardening history. In the late 18th century, gardens became status symbols, with aristocrats vying to grow ever more exotic fruits - ushering in innovations such as glasshouses and even heated walls. With the First and Second World Wars many of these gardens fell into disrepair, but renovated ones feature at many key National Trust properties and remain a source of pride and fascination today.

Hydroponics is gardening without soil. It can be done indoors, without natural light and all year round. Fruit, vegetables and flowers are all grown hydroponically these days and an industry has grown up providing equipment to those wishing to grow hydroponically. It practically guarantees perfect results every time. Hydroponics for Everyone is the complete guide for anyone wishing to take up hydroponics gardening, and an ideal book for the most dedicated hydroponic gardener. Simple, accessible, enthusiastic and attractive, it has been the one book that hydroponic suppliers unanimously recommend.

The perfect book for the house plant gardener! Are your house plants forlorn and do they need more knowledgeable attention? With the expertise of Kew experts, discover which plants are delicate and which indestructible, whether these are cacti, succulents, air plants or those famous for their flowers, foliage, fragrance and even air freshening. Learn how to nurture your house plants and cultivate an oasis of calm using the advice and projects in this pretty guide to 70 of the best. Here you'll find plants for all tastes, all rooms, cold and warm temperatures, all light levels and every skill set. Find the right home for your plants and the right plants for your home. This beautifully illustrated guide mixes exquisite botanical prints with 12 step-by-step photographed projects that show how to create and display the trendiest and lushest arrangements today. Author Kay Maguire goes back to the basics of choosing, potting, feeding and care, then looks further at pruning and propagating in order to make more plants. The perfect book is for new and experienced stay-at-home gardeners wanting to improve their outlook, freshen their air and cultivate a little bit of calm.

Public Gardens and Livable Cities changes the paradigm for how we conceive of the role of urban public gardens. Donald A. Rakow, Meghan Z. Gough, and Sharon A. Lee advocate for public gardens as community outreach agents that can, and should, partner with local organizations to support positive local agendas. Safe neighborhoods, quality science education, access to fresh and healthy foods, substantial training opportunities, and environmental health are the key initiative areas the authors explore as they highlight model successes and instructive failures that can guide future practices. Public Gardens and Livable Cities uses a prescriptive approach to synthesize a range of public, private, and nonprofit initiatives from municipalities throughout the country. In doing so, the authors examine the initiatives from a practical perspective to identify how they were implemented, their sustainability, the obstacles they encountered, the impact of the initiatives on their populations, and how they dealt with the communities' underlying social problems. By emphasizing the knowledge and skills that public gardens can bring to partnerships seeking to improve the quality of life in cities, this book offers a deeper understanding of the urban public garden as a key resource for sustainable community development.

It is essential for anyone interested in the shaping of plants for inside and outside decoration. This book will be valued by professional and amateur gardeners for adding that extra bit of theatre which has now become such an important part in our extended inside/outside living. For the first time closely guarded secrets are revealed about the growing stages and maintenance of Longwood's exotic displays, from tiny animals to astonishing creations in chrysanthemums and even self-watering life-size elephants. It will amaze traditional topiary enthusiasts by showing them how classical, formal shapes can be achieved quickly and tastefully. It is a mine of information and inspiration. Years of practical development and research have gone into this book which is a refreshing new look at plant decoration. The snags, pitfalls and the disappointments are eliminated by the confident, step-by-step instructions and ideas of an expert who is the foremost authority in this colourful modem approach to excitin

How science and spirituality grow a greener garden together Functioning as a spiritual-development manual as well as a beginner's gardening guide, this informative reference teaches gardeners how to bring the angelic dimension of cocreation into their green thumb work by communicating directly with nature. A plentiful supply of earthy examples in the form of first-person narratives spell out the steps necessary to garden in conscious cooperation with joyful devas and nature spirits, such as allowing gardeners to consult with pests before waging chemical warfare and to seek approval from trees and shrubs before making drastic cuts. The fun, simple strategies showcased in the guide-including sections on fertilizer and compost, plus tips about specific vegetables, soils, and insects-do not require psychic abilities or meditation skills to bring forth the continual miracles that will maximize a garden's potential. Appendices include a who's-who of devas and nature spirits and a short review of the classic Findhorn Garden story.

Steven and Susan show how to create a range of useful structures and furnishings, both large and small, at relatively little expense by using mostly recycled materials. The first chapters show the kinds of materials used and their possible uses; the next demonstrate some basic making skills. The book then showcases a variety of projects, including structures like a garden shed/studio and a recycled deck, as well as smaller items of garden furniture, such as garden chairs and tables, as well as various forms of storage. Each project includes step-by- step construction techniques with illustrations.

A scythe is one of the most elegant and efficient hand tools available. It is ideal for harvesting many types of crops and is quieter and pleasanter to use than a strimmer. There is a graceful, rhythmic quality to scything that once mastered can provide the ultimate mind and body workout. In this book, Ian Miller teaches you how to scythe from scratch including assembly, perfecting the stroke, honing, peening, uses and aftercare. A scythe can be used for mowing the lawn, harvesting small grain, and cutting back wildflower meadows without disrupting wildlife. The hay and straw can be used in the garden for mulching and composting or for food and bedding for household pets while small grains can used for making bread and feeding poultry. The Scything Handbook will delight all gardeners, allotmenteers and smallholders who are tired of their noisy, heavy, fuel-dependent machines and looking for better ways to take care of themselves and their land.

Here is a bright new take on foodscaping your garden. Brie Arthur's Gardening with Grains is a passion project that grew from a light-bulb moment. That is when she realized we've been missing a dynamic piece of the burgeoning foodscape movement.We've learned the joys of interplanting our blooming flowerbeds with veggies, herbs and berries, but what about the grains, those ancient and beautiful grasses that practically gave us civilization? Why couldn't we grow wheat, barley and oats for winter; corn, rice and sorghum for the warm season? Gardening with Grains is a pioneering book, a companion to Arthur's The Foodscape Revolution. Richly illustrated, it combines history, environmental benefits and personal stories with simple how-to's for planning, growing and harvesting those six important grains...plus 12 chef-tested recipes for inspiration. This is a design book, too, with planting patterns and suggestions, no matter how much or how little garden space you have. These grains are ornamental grasses, and they show off beautifully in any setting. The grouped plantings reveal the grains' varied colors and textures, interplanted with flowers like poppies, larkspur, snapdragons, nigella, zinnias, sunflowers and marigolds. Not only flowers, but salad greens and other decorative veggies play well with grains. Gardening with Grains is foodscaping for fun, beauty and bragging rights. . . and maybe even some homemade beer and bread.(Genus illustrations and garden plans by landscape architect and botanical artist Preston Montague.)

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.

The bible for water-wise gardeners, this comprehensive plant reference offers full-color photographs, illustrations, and information on more than 100 low-water-use plants.