Book Description
Why do gardeners start plants from seed instead of just buying a flat of seedlings from their local nursery? Necessity. Seedlings of unusual or exotic plants simply aren't available at garden stores, but they are available in seed. Then there's the cost factor. A few packets of seeds are much cheaper than dozens upon dozens of seedlings. And finally there's the plants' health to consider. Plants grown from seed get a healthy start that can almost guarantee you a magnificent display in your garden. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom will teach you everything you need to know to germinate and grow more than 500 types of flowering plants. For every plant listed you'll find precise information on whether it will do well in your part of the country; how to sow seeds indoors and outdoors; when to transplant indoor seedlings out in the garden; what light, soil, and spacing requirements are necessary; general plant care; when you can expect the plants to flower; how to encourage more blooms; and how to propagate your plants by cutting, division, layering, or detaching runners.
The book also features more than 500 full-color flower photographs. A quick-reference chart outlines bloom time, color, height, and site requirements for more than 1,000 species, making this book an indispensable reference for planning and planting fabulous gardens.
Customer Reviews:
starting flowers.......2007-08-07
I used this book extensivly this spring for starting all my flowers and veggie. I found it easy to use and most flowers etc were listed. Great book for my library and I will use it in the future for sure.
Excellent.......2007-02-26
This book is an excellent reference book describing seeds.
Giving the botanical name and common name. Most helpful with information on germination and were the seeds will grow best. And the the section that has thumbnail pictures
is excellent. The ease of using the paperback is all so great.
Great book!.......2007-01-04
Bought this for my wife and she loves it! She was reading this book like a novel. Provides good information and tips on a wide range of flowers. Bought this book due to good reviews as well!
Excellent book, but NOTE..........2006-04-07
This book is exactly what I was looking for-- a no-nonsense, complete description of how to start each of the many kinds of seeds that I can never resist buy, collecting, or trading for.
One thing that people should note, though: the plants are listed in alphabetical order by their Latin names. There is an appendix that has the common names and what the Latin name is for each, but I can't imagine doing that for every single plant-- what a pain! I like to know both Latin and common names, so I was fine with this system. But for someone who's only familiar with the common names of plants, this book is going to be a lot harder to use. (On the bright side, learning the Latin names can be a lot of fun, so if you're at all open to the idea, go for it!)
Really and truly useful.......2004-08-10
When a friend recently asked me to suggest a book that would tell her the soil preferences of different flowers, I knew exactly what she needed. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom has all the answers. In addition to concise profiles of 500 bloomers, there's a handy gallery of color photographs and my favorite section, a 50-page chart that lists major and minor species along with their bloom times, colors, and cultural requirements. This book is designed to be useful, and it is!
Book Description
With impressive sprays of graceful flowers and perhaps the most variable and interesting foliage of any garden perennial, heuchera—commonly known as "coral bells"—deserves the attention of gardeners everywhere. Now, growing heuchera is easier than ever, with these color photographs and comprehensive instructions for selecting the best plants for every geographic area, tips for breeding and propagation, and advice on feeding and pruning. Discover design ideas for using heuchera in an Alpine-themed garden, as a graceful border, in rock gardens, or for spectacular cut flowers. More than 50 varieties of heuchera are all covered, including the acclaimed "Amber Waves" and "Purple Palace" cultivars.
Customer Reviews:
A good book for all gardeners! .......2006-08-06
This was an OK book, I am actually sorry I returned it, however the book by Dan Heims and Grahame Ware is by far a better read about heuchera. If you could only have one book on the topic choose the other, but it is better to choose both.
A treasure to own and a great gardening gift.......2006-08-05
Coral bells (Heucheras) aren't just for Grandma's garden anymore. Dazzling new varieties are widely available, some even in garden departments of the big box stores. These plants tempt gardeners with their outstanding green or purple foliage, silver-laced and ruffled, and their delicate but durable flowers. This elegant book, with nearly 100 color photographs, would grace any coffee table, but it also contains all the information a gardener needs to incorporate heucheras and their relatives into rock gardens, natural settings and sunny or shady borders. Clearly written chapters tell how to to grow them well, and to propagate them successfully. The authors cover the history of the garden hybrids. They reveal fascinating details of propagation by tissue culture and offer a glimpe into the competitive world of breeding and marketing new cultivars. The book also lists public gardens and natural places where heuchera plantings can be seen.
Book Description
Many gardeners first fall in love with these lavish blooms and extravagant foliage in wintertime, when little else grows with such abandon. Then the affair continues with the discovery of the full range of delightful year-round perennials, including the new strains coming out each year, some for shade, others for sun. Start your romance with the snow-white purity of the Christmas rose, then expand to the variegated Lenten rose, before trying your own year-round hybrids.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, compulsively readable - the bible of hellebores!.......2000-01-06
Hellebores are some of the best perennial flowers, blooming especially in the dead of winter, and easy to grow, but American gardeners don't seem to know much about them. Here's the best book on the subject, by wellknown garden writer Graham Rice and plantswoman Liz Strangman, who celebrate an extraordinary variety of types and species.
Beautifully-illustrated (with many excellent group shots of single flowers), the text sparkles (as is Graham Rice's penchant), covering such topics as hybrids in the wild and in gardens, an encyclopedia section of the species, how to breed hellebores, the national collections in britain, cultivation, plant associations, with an entire chapter devoted just to the orientalis hybrids. There's also a chapter devoted to "people and their plants" with such sections as "confessions of a hellebore addict" and "margery fish and hellebores at East Lambrook".
Even though these are British authors, this is an easy book to transpose into American growing, with a chapter devoted to "Hellebores in America".
This is a splendid book, well worth buying.
You'll get hooked!.......1997-10-22
Warning: if you read -even browse- this book, you're in danger to get hooked to hellebores for life. The authors know what they are writing about, and shovel sage advice in every page. Several expert growers offer also their knowledge. Not to talk about the simply wonderful colour photographs, that will let you dreaming on hellebores for weeks and weeks and... Simply the best book to enter in Hellebore Land.
Book Description
A richly illustrated guide to growing a most satisfying perennial, the peony.
The dazzling peony with its generous blooms is revered and treasured in North America as it has been for centuries in its country of origin, China.
Peonies is a comprehensive guide to selecting and growing the best species and hybrids for every region and garden condition.
In an easy-to-use format, this informative and practical reference book has dozens of color photographs and features chapters on:
- Genus Paeonia and the modern hybrids
- Ornamental and herbaceous peonies
- Tree peonies, the "king of flowers"
- Cultivation and propagation techniques
- Fertilizers, preferred soil composition, watering and over-wintering
- Remedies for pests, diseases and disorders
- Landscaping recommendations with peonies
- Displaying peonies indoors
- The origin and history of peonies.
There is also a valuable appendix of selected varieties and a listing of associations and suppliers.
Customer Reviews:
Recommended for any gardening library........2007-09-03
Russell McGeorge's PEONIES is a bright, beautiful volume for gardeners who want to focus on the flower. History blends with practical gardening tips on how to grow a variety of peonies, from herbaceous varieties to tree peonies, along with details on how they can blend into an existing landscape or garden. Care directions cover everything from planting to dividing, moving, and troubleshooting common problems. Recommended for any gardening library.
Book Description
There is a fantastic array of vegetables you can grow in your garden, and not all of them are annuals. In Perennial Vegetables the adventurous gardener will find information, tips, and sound advice on less common edibles that will make any garden a perpetual, low-maintenance source of food.
Imagine growing vegetables that require just about the same amount of care as the flowers in your perennial beds and borders—no annual tilling and potting and planting. They thrive and produce abundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. It sounds too good to be true, but in Perennial Vegetables author and plant specialist Eric Toensmeier (Edible Forest Gardens) introduces gardeners to a world of little-known and wholly underappreciated plants. Ranging beyond the usual suspects (asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke) to include such “minor” crops as ground cherry and ramps (both of which have found their way onto exclusive restaurant menus) and the much sought after, anti-oxidant-rich wolfberry (also known as goji berries), Toensmeier explains how to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants that yield great crops and satisfaction.
Perennial vegetables are perfect as part of an edible landscape plan or permaculture garden. Profiling more than 100 species, illustrated with dozens of color photographs and illustrations, and filled with valuable growing tips, recipes, and resources, Perennial Vegetables is a groundbreaking and ground-healing book that will open the eyes of gardeners everywhere to the exciting world of edible perennials.
Customer Reviews:
Very useful book - highly recommended........2007-07-27
I very seldom buy new books, and even more seldom buy books as expensive as this. But I had a $25 Amazon gift certificate, so I went ahead and bought it, and I'm very glad I did.
The first section of the book is useful information on growing perennial vegetables (and other perennials, for that matter), and on landscaping using these plants, many of which have great ornamental value.
Part Two is a listing of each of the more than 100 (I didn't count) perennial vegtables, with information on each species. About half the listed plants have quite extensive growing information, and about half have shorter descriptions. A map is included for each species, showing where it will grow as a perennial and where it can be grown as an annual. Toensmeier has not included plant 'thugs' such as kudzu or Japanese knotweed, and warns the reader if any of the other plants may naturalize.
The author's inclusions of certain species (as vegetables) may be slightly questionable: we are more apt to think of them as fruit or as herbs, for example, rhubarb and lovage. (However, my daughter cooks a lot of Persian food, and uses rhubarb as a vegetable in a meat and vegetable stew.) Also, this book will be of even more use to people who live in a warmer climate than I do (northern Pennsylvania in the mountains, with Zone 4 weather). I actually already grow four of the vegetables in the book: rhubarb, lovage, Good King Henry, and sorrel. I discovered some others that I'll definitely try - two of which I had never even heard of before. Those who live considerably further south than I will find a wealth of species to try.
The book is well written, and carefully edited. It includes a list of recommended reading, a list of recommended web sites, a list of sources for seeds and plants, a list of sources for garden supplies and equipment, a bibliography, an index by both scientific and common names, and a really valuable list of perennial vegetables that will grow in each of the various climate types in the USA (including Hawaii).
If you're at all interested in growing perennial vegetables - or in permaculture in general - I think you'll want to read this book and probably to own it. I think it's a very useful book and a pleasure to read. I recommend it most highly.
Book Description
Few perennials are as tough and versatile as daylilies (genus Hemerocallis), and even fewer offer daylilies' enormous range of color, shape, and growing characteristics. The ease of hybridizing daylilies is a major attraction for the enthusiast. Any backyard gardener can hybridize daylilies, but this blessing of easy breeding can also be something of a curse to the newcomer. Tens of thousands of new daylilies are bred each year. How to choose and grow daylilies amidst this profusion? John Peat and Ted Petit have come to the rescue in this authoritative overview of all aspects of daylily history, cultivation, and breeding. Inspired by R. W. Munson Jr.'s classic treatment, Hemerocallis, they fully describe the history of the modern daylily. In the heart of the book, they detail the various types of hybrids and provide indispensable advice for growing all of them well. More than 200 beautiful color photographs and illustrations round out the work.
Customer Reviews:
ylily:A Guide for Gardeners.......2005-10-07
This book was a self-serving book for the hybridizers, Peat and Petit..Most of the images were THEIR daylilies...Their Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies was much better...
Book Description
A complete practical guide to growing and collecting these magnificent flowering plants and using them to best effect in the garden. Illustrated with over 75 color photographs for aid in identification and to show the range of peonies available.
Book Description
Capturing the spectacular presence of these extrovert plants, The Gardener's Guide to Growing Dahlias will delight dahlia lovers, convert those new to the genus, and inspire a new generation of growers.
Customer Reviews:
Dahlia's for everyone.......2004-12-13
Whether you are a serious grower or just need some extra flowers for your garden this is a great book.Dahlias are generaly easy to grow, but can be tricky to grow well.It contains a lot of info on the history, culture, habit,propagation and care. It is relevent to both northern and southern hemispheres as it has a season converter and is in metric and imperial.The photos are sharp and clear and cover everything from petal shapes to full heads.This is a great general reference book.
Book Description
The strong forms and eye-catching colors of cannas make them perfect for planting as focal points or to help create a subtropical ambience.
Customer Reviews:
Great Bookl.......2007-07-15
I was very surprised at how much I learned about Cannas. I have approximately 40 different cannas. I learned more from reading the book than I have from raising cannas for the last 10 years. I also discovered some new ones that I plan on ordering.
Growing made easy.......2007-01-11
The Gardener's Guide to Cannas is a perfect place to start if you have any interest in one of the easiest plants to grow. The book covers everything you need to know, covers all the unique varities, and has wonderful pictures.
Great Reference Book.......2007-01-04
Detailed descriptions of Cannas including leaf and petal colors. Great color photos. Nice book!
Presents a canna expert's complete review of the plant.......2002-01-09
Cannas are thought of in terms of their beautiful color. Ian Cooke's Gardener's Guide To Growing Cannas presents a canna expert's complete review of the plant, from an A-Z listing of varieties to the history of cannas, their cultivation and species, and cannas in the garden. Gardener's Guide To Growing Cannas is an appealing, colorful, comprehensive guide which gardeners and horticulturalists will appreciate.
The only book dedicated to Cannas.......2001-12-26
This book deserves more than five stars! I had searched for a book on Cannas for a long time. As Ian Cooke points out, this book is the only comprehensive work published on Cannas since 1903. It has become one of my treasured plant bibles, along side with "Heliconia: An Identification Guide" by Fred Berry & W. John Kress and "Exotica" by Alfred Graf.
I live in the tropics and Cannas are indispensable in adding colours to an otherwise overpowering green garden. This book is aimed at gardeners in temperate climate countries, who have a more challenging task in growing Cannas. Ian Cooke is obviously an authority on these plants. The book has valuable information on Canna species, cultivation including common pests and diseases, and propagation by rhizome division and growing from seeds. There is even a list of websites/nurseries dedicated to this genus and is an alternative avenue for sourcing of new species by keen gardeners.
Product Description
How to choose a potty seat, recognize readiness, dress your child for success, deal with uncooperative child, handle accidents and much more. Includes a 32 page book for child about a unisex bear whose story will encourage children. 112 pages.
Customer Reviews:
Offensive and irresponsible.......2005-11-13
I found this book to be offensive. On page 2, the author acknowledges the language differences of the process (toilet training vs. toilet learning). As a reader, I understood her position and was comfortable to progress onto further pages. As I continued reading, I was content with the author's writing until I accessed Chapter 4, where she discusses the positions of experts and references some of their works. On page 47, she references the controversial book of "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day," by Nathan Azrin, Ph.D. and Richard Foxx, Ph.D. and that their "program was devised not for speed, but to help the retarded learn this difficult skill." I think the term "mentally challenged" or "developmentally challenged" would have been more appropriate. In spite of my shock that someone would write a book and refer to those with special needs as "retarded", I continued on until I accessed Chapter 6, "How Can I Train My Child Under Special Circumstances?" Under the section "Using Public Restrooms Alone", the author discusses what she considers "supervised" use of facilities. She states that a parent can stand outside the door while the child uses the facilities alone. She states that a parent can "ask an appropriate-looking man to take the boy into the restroom while you wait outside the door. (Same for situations with girls, Dad.)" and to "only let a child alone to one that is in shouting distance or in view." In a world where pedophiles are lurking in such areas and seize those moments when a child is alone to harm them, I find that advice to be completely irresponsible. At that point, I could no longer continue reading this book and take advice from someone who would make such irresponsible suggestions. I would rather have my child in diapers for the rest of her life! Over 275,000 copies sold -- I wonder how many of those were returned, as mine was.
What a Releaf!.......2003-10-08
Being a new mother, this book has been a big help! My husband and I have found Ms. Lansky's advice to be very sensible as well as benificial to both us and our daughter. This book was recommed to me by a friend. and I would pass this information on to anyone I know with children.
A first-rate resource for new parents.......2003-01-04
Now in a completed revised and updated edition, Toilet Training by Vicki Lansky is a first-rate resource for new parents on the art of teaching toddlers how to take care of themselves in the bathroom. Step-by-step instructions, wisdom from experts, advice on the question of whether to use potty chairs or adapters, means to deal with bed wetting, and more fill this pages of this welcome, necessary, and "user friendly" guidebook. A bonus children's book, "Koko Bear's New Potty," is included for reading aloud to one's toddler to help him or her become used to the transition. Also very highly recommended are Vicki Lansky's earlier parenting guides, Feed Me! I'm Yours (Meadowbrook; ISBN: 0671884433); Games Babies Play: From Birth To Twelve Months (Book Peddlers; ISBN: 0916773582); and Practical Parenting Tips: Over 1,500 Helpful Hints For The First Five Years (Meadowbrook; ISBN: 0671792059).
Great Information.......2000-04-04
I found this book to be very helpful in potty training my daughter. We had tried several different approaches. She was over 2 1/2 when we trained her. This book works.
Books:
- The Gardens and Parks at Hampton Court Palace
- The Gifted Button: Fashion Buttons into Gorgeous Gifts and Wearable Art
- The Grape Grower: A Guide to Organic Viticulture
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- The Magical Garden of Claude Monet
- The Master Book of the Water Garden: The Ultimate Guide to the Design and Maintenance of the Water Garden
- The Master Book of the Water Garden: The Ultimate Guide to the Design and Maintenance of the Water Garden
- The Rocky Mountain Garden Survival Guide
- The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener
- The Ugly Vegetables
Books Index
Books Home
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The New Seed Starter's Handbook
The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques
From Seed To Bloom: How to Grow over 500 Annuals, Perennials & Herbs
Seeds: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Successfully from Seed
