Landscaping For Dummies by The Editors of the National Gardening Association, Bob Beckstrom, Lance Walheim, Phillip Giroux

Synopsis

A beautiful landscape reflects well on your house, making it a welcome part of a neighborhood or native terrain. And it dramatically increases your home’s value. Landscaping also makes your house and yard more useful and better able to complement your family’s lifestyle. Trees shade your home to reduce energy use. Thorny shrubs deter prowlers. Lawns reduce dust from bare ground and give children the perfect play area. Patios and decks are great for entertaining. And a vegetable garden can yield fresh, delicious salads to eat on that patio or deck.

Landscaping for Dummies has everything you need to turn the little patch of earth you call your own into a personal paradise. Whether you’ve waited for the day to have property to landscape, you’d never given it a second thought until you had to, or you want to improve on an existing landscape, this book offers a clearly written wealth of knowledge on:

• Designs
• Fences, walls, gates, and paths
• Decks, patios, and outdoor rooms
• Trees
• Shrubs and vines
• Ground cover

From the basic principles of landscape design, to all the ins and outs of hillsides, balcony gardens, and water gardens, this book will show you how to:

• Think like a designer
• Dream up the right landscape for your family’s needs
• Increase your home’s resale value
• Conserve energy
• Deal with contractors, nurseries, and hardware suppliers
• Create an edible landscape

Full of helpful problem-solvers for all kinds of landscapes, Landscaping for Dummies also features sample plans, “theme” landscape ideas, and a brilliantcolor photo section to inspire the imagination. Accessible and informative to both beginner and expert landscapers, this is the complete guide to creating the yard you’ve always wanted.

Library Journal

This guide is intended as a basic reference for those who want to improve their landscape. Beginning with a Wish List, the authors help gardeners achieve the yard of their dreams. Each step of the process is explained: designing a layout, building "hardscape" (paths, fences, arbors), selecting plants and trees, choosing a contractor or deciding to do the work yourself. Icons are used to point out important information. Many illustrations, checklists, a hardiness zone table, plant lists, lists of mail-order suppliers, 16 professional landscape designs, recommended readings, and online resources provide inspiration. The tone of the book is upbeat and humorous. Recommended for public libraries. (Color photographs not seen.)--Nancy Lee Myers, Univ. of South Dakota Lib., Vermillion Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Biography

Phillip Giroux owns a landscape design firm. Home improvement authority Bob Beckstrom and garden expert Lance Wallheim are veteran authors. The National Gardening Association is America's largest nonprofit gardening organization.