An exploration of how plant behavior and adaptation offer valuable insights for human thriving. We know that plants are important. They maintain the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. They nourish other living organisms and supply psychological benefits to humans as well, improving our moods and beautifying the landscape around us. But plants don't just passively provide. They also take action. Beronda L. Montgomery explores the vigorous, creative lives of organisms often treated as static and predictable. In fact, plants are masters of adaptation. They "know" what and who they are, and they use this knowledge to make a way in the world. Plants experience a kind of sensation that does not require eyes or ears. They distinguish kin, friend, and foe, and they are able to respond to ecological competition despite lacking the capacity of fight-or-flight. Plants are even capable of transformative behaviors that allow them to maximize their chances of survival in a dynamic and sometimes unfriendly environment. Lessons from Plants enters into the depth of botanic experience and shows how we might improve human society by better appreciating not just what plants give us but also how they achieve their own purposes. What would it mean to learn from these organisms, to become more aware of our environments and to adapt to our own worlds by calling on perception and awareness? Montgomery's meditative study puts before us a question with the power to reframe the way we live: What would a plant do?

William Robinson's revolutionary book, "The Wild Garden, " envisioned an authentically naturalistic approach to gardening that is more vital today than ever before. First published in 1870, "The Wild Garden" evolved through many editions and remained in print through the remainder of the author's lifetime (1838 1935). In the book, Robinson issued a forceful challenge to the prevailing style of the day, which relied upon tender plants arranged in rigidly geometrical designs. In sharp contrast, Robinson advocated for the use of hardy, locally adapted native and exotic plants arranged according to local growing conditions. Robinson's vision was inspired by his first-hand observations of natural habitats in Europe and North America, and he put his ideas into practice in his own garden at Gravetye Manor in West Sussex. "The Wild Garden" was ground-breaking and hugely influential in its day, and is stunningly relevant to twenty-first century gardeners and landscape stewards seeking to adopt sustainable design and management practices.
In addition to the complete original text and illustrations from the fifth edition of 1895, this expanded edition includes new chapters and 112 color photographs by award-winning photographer and landscape consultant Rick Darke. His new material places wild gardening in modern context, underscoring Robinson's importance in the evolution of ecological design and illustrating an inspiring diversity of contemporary wild gardens.
The potent combination presented here makes this new edition of a timeless classic an essential resource for all who wish to know how we have arrived at our present understanding of gardens and what opportunities lie ahead. As will be immediately clear to anyone who leafs through this book, Robinson's urgent message continues to resonate.
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Written by a hard-working horticulturalist for fellow gardeners, the aim of this diary is to jog people's memories, share plant stories, demystify gardening and most importantly make the reader smile. You'll find a personal year-long diary of gardening along with favourite seasonal plants, timely reminders and entertaining tales of moving sheep, visiting RHS Chelsea Flower Show and speaking at garden clubs. Tamsin's open garden is at the heart of a working farm, so her book reflects the twists and turns of the countryside. For anyone just about to embark on a life in the country, or whose town garden is never tidy and who wonders how the professionals do it, it's a must read. Pick up tips on how to keep warm whilst gardening, get rid of chilblains and grow seasonal food from someone who lives, breathes and eats country gardening.

How do you design a landscape book suitable for its intended uses? How can the natural qualities of a landscape be enhanced with new features and focal points? How can you make pedestrians stay on the footpath? What kind of plant, path or wall should you put where, and what sort of contract should you choose for your client's contractor? This refreshingly down-to-earth introduction to the vast subject of landscape design and construction answers all these questions, guiding new students through the many facets of professional practice and welding together the artistic, legal, financial, environmental and management issues which can seem so dauntingly disconnected. Illustrated with original drawings, photographs, sample plans and facsimiles, including a new colour plate section, this readable classic has been fully revised and updated throughout. It opens with a completely new chapter which explains design and aesthetic principles, explores the history of our relationship to landscape, and shows how design principles can be applied to influence reactions to the finished site. The author then considers different elements of hard landscape and their relative merits in different situations. The soft landscape section includes coverage of the effects of mass and form, natural and abstract planting, and the difficult subject of plant selection. A step-by-step guide through all the stages of managing a project, from initial discussions with clients, site inspection, surveying and quoting, through tendering, contracting, contractual agreements, development from concept design to final plans and drawings, as well as maintenance, now includes the current information on CDM regulations and provides readers with a plain-speaking reference on client management and contractual administration. Added to the guide to drawing and lettering is an extensive section on computer-aided design. A bibliography and list of useful organization are also included.

Veronica Fowler's comprehensive step-by-step manual shows you not only how to install your water garden, but maintain it entirely on your own."Backyard Water Gardens" teaches you how to install liners, pre-formed shapes, containers, and aboveground pools and fountains. From there, it helps you choose plants, add them to your garden, fertilize, prune, divide, and ward off pests and diseases. But Fowler's book goes far beyond the basics, covering all the maintenance and troubleshooting of water feature hardscapes--from a rip in a liner, to a damaged pool, to maintaining equipment and filters (including seasonal maintenance for winter care). Veronica Fowler's "Backyard Water Gardens" allows you to fully enjoy the convenience and versatility of water gardening, all while maintaining it with ease for years to come."Backyard Water Gardens" is truly an all-inclusive manual, encompassing every style, type, and size of water feature imaginable. No matter the "feel" you wish to convey in your garden--casual, formal, or whimsical--Fowler's book enables you to create it with confidence. Your range of hardscape options is incredibly vast, from small, container-sized fountains that complement any space with added sound and movement, to large in-ground or aboveground ponds and streams. Larger installations not only provide soothing, rejuvenating sights and sounds; they can also house fish and plants and passively attract natural wildlife to your backyard.

A practical guide to creating a beautiful native wildflower meadow or a colourful area of cornfield annuals, in even the smallest of gardens.

Making a garden that can withstand summer drought without being watered is the dream of many who wish to garden in harmony with the environment. In this classic work on gardening in dry climates, first published in 2008, Olivier Filippi offers practical advice to achieve this goal based on his, and his wife Clara's, experience of working with mediterranean-region plants for over 30 years. The first part of the book examines the behaviour of plants that face drought in their natural habitat. What is drought and how do plants manage to survive when little water is available? The second part is concerned with gardening techniques in a dry climate. How do you prepare the soil, when do you plant, how do you maintain a dry garden? The third and longest part describes in detail no less than 500 rewarding plants that are marvellously well adapted to dry gardens. This book is essential reading for gardeners who live in one of the world's mediterranean climate zones and will also be of interest to gardeners in areas where drought is becoming a recurring problem. Armed with a new palette of plants and liberated from the hose and the sprinkler this book invites you on a pioneering adventure that paves the way to a new style of gardening.

**A SUNDAY TIMES GARDENING BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020** 'A must-read for every gardener who wants to up their game for wildlife and do their bit for the planet.' -- Isabella Tree 'A refreshing, uplifting and positive look at the true value of a garden.' -- Alan Titchmarsh The perfect book for any gardener looking to get back in touch with their wild side. The rewilding of public spaces and farmland is vitally important to conservation, but how can we support native species and provide rich habitats on our own doorsteps? In this practical, beautifully illustrated guide horticulturalist and Gardener's World presenter Frances Tophill shows you how to plan and maintain a beautiful garden that will attract bees and birds as well as a throng of unsung garden heroes. Whether you have a small balcony or a large open space, discover the joys of welcoming natural ecosystems back into your garden - along with a host of new visitors.

From cocoa farming in Ghana to the orchards of Kent and the desert badlands of Pakistan, taking a practical approach to sustaining the landscape can mean the difference between prosperity and ruin. Working with Nature is the story of a lifetime of work, often in extreme environments, to harvest nature and protect it - in effect, gardening on a global scale. It is also a memoir of encounters with larger-than-life characters such as William Bunting, the gun-toting saviour of Yorkshire's peatlands and the aristocratic gardener Vita Sackville-West, examining their idiosyncratic approaches to conservation. Jeremy Purseglove explains clearly and convincingly why it's not a good idea to extract as many resources as possible, whether it's the demand for palm oil currently denuding the forests of Borneo, cottonfield irrigation draining the Aral Sea, or monocrops spreading across Britain. The pioneer of engineering projects to preserve nature and landscape, first in Britain and then around the world, he offers fresh insights and solutions at each step.

"The Living Garden"is the book for all gardeners (whether new or experienced) who want to work in tuen with nature to create a beautiful space. Jane Powers shows that if we cut out harmful chemical and use the right plants for our climate and conditions, we can make a garden that has a live of its own, in which flora and fauna are intricately interwoven. She describes how to plan and plant for birds, bees and other creatures (including humans) and how to grow our own food, look after our soil, make compost and plant potions, sow and save seeds, propagate plants and carry out many other essential operations.

Planting, by famed landscape architects Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury, is a groundbreaking moment in horticulture. It is the first book to share Oudolf s original planting plans and plant groupings and the only book to explicitly show how his gardens and landscapes are made. An intimate knowledge of plants is essential to the success of this approach and Planting makes Oudolf s considerable understanding of plant ecology and performance accessible, explaining how plants behave in different situations, what goes on underground, and which species make good neighbors. Extensive plant charts and planting plans will help you choose plants for their structure, color, and texture as well as the way they perform in the landscape. A detailed directory, with details each plant s life expectancy, the persistence of its seedheads, its tendency to spread, and propensity to self-seed, is an invaluable resource.Planting is an essential resource for designers and gardeners looking to create plant-rich, beautiful gardens that support biodiversity and nourish the human spirit."

Support and protect the natural world with tips from expert gardener Joe Swift.

With around 16 million UK gardens covering a larger area than all our nature reserves, you could say our largest nature reserve is one big garden! In this practical guide, Joe shows you how to support and protect our rich and varied wildlife habitats.

Joe's no-nonsense approach covers everything you need to know about doing your bit for wildlife. Learn how to manage soil and carefully select plants to create rich and varied habitats, from tall trees down to tiny, spring-flowering bulbs. In this book, Joe demonstrates how to manage your outdoor space sensitively, and debunks the common misconception that 'wildlife-friendly gardens' have to be unkempt.

From bug hotels to pollinators, he also shares his ideas on fun and innovative projects to help kids, as the future custodians of our planet, engage with nature. Joe Swift is an author, TV presenter and garden designer. He makes regular appearances on BBC's Gardener's World and the RHS Flower Shows

A one-stop treasure trove from the experts at RHS that covers every aspect of gardening! Dreaming of having the perfect garden? Does it have a vegetable patch? Classic borders or flowers to attract wildlife? A picturesque garden for all to marvel at is achievable with this gardening guide giving you the vital tools to achieve whatever you desire for your dream garden. Delve into this concise and practical guide to find all the gardening ideas and advice you need to create a spectacular, thriving garden. Here's what you'll find inside: - A comprehensive guide covering everything from growing in containers to planting a garden from scratch - Fully illustrated with detailed step-by-steps and inspirational gardening ideas - Detailed beginner's guide to garden design, including step-by-step instructions for simple hard landscaping such as building a raised bed, creating a pond, or laying a patio - Covers all aspects of planting styles, including "recipes" to make the most of different types of plants - Easy-to-follow guides on how to water, feed, prune and propagate your garden - Advice on problem-solving and controlling weeds and pests - A chapter full of Plant Chooser galleries to help you grow the right plant in the right place at the right time Learn how to plan, sow, plant, and protect your garden throughout the year with expert tips and techniques that will see your garden flourish. Discover how to design with plants by using colour and texture to create inspirational displays, and keep them at their best with jargon-free guides to pruning and preventing pests and diseases. Undertake a new endeavour of DIY landscaping projects, which include laying your own patio or lawn, or building a raised bed ready for you to grow your own fruit and vegetables. Choose from a catalogue of hundreds of different ornamental plants to find varieties that will thrive in your garden's climate and provide seasonal interest throughout the year. The Complete Gardener's Manual is the perfect all-around practical book for gardening beginners, also for those looking for a step up from a beginners' gardening book.

Learn about the incredible range of useful shrubs for many different situations, large and small. World renown expert, Martin Crawford, includes common fruit bushes like currants and gooseberries, and many other less-known shrubs with edible fruits, nuts, leaves, or other parts. He takes us on a journey into the world of exotic spice trees, shrubs with medicinal parts, and plants that fix nitrogen to help fertilise other plants. All these can be grown in temperate climates, diversifying our diets, enabling us to design beautiful, productive gardens, as well as showing us how we can integrate agroforestry into our smallholdings and farms to create new income streams. Despite increasingly urgent calls from scientists, the not-fit-for-purpose economic and political systems we live in cannot be relied upon to implement the carbon emission reductions needed. This where we come into it: Whether we are farmer, gardener or plant dabbler, by planting shrubby plants that sequester carbon, we can minimise our carbon footprint and ideally live a carbon-negative life. On a broadscale, perennial and woody species are the way forward to reduce carbon emissions in agriculture. Woody crops sequester carbon in their biomass, but can also be grown in systems which allow for sequestration of large amounts of carbon into the soil.

Birds are a delight in the garden, not only for their beauty and birdsong, but also because they eat many harmful garden pests. This book contains a wealth of feeding ideas for backyard birds, from seeds, grains and peanuts to fruits, suet cakes and fat balls, and suggestions for the best flowers, shrubs, hedges and trees to plant to encourage birds into the garden. There are step-by-step projects for tables, nest boxes, birdbaths and birdhouses that will enhance and decorate your garden, and the book also features illustrated directories of the most common garden birds in the UK and in the USA, from woodland and countryside locations to town and city environments, with information about identification, distribution, habitat and feeding habits. With its helpful practical advice and superb photographs and illustrations, this is the ideal source book for all wildlife enthusiasts Learn what to feed garden birds, from seeds, grains and peanuts to fruits, suet cakes and fat balls, as well as how to attract birds by planting the right flower borders, trees and shrubs, and by making wildlife hedges and ponds * Features practical step-by-step projects for making your own feeders, tables, birdbaths and nest boxes, from simple designs to highly ornamental creations * Includes a visual directory of all the most common garden bird species, with natural history information on distribution, size, nesting, eggs and feeding habits * Explains how birds live - from flying and feeding to egg-laying and migrating - with a guide to birdwatching in urban, country, woodland and aquatic locations * With over 760 beautiful photographs and illustrations.

Take your pick: apples, pears, peaches, blueberries? For health- and money-conscious consumers, homegrown edibles are the way to go. While vegetable gardening has been the hot trend, fruit growing is now taking a bite out of the market. This timely and comprehensive book from gardening expert Lee Reich shows the way to successfully grow fruits that are delicious and nutritious, with information on over 30 fruits and how to reap the most of their bounty. Covering all topics from planning and planting to pruning and harvesting, this essential reference also discusses natural pest-control and fertilization methods, pollination, irrigation, and special techniques such as espalier and growing fruit in containers. A handy, encyclopedic listing of fruits provides in-depth information on individual fruit needs, care, and varieties, with a focus on all-natural growing techniques. With 150 photos and over 50 illustrations, this highly visual guide is the book to pick up to keep your fruit crops thriving.

Zero-cost, low effort and a long term solution to your fresh produce needs! Huw Richards set himself a challenge - to be self-sufficient by growing his own fruit and veg for free for a year. He succeeded, and now wants to help you do the same. Grow your own food in your home garden, allotment or container and look forward to a bountiful harvest year-round. You can plant fruit and veg at home without spending a penny and Huw Richard's shows you how. Packed with tried-and-tested advice, this gardening book covers: - Finding a space to grow - in the garden or on a terrace or balcony - and sourcing the materials you need - Deciding what to grow your crops in (the ground, a raised bed, or containers) - Clear growing instructions on more than 30 species of popular annual and perennial crops - Huw Richards' 52-week journal of how he grew his own food for free for a year without spending a penny - Advice on how to go about selling your produce to raise money to expand your growing area Author Huw Richards is a man on a mission. He is passionate about teaching you how to garden and grow your own food. Years of experience and trying different things has taught Huw how to garden with little money (or without a garden) and he shows you how to do the same! Grow Food for Free teaches you how to produce no-cost, low-maintenance fruit and veg - and finding low-cost ways to overcome common gardening worries. Learn about the space you need and how to prepare it, make your own compost, tackle weeds, pests, and diseases, and how to get hold of your first set of seeds! Discover strategies to expand your garden. Can't afford a raised bed? Try repurposing an old wooden pallet. Don't have money to buy lots of different seeds? Look in your kitchen cupboards for food that you can plant. This home gardening book shows you everything you need to barter, borrow, repurpose, and propagate your way to a bountiful harvest without burdening your bank balance!

From the bestselling author of Teaming with Microbes and Teaming with Nutrients comes an important guide to mycorrhizae and the role they play in agriculture, horticulture, and hydroponics. Teaming with Fungi is the first book to accessibly explain the essential symbiotic relationship between soil-dwelling mycorrhizal fungi and plants, Almost every plant in a garden forms a relationship with fungi, and many plants would not exist without their fungal partners. By better understanding the relationship, gardeners can take advantage of the benefits of fungi, which include an increased uptake in nutrients, resistance to drought, earlier fruiting, and more. Learn how the fungi interact with plants, how to grow their own, and how best to employ them in the home garden. "This book accomplishes what few other books have - helping the public use these essential fungi to improve the immune systems of plants." - Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the I World

Updated for its 30th anniversary edition; [This book] remains as relevant as ever. New York Times For anyone with an interest in sustainable growing, this is a must-read. Irish Times A perennial classic The New Organic Grower isone of the most important farming books available, written byEliot Coleman, a pioneer in the organic farming movement. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any farmer or grower. Coleman's books and innovative methods have helped innumerable organic growers build successful farms in deep accordance with nature. The wisdom in this seminal book holds true even as the modern agricultural canon has grown - in large part due to Coleman's influence as a wise elder with decades of experience. New information has been included in this edition to showcase the new tools and techniques that Colemant has been developing over the last thirty-five years. The New Organic Grower offers a very approachable and productive form of farming that has proven to work well for the earth and its stewards for centuries. Gardeners working on a hectare or less will find this book especially useful, as it offers proof that small-scale market growers and serious home gardeners can live good lives close to the land and make a profit at the same time. The New Organic Grower is ideal for young farmers just getting started, or gardeners seeking to expand into a more productive enterprise. New material in this edition includes: Beautiful colour photographs throughout, taken by master gardener and author Barbara Damrosch (Eliot's wife and co-farmer) Updated information throughout on how Eliot's practices have changed through his experiments over the years A new section from Damrosch about incorporating flowers on the small farm More information on new tools Eliot has invented that don't appear in any of his other books