This is an easy-to-follow manual for successful pruning without stress, from basic principles to more advanced techniques. It features specific pruning guidance for every type of plant, including floribunda roses, shrub roses, climbing roses, clematis, honeysuckle, wisteria, pyracantha, hedges, fruit trees, espaliers, cordons and soft fruit bushes. It explains cutting back to the ground, deadheading and shaping with shears, restraining evergreens, shortening new growth and rejuvenating neglected plants. It contains an illustrated guide to specialist tools and equipment, such as pruning shears, loppers, pruning knives, saws, hedge shears and hedge trimmers. It includes a useful checklist of the most popular shrubs, with advice on the pruning techniques suited to each. It features 50 step-by-step techniques and pruning projects, with over 370 clear and informative photographs. As well as being important for plant health, pruning can be a very therapeutic and enjoyable task, and this beautifully illustrated book provides expert advice to help you tackle the job with confidence and satisfaction. All the key rules of pruning are explained in a clear way, to ensure successful results throughout the year. After a section on equipment, the basic techniques are set out in detail - including deadheading, shaping and trimming - each appropriate to a variety of plants and situations. All the most popular plants are covered, such as roses, clematis, hedges and fruit bushes. There is also a cross-reference checklist which provides a handy guide to the pruning techniques suited to each type of shrub. For every gardener who wants pruning success without the stress, this book is an essential companion.

This is an illustrated guide to varieties, cultivation and care, with step-by-step instructions and over 160 inspirational photographs. Everything you need to know at a glance in one handy and beautifully illustrated practical guide. Full photographic directory of over 45 varieties of spring bulbs, including Crocus, Fritillaria, Galanthus, Hyacinthus, Iris, Muscari, Narcissus, Scilla and Tulipa. It offers advice on buying and planting, plus ideas for creating 'natural' designs using beds, borders and containers. It covers common pests and diseases, and how to deal with them. The magnificent sight of a bright display of spring bulbs in bloom makes these flowers universally loved. There can be no better sign that winter is passing than the appearance of the first of the new season's spring bulbs pushing their way up through the ground. This beautiful handbook contains advice for planting, propagating, feeding and lifting bulbs, with a wonderfully illustrated directory that explains the history, growth, hue, height and suitability of 45 varieties. There are cultivation ideas for using spring bulbs in the garden and indoors, and in window boxes, pots and tubs. The book will help you to herald the coming of spring with a magnificent display.

This is a practical guide to successful gardening in smaller spaces, with step-by-step techniques and more than 700 beautiful photographs. Everything you need to know when planning a small garden, and how to put your ideas into action. It includes examples of many garden styles, with features on lawns, walls, fences, patios, trelliswork, arches and pergolas, ponds and rock gardens, and small-scale kitchen gardens. It shows you how to design and plant ornamental flower and foliage beds and borders, as well as gardens that will provide year-round interest and quick results. Whether you have a small town garden or even a tiny balcony or veranda, there are many ways in which you can create stylish effects and produce an impression of length and depth. This book is packed with clever ideas for patios and front gardens, basements and backyards, as well as providing solutions for awkwardly shaped gardens. There are projects for adding decorative elements such as ornaments and containers, and also recommendations for soft landscaping - the plants - that provides the shape and texture.Combining beautiful photographs, practical advice and inspirational ideas, this is the perfect reference book for all gardeners.