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Books > Health, Home & Family > Gardening > Specialized gardening methods > Landscape gardening
Patrick Watson is currently South Africa’s most innovative and versatile landscape architect. Known for designing extensive mega-sites, such as Sun City and an entire Indian Ocean Island, he is also the creator of exquisite small gardens in private homes and quiet spaces for reflection, such as the Apartheid Museum and the Garden of Hope at St George’s Anglican Church in Parktown, Johannesburg.
In all he does, he combines artistic intuition with extensive botanical knowledge and a deep concern for the conservation and restoration of nature. His projects are creative, fresh with inspiration, and often bold, and he uses plants, colours, landforms and space to create visual and emotional experiences.
Covering 23 gardens and landscapes, and richly supported by sensitive photography and some specially commissioned artworks, the book is a beautiful record of a remarkable local talent, a visionary whose art is informed by nature. It recognises and celebrates the combination of knowledge, skill and instinct that make up the man, and the radical influence he has had on his profession.
The definitive guide to hundreds of Britain's most outstanding
gardens, in the care of the National Trust The National Trust has
the finest collection of gardens in the United Kingdom. In this
book, Stephen Lacey paints a vivid picture of the individual
gardens, and places each one in its context within British
horticultural history. All the major periods and styles of garden
design are represented, from the formality of early gardens such as
Hanbury Hall and Ham House, magnificent 18th-century landscapes
like Stowe and Croome Park and the heady Victorian creations of
Biddulph Grange and Waddesdon Manor to the famous plantsmen's
gardens of the last century, such as Nymans, Hidcote Manor and
Sissinghurst Castle. The text and pictures have been fully updated,
with new entries including Allan Bank, High Close Arboretum and
Wentworth Castle. Several gardens have undergone major
redevelopment since the previous edition, while others have
colourfully expanded the acreage open to visitors. Extensive tree
planting, including reinstating a lost eighteenth-century avenue at
Dyrham Park and recreating the pear tree arch at Rudyard Kipling's
home, Bateman's, are just a few of the new and exciting additions
to this classic guide to Britain's most outstanding gardens.
Interest in the environment has never been greater and yet most of
us have little knowledge of the 4 billion years of history that
formed it. This book explains the principles of geology, geography
and geomorphology, and shows how a basic understanding of
geological timescales, plate tectonics and landforms can help you
'read' the great outdoors. This is a highly illustrated book with a
very accessible text that beautifully illuminates the landscape
around us.
Increased awareness of the environment and an ever-present interest
in curb appeal means that homeowners are eager for more
sustainable, natural landscaping. And why shouldn't they be? In
addition to supporting local flora and fauna, ditching grass for
lush, native plants helps lower water bills and results in
self-sustaining gardens long-term. In John Gidding's At Home with
Nature, homeowners will find thorough blueprints to reap these
benefits and bring their dream garden to life. Complete with
specific information for every US bioregion, a glossary of native
plants, illustrated yard renderings and photos and detailed
explanations of suburban codes, this book has examples and
techniques to build responsible natural spaces. And as an HGTV star
with over a decade of design experience, Gidding is the landscaping
expert readers need to get the job done. At Home with Nature is the
ultimate resource for creating beautiful and beneficial home
gardens.
This book is two things: the product of my lifelong work
conceiving, developing, and growing the E-Myth way into a business
model that has been applied to every imaginable kind of company in
the world, as well as a product of Tony's extraordinary experience
and success in applying the E-Myth to the development of his
equally extraordinary enterprise, Super Lawn Technologies, Inc.
Ben Raskin's wide-ranging work in varied locations makes The
Woodchip Handbook a really useful overview of the possibilities
afforded by woodchip. Charles Dowding, author of Charles Dowding's
No Dig Gardening The first and only complete guide to sourcing and
using woodchip - an abundant, inexpensive and ecologically
sustainable material - for savvy growers and landscapers at any
scale, from farm to garden to greenhouse. The Woodchip Handbook is
the essential guide to the many uses of woodchip both in
regenerative agriculture and horticulture. Author Ben Raskin, Head
of Horticulture and Agroforestry at the Soil Association, draws on
his extensive practical experience using woodchip, provides the
latest research from around the world and presents inspiring case
studies from innovative farmers. The book explores and unlocks the
tremendous potential of woodchip to enhance soil health and plant
growth: As a natural mulch for weed suppression, temperature
buffering and water conservation As a growing medium for
propagating plants As a decomposing source of warmth for hotbeds in
the greenhouse or hoop house As a carbon-rich compost ingredient
that supports beneficial fungi and microorganisms As a powerful
soil health booster when applied as small-sized ramial chipped wood
As an ideal substrate for growing many kinds of edible or medicinal
mushrooms As a sustainable, versatile and durable material for foot
paths and ornamental landscaping Some of these techniques, like
mulching - or the renewable harvest potential from coppicing and
pollarding trees - have been around forever. Yet there is always
new science to be discovered, such as the role that salicylic acid
from willow woodchip can play in preventing tree diseases or
promoting livestock health when used as a bedding material. Whether
you are a commercial grower or farmer, a permaculture practitioner
or a serious home gardener producing your own fruit and vegetables,
The Woodchip Handbook will show you how to get the most out of this
readily available and renewable material. I did not know the world
needed a whole book on woodchip, but from the first chapter I could
not put this book down. Alys Fowler, author of The Edible Garden
and The Thrifty Gardener
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