Every gardener loves perennials. Buy them and plant them, and most will flourish and even expand year after year. But in addition to reliability, perennials offer gardeners a wonderful opportunity to make a stunning visual statement in their home landscapes - if you know how to combine and arrange them. In THE PERENNIAL GARDENER'S DEISGN PRIMER, Stephanie Cohen and Nancy Ondra, two top garden writers and teachers, offer fun, organized, and - most important - attainable advice on how to create gorgeous gardens using these beloved plants. Cohen and Ondra walk the gardener step-by- step through the process of creating new gardens, as well as of bringing new life to gardens that have lost their lustre. They explain how to pick perennials that suit the site by making the most of plant colour, shape, size, and texture; and how to create eye-catching plant combinations. Beautiful illustrations accompany the new garden plans, and stunning photographs capture how Cohen and Ondra have redesigned their own gardens. Throughout the book, a lively dialogue between Cohen and Ondra encourages readers to experiment and to create their own satisfying designs. The authors also offer down-to-earth design solutions for 20 specific types of gardens, including everything from a minimum maintenance garden to a more complex container garden, from planting a formal border to indulging in the controlled chaos of a cottage garden. Whether you are breaking ground for a new garden, or revitalizing an existing bed, THE PERENNIAL GARDENER'S DESIGN PRIMER can help every gardener achieve great results - year after year.

Simple and foolproof! Enjoy beautiful container plantings with no stress or fuss. Container Theme Gardens offers 42 plans for container arrangements, each using just five specific plants that you can find at your local garden centre. There's something here for every setting and every style, including a meadow in a box, a pond in a pot, a simple salad garden, and a combination that will attract hummingbirds. Each plan includes photographs of what the full planting will look like, as well as a handy shopping list so you know exactly what you need.

With Nancy Ondra's detailed plant-by-plant guide to tending perennials, maintenance is a breeze. Ondra has grown hundreds of today's most popular perennials in her own gardens and has kept detailed notes on how each plant looks through the seasons and what the plants' needs, quirks, and preferences are. All this valuable information is gathered in 125 plant profiles, arranged alphabetically by genus. Each entry features gorgeous, instructive photography by award-winning garden photographer Rob Cardillo, as well as advice on preferred light and soil conditions and complete care and maintenance instructions. What to do and when to do it are as simple as looking up the plant and following an expert gardener's advice. Complementing the plant-by-plant section, Ondra offers in-depth coverage of basic techniques for the perennial gardener. From planning a stunning but easy-to-care-for garden to fertilizing, mulching, propagating, and much more, the home gardener will find every answer to that one big gardening question: How do I keep my perennial beds looking their best - fresh, beautiful, and healthy - season after season.

From spring green to winter gold, the drama of grasses is nonstop. There are the striking yellow-and-green ostrich plumes of Zebra Grass. The fine-textured leaves of Blue Oat Grass. Flame Grass's dazzling red-orange leaves, Fountain Grass's coppery brushes, the rich brown nuggets of Northern Sea Oats, the feathery purple haze of Switch Grass.

Whether on their own or as backdrops for colorful garden flowers, ornamental grasses are admired for their color, form, movement, and texture. They also aid in erosion control, soil stabilization, and water retention, making them great conservation tools for gardeners in all hardiness zones. Although grasses are widely available at garden centers all over North America, few books advise the gardener on how to use them in the garden - and especially how to combine them with perennials and other plants. GRASSES features plans and practical advice for more than 24 unique gardens. It's complete with an identification and growing guide to the plants, and it features more than 150 full-color photographs, illustrations, and landscape plans.