Recommended-Reading

The perfect companion to the Better Homes and Gardens New Complete Guide to Gardening.

Illustrated easy-to-follow instructions for planning, designing, and building typical landscape projects.

Enjoying a temperate climate year-round and lots of rain and sun, the San Francisco Bay Area is ideal for gardening -- as the thousands of fanatic gardeners around the bay will attest. Yet, until now, no one has assembled a comprehensive guidebook to the hundreds of resources in this garden-rich region. Writer and former professional gardener Ron Sullivan comes to the rescue with The Garden Lover's Guide: San Francisco Bay Area. Her complete, easy-to-use, and inviting handbook covers all the nurseries, equipment and supply stores, accessory outlets, flower and garden shows, special events, classes, clubs, tours, and bookstores with a green thumb around the bay.

Inspirational, practical, and easy to use, this book was created with the aim of conveying the awesome diversity and beauty of California's native plants and demonstrating how they can be brought into ecologically sound, attractive, workable, and artful gardens. Structured around major California plant communities--bluffs, redwoods, the Channel Islands, coastal scrub, grasslands, deserts, oak woodlands, mixed evergreen woodlands, riparian, chaparral, mountain meadows, and wetlands--the book's twelve chapters each include sample plans for a native garden design accompanied by original drawings, color photographs, a plant list, tips on successful gardening with individual species, and more. Both residential and professional gardeners will learn the benefits of going native with gardens that require less water and fewer fertilizers, attract wildlife, engage the senses, create a sense of place, and, at the same time, preserve our rich natural heritage.

Make a Californian home landscape more attractive and functional with California Home Landscaping. Like the other titles in this series, this book contains three parts: Design Portfolio, Guide to Installations, and Plant Portraits. In the "Design Portfolio" section, readers will find 48 designs created by landscape professionals in California. "Guide to Installations" explains how to install the plants, paths, patios, and arbors used in the designs. More than 200 of the best plants for the region are fully described in "Plant Portraits". Clearly written in a friendly style and with 470 color photographs and paintings, California Home Landscaping provides everything readers need to know to landscape like a pro.

All the latest ideas on design and materials, along with essential landscaping advice from landscaping professionals, so that you can create unique outdoor living spaces. Experience garden design and landscaping professionals guide you in creating the patio you want on a budget you can afford. Pro-designed patios and garden stonework show the best ways to pull all the elements together to create a cohesive, comfortable outdoor space. At a glance clear, concise charts make it easy to choose materials based on appearance, durability, ease of installation, and price. The latest information and green materials and landscaping techniques.

The Essential Garden Design Workbook guides the reader through every stage of planning a garden — how to survey a site, how to choose landscaping materials, and how to develop planting schemes. This fully revised and updated second edition features new U.S. case studies and new photographs. Valuable tips on green gardening are new to this edition, and include how to harvest rainwater, how to design a green roof, tips on sustainable planting, and a guide to composting.

Designing a garden is a complex task. Where do you start? What kind of skills do you need? What are the logical steps in creating a design? How do you communicate your ideas to a client, and how do you accommodate a client’s requests while maintaining the integrity of the project? The answers to these questions, and many more, can all be found in Understanding Garden Design.

“I want to put the mystery back into the heart of garden design, where it needs to be. It’s what lures you in through the gate, keeps you moving through the landscape, and fills you with excitement along the way. The sense of mystery is what turns a mere display of plants, paths, and ornaments into an adventure.” Guided by world-renowned landscape architect James van Sweden and horticulture expert Tom Christopher, any gardener can learn the secrets of the gardener’s art and absorb the essence of inspired garden design. In their gifted hands, creating your own perfect garden, with its own alluring mysteries, turns out to be not only easy but a delight.

With hectic lifestyles and busy schedules, people are finding it more and more appealing to enjoy their leisure time at home rather than packing their bags in search of peaceful retreats. But how can they confidently create a garden retreat? By following Cohen and Benner’s trusted advice and building a nonstop garden, they’ll have more creative planting options, a garden that provides year-round interest, and - most importantly - a yard that requires less maintenance than a traditional perennial border.

Homeowners are spending more time and money than ever creating and sprucing up living spaces outside the house. It’s no surprise that the patio is riding this trend. Now that DIYers have greater access to the tools, techniques, and materials required to build great patios and walkways, they’re going all out. And this newest offering from the successful “Build Like a Pro” series is the best guide they can ask for. It’s all in here – from base construction techniques to surface materials. A reader can choose to complete the six projects in this book exactly as presented or mix and match techniques to create a truly custom project. Complete in-depth information, step-by-step instructions, focused sidebars, and tips add up to a professional patio or walkway project that homeowners will enjoy for years to come.

The strong horizontals of bamboo reflected in a dark circle of water; the rhythmic clap of the deer scarer; the contemplative beauty of waves created in sand: combinations of nature and art that soothe and uplift the spirit. Your vision of a Japanese garden need not be confined to Japan. Here is a fully comprehensive guiide which will enable you to capture in your home or office environment the elusive spirit of the Japanese garden-no matter where you live.

Incorporating movement in the landscape is one of the hot trends in gardening today. As people invest more time and money in their homes, landscaping a primary focus. How can we make the outdoors more inviting? Paths, steps, and footbridges are three key elements that help define a landscape and how people move through it and enjoy it. An inviting path that meanders through a garden, steps that connect terraced outdoor "living rooms," and a footbridge that spans a small stream each serves a utilitarian purpose, but when designed creatively and well can infuse a property with an irresistible sense of wonder and delight.

Do you ever lament that you’d love to be able to garden more, but just don’t have the time? The demanding pace of modern life leaves little space for the pleasures of gardening. On the other hand, gardening itself could be the culprit: elaborate, traditional perennial borders; water-hungry or disease-prone plants; needy lawns; and high-maintenance plants that require staking or clipping all suck up precious hours.

"Golden Gate Gardening", the definitive primer on vegetable gardening in Northern California, is encyclopedic in its coverage of gardening principles and practices specific to the region. Full of information and camaraderie, this book explains how to grow common vegetables and herbs and add unusual ones that bring variety to the garden. Line art throughout .

Gardening. Environmental Studies. This generously illustrated book features more than 650 native Californian and Mediterranean plants suited to the climate and microclimates of the Bay Area. More than 550 color photographs show plants in garden settings that blend well with natural surroundings and reduce reliance on water and other limited resources. "This book is a valuable resource for climate-compatible gardening in the Bay Area. It will occupy a prominent place in my library for many years to come" -- Katherine Greenberg, President, Mediterranean Garden Society. "A truly fine book. It's hard to imagine how anyone would want a stuffy old English garden after seeing the beautiful gardens featured here" -- Katherine Grace Endicott, columnist, San Francisco Chronicle, and author, Northern California Gardening.

California abounds with edible selections to grow in the diverse conditions of the state. California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening addresses the critical elements of climate, soil, sun, and water that affects growing success. More than sixty fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers are highlighted, and helpful charts and graphs for planning and planting the garden are included.

Beloved perennial of the green-thumbed in the golden state, and now revised and sporting a gorgeous new cover, Northern California Gardening is a comprehensive, illustrated guide for both novice and expert gardeners. San Francisco Chronicle garden columnist Katherine Grace Endicott maps out the rewards of reaping what you sow from flowers and fruits to herbs and vegetables throughout Northern California. The unique month-by-month format helps readers find answers when they need them, while detailed information on native and nonnative species and basic planting and pruning techniques make carefree gardening easier than ever. Add to that a completely new and updated source list, and finding just the right plants and seeds is as simple as watching them grow.

Complete instructions for growing over 190 vegetables, herbs, berries, fruits, nuts, and tropical fruits in the ground and in containers. Plans and design ideas for kitchen gardens of all sizes, as well as easy-to-follow guidelines for composting, building raised beds, and more. Growing season details for all regions of the West, including Alaska and Hawaii. Timely tips from edibles experts around the West-British Columbia to New Mexico. More than 300 pages of color photographs, practical advice, and inspiration from the editors of Sunset magazine, the West's authority on gardening.

It's no wonder the best-selling Little Herb Gardens, now with a fresh new cover, has been so popular. Herbs are the instant gratification project of the gardening world, and people love to grow them. This friendly guide to homegrown herbs is perfect for beginners, featuring plans for simple garden projects ranging from outdoor garden beds to window boxes and container gardens. Growing instructions for over 30 herbs are rounded out with ideas for garden planning and maintenance. Tips on harvesting and cooking with nature's bounty make this charming volume as useful in the kitchen as it is in the garden. With colorful photographs and warm and informative text, Little Herb Gardens is inviting to gardeners, cooks, and herb novices alike.

Lester G. E. Rowntree (1879-1979), free-spirited adventurer and pioneering botanist, was fifty-two when she traded a comfortable home for the life of a peripatetic traveler in the California mountains, deserts, and forests. Through hundreds of magazine and journal articles, two acclaimed books, and uncounted public lectures, Rowntree shared her vast knowledge of California native plants and at the same time argued passionately for the protection of the state's bountiful flora. A mountain mystic who worshipped on Sierra peaks, bathed in alpine streams, and lived for months on beans and bread, Rowntree has remained an inspiration in native plant horticulture and plant conservation to this day.

Carnivorous pitcher plants, pygmy conifers, and the Tiburon jewel flower, restricted to a small patch of serpentine soil on Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County, are just a few of California's many amazing endemic plants--species that are unique to particular locales. California boasts an abundance of endemic plants precisely because it also boasts the richest geologic diversity of any place in North America, perhaps in the world. In lively prose, Arthur Kruckeberg gives a geologic travelogue of California's unusual soils and land forms and their associated plants--including serpentines, carbonate rocks, salt marshes, salt flats, and vernal pools--demonstrating along the way how geology shapes plant life. Adding a fascinating chapter to the story of California's remarkable biodiversity, this accessible book also draws our attention to the pressing need for conservation of the state's many rare and fascinating plants and habitats.

California Native Plants for the Garden is a comprehensive resource that features more than 500 of the best California native plants for gardening in Mediterranean-climate areas of the world. Authored by three of the state's leading native-plant horticulturists and illustrated with 450 color photos, this reference book also includes chapters on landscape design, installation, and maintenance. Detailed lists of recommended native plants for a variety of situations and appendices with information on places to see native plants and where to buy them are also provided.

No one can deny the power and attraction of water features. And it's never been easier for gardeners to add the sparkle and serenity of water to their own landscapes. Garden centers and flower shows throughout North America provide both the tools and the inspiration; this book will give readers the know-how. Projects range from simple to more advanced. Readers can choose among a classic wall-mounted fountain spout, a traditional or contemporary cascade and garden pond, an authentic Japanese-style bamboo water pump, witty water sculptures, and more. With 16 projects in all, this book has something to offer all tastes, budgets, and abilities.

You want a pond in your garden. You want fish and water lilies and a waterfall; you want to relax next to your pond after work and sip your tea. But before you go buy a shovel, there are a few things to think about. A Practical Guide to Building & Maintaining Your Pond is a compilation of Jan Goldfield's 25-years of experience as the renowned pondlady in and around New Orleans, Louisiana. Complete with photos and interactive table of contents, A Practical Guide to Building & Maintaining Your Pond will serve as your "cover-to-cover" guide and an easy-reference you will return to time and again.

Do you own a home in Marin County? This is the ONLY book dedicated to helping you save money, create what you want and learn what you need to succeed creating your landscape. It is written by a veteran designer and installer with twenty years in the industry.