ABOUT THE BOOK: LANDSCAPE PLANNING

This is a book about making change in your garden. It’s about understanding what works well and should be retained, and also about identifying problems and how to solve them. It’s about working with plants of all kinds — hedges for privacy, trees for shade, and perennials for low maintenance ground cover. And it’s also about the many uses of hard materials like wood, stone, and brick.

Almost every gardener understands how one thing leads to another. Buy a new shrub and a perennial plant bed needs to be moved. Change the house downspouts and a dry walkway becomes wet. Install a swimming pool and privacy fencing is necessary. As the garden ages, opportunities for development and renovation are always at hand. But how do you determine what’s really needed? If an outdoor seating area is required, should it be a wood deck or a back patio? To create dappled shade overhead, should you plant a locust tree or a Norway maple? And what about that steep slope in the lawn? Could it have a step, or should the grade be changed? Learning to think about landscape planning is what this book offers to home gardeners.

Landscape planning is the logical extension of gardening, and you’re probably doing it already. Most imagined improvements and attempted changes reflect your interest in developing the garden landscape. This book is meant to encourage and support those interests, and show the way to effective decision-making. You may plan changes requiring professional skills, or perhaps your own hands can do the job. Whether the project is small or large, this book will provide information and alternatives for making the best landscape decision.

Take a good look at your garden today, because it’s going to change and grow with this book!

Judith Adam’s books are available through many mainstream and speciality bookstores, and can be purchased online through amazon.com, amazon.ca, and chapters.indigo.ca.