The Informed Gardener

Author: Linda Chalker-Scott
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295800321
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Book Description
Winner of the Best Book Award in the 2009 Garden Writers Association Media Awards Named an "Outstanding Title" in University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2009 In this introduction to sustainable landscaping practices, Linda Chalker-Scott addresses the most common myths and misconceptions that plague home gardeners and horticultural professionals. Chalker-Scott offers invaluable advice to gardeners gardeners who have wondered: Are native plants the best choice for sustainable landscaping? Should you avoid disturbing the root ball when planting? Are organic products better or safer than synthetic ones? What is the best way to control weeds-fabric or mulch? Does giving vitamins to plants stimulate growth? Are compost teas effective in controlling diseases? When is the best time to water in hot weather? If you pay more, do you get a higher-quality plant? How can you differentiate good advice from bad advice? The answers may surprise you. In her more than twenty years as a university researcher and educator in the field of plant physiology, Linda Chalker-Scott has discovered a number of so-called truths that originated in traditional agriculture and that have been applied to urban horticulture, in many cases damaging both plant and environmental health. The Informed Gardener is based on basic and applied research from university faculty and landscape professionals, originally published in peer-reviewed journals. After reading this book, you will: Understand your landscape or garden plants as components of a living system Save time (by not overdoing soil preparation, weeding, pruning, staking, or replacing plants that have died before their time) Save money (by avoiding worthless or harmful garden products, and producing healthier, longer-lived plants) Reduce use of fertilizers and pesticides Assess marketing claims objectively This book will be of interest to landscape architects, nursery and landscape professionals, urban foresters, arborists, certified professional horticulturists, and home gardeners. For more information go to: http://www.theinformedgardener.com

The Informed Gardener Blooms Again

Author: Linda Chalker-Scott
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029580033X
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
The Informed Gardener Blooms Again picks up where The Informed Gardener left off, using scientific literature to debunk a new set of common gardening myths. Once again, Linda Chalker-Scott investigates the science behind each myth, reminding us that urban and suburban landscapes are ecosystems requiring their own particular set of management practices. The Informed Gardener Blooms Again provides answers to questions such as: Does using drought-tolerant plants reduce water consumption? Is it more effective to spray fertilizers on the leaves of trees and shrubs than to apply it to the soil? Will cedar wood chips kill landscape plants? Should I use ladybugs in my garden as a form of pest control? Does aerobically brewed compost tea suppress disease? Every year Chalker-Scott receives hundreds of e-mails from around the world on these and related topics. Her advice, based on more than twenty years of experience in the field of plant physiology, has helped home gardeners, landscape architects, and nursery and landscape professionals to develop scientifically based sustainable landscaping practices. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWrk2894iyA

Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest

Author: Arthur Kruckeberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781771645065
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Book Description
With hundreds of stunning color photographs and new chapters by horticulturist inda Chalker-Scott, this fully updated edition of one of the Pacific Northwest's favorite gardening books is more extensive and user-friendly than ever before. This fully-updated third edition of Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwestincludes revised designations for species, genus, and family names for numerous native plants, and over 900 beautiful and informative color photos of native trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses, and annuals. Each species has been carefully selected as garden-worthy, setting this book apart from encyclopedic tomes containing comprehensive lists of native plants. Building on the classic text by the late botanist Arthur R. Kruckeberg, horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott as contributed several new chapters on garden ecology and the latest in garden science. Thorough, practical, and easy to use, this updated edition of the book Sunset magazine called a "standard guidebook for anyone who gardens with Northwest Natives" will be invaluable to all Northwest gardeners.

The Humane Gardener

Author: Nancy Lawson
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1616896175
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers

Author: Teri Dunn Chace
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1604692359
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 221

Book Description
The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers identifies the 100 most common gardening mistakes and gives gardeners the techniques to prevent them. Or, if it's too late and they've already goofed, there are tips to fix the mistake. The book's 24 chapters tackle every kind of gardening disaster, whether it has to do with plants, tools and techniques, or general care and maintenance. Gardeners looking to prune their roses will learn to hold off until late winter to avoid damaging plant tissue. Gardeners that have allowed their mint to overgrow? Dunn advises pulling it out and replanting it in a container to control the root. Organized by common garden topics and designed to be easily dipped in and out of, The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers offers nuggets of wisdom based on Teri Dunn Chace's years of hands-on gardening experience. Advice is humorously supported by Colleen Coover's delightful illustrations. This accessible guide will transform an anxious gardener into an informed, confident, successful gardener with a mistake-free garden

Passionate Gardening

Author: Lauren Springer
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
ISBN: 9781555913489
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
Lauren Springer and Rob Proctor have long been good friends and garden writing colleagues. Here, readers will be entertained, informed, and inspired by the pair's practical wisdom, wit, and tales of perseverance. Garden success depends on the most appropriate plant selections, the best gardening techniques, and maximizing the seasons. Every subject the authors tackle--from early snows to slugs, from bulbs to botanical Latin--urges readers to make the most of the gardens they tend. Passionate Gardener takes the gardener through the seasons in a comprehensive, yet pleasurable and accessible way, as the authors celebrate a diversity of plants for every site and every season. They champion sound, ecologically friendly gardening techniques, from soil and water issues to pest management. They also offer up stories of their horticultural adventures as their personal gardens have evolved, making this lively, information-packed reading with a personal, real touch.--From publisher description.

Sustainable Landscapes & Gardens

Author: Linda Chalker-Scott
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781929509041
Category : Sustainable horticulture
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

The Timber Press Guide to Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

Author: Carol W. Hall
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1604691611
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
Tired of being lumped into the unwieldy category of a western garden? Frustrated by the lack of reliable, practical information about gardening in the Pacific Northwest? No longer! The Timber Press Guide to Gardening in the Pacific Northwest presents all the information a gardener—whether novice or expert—needs to keep their garden beautiful and thriving. With a combined 100 years of gardening experience in the Pacific Northwest, the authors clearly explain the unique challenges and joys of gardening in the region. By dividing the Pacific Northwest into seven subregions, they help readers to better understand the climatic and geographical factors that shape their gardens. This complete guide includes extensive profiles of plants that are ideally suited to the region, including perennials, ornamental grasses, bulbs, groundcovers, roses, shrubs, trees, and climbers. The month-by-month gardening calendar describes what weather patterns to expect, what's in bloom, and what garden tasks are best done in that month. With additional chapters detailing the most common gardening problems and recommendations for effective, nontoxic ways of dealing with them, this book is nothing short of essential.

A New Garden Ethic

Author: Benjamin Vogt
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1771422459
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.

Becoming a Gardener

Author: Catie Marron
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062963627
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Book Description
A beautifully designed, full-color personal account of what it means to become a gardener, filled with specially commissioned color photography, watercolors, and fine art. To make her new house in Connecticut truly feel like home, Catie Marron decided to create a garden. But while she was familiar with landscape design, she had never grown anything. A dedicated reader with a lifelong passion for literature, Marron turned to the library of gardening books she’d collected to glean advice from a variety of writers on gardening and horticultural topics both grand and small. Marron’s quest to become a gardener, however, was about more than learning the basics about mulch or which plants work best in the shade. She sought something far more elusive: to identify the core qualities and characteristics that make a person a gardener and an understanding of what a garden could mean to her as it had to multitudes of other gardeners over the centuries. In Becoming a Gardener, Catie Marron chronicles her transformation into a gardener over the course of eighteen months, seeding the details of her experience with rich advice from writers as diverse as Eleanor Perényi and Karel Capek, Penelope Lively, and Jamaica Kincaid. As she digs deeper into her readings and works in the garden itself, Marron not only discovers the essence of gardening but in the words of Michael Pollan, “the endlessly engrossing ways that cultivating a garden attaches a body to the earth.” A delightful blend of informed opinion, personal reflection, and practical advice, Becoming a Gardener explores topics as varied as the composition of dirt, the agricultural wisdom of avid kitchen gardeners George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the healing power of digging in the soil, and the beauty of finding solitude in nature. Throughout, Marron carefully plants special illustrated features, such as musings on the merits (and detriments) of the rose, essential tools, moonlight gardening, children’s books which feature gardens, and her favorite gardens around the world. Also included is an annotated list of recommended writers, books, and films related to gardens and gardening, and a monthly to-do calendar. Featuring specially commissioned illustrations by the Danish team All the Way to Paris, and stunning photographs by acclaimed photographer William Abranowicz that capture the pastoral beauty of Marron’s Connecticut garden, Becoming a Gardener is a very special and moving portrait of life and the enduring power of literature and nature that is sure to become an instant classic.