Midwest Home Landscaping, 3rd edition

by Roger Holmes, Rita Buchanan

Overview

Midwest Home Landscaping, Including Southern Canada, third edition, shows how to beautify 23 common landscape situations, such as front and back entries, walkways, borders, slopes, and patios. Each situation is presented with a variation, for a total of 46 designs. In addition, the book explains how to install and care for the plants, ponds, walls, and fences involved in the landscape designs. Plants that are proven performers in the Midwest are used in the designs and described in full detail. Step-by-step instructions provide the essential knowledge to tackle each project.
United States: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, OH, WI
Canada: Ontario (southern)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580114974
Publisher:	Fox Chapel Publishing
Publication date:	08/30/2010
Series:	Landscaping
Edition description:	Third
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

Roger Holmes is the founding editor of Fine Gardening magazine. He co-edited the monumental Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening and other highly regarded gardening books, and produced the seven-book regional landscaping series of which this book is part.

Rita Buchanan is a lifelong gardener with degrees in botany and an encyclopedic knowledge of plants. She worked with Roger Holmes to edit Fine Gardening magazine and co-edit several books, including Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening. She is the author of numerous award-winning books and is a contributor to many gardening magazines.

Table of Contents

MIDWEST HOME LANDSCAPING

Table of Contents

About This Book
Seasons in Your Landscape
As Your Landscape Grows

PORTFOLIO OF DESIGNS

First Impressions• Make a pleasant passage to your front door

A Step Up• Plant a foundation garden

Up Front and Formal• Garden geometry transforms a small front yard

Angle of Repose• Make a back-door garden in a sheltered niche

A Neighborly Corner• Beautify a boundary with easy-care plants

Streetwise and Stylish• Give your curbside strip a new look

Landscaping a Low Wall• A colorful two-tier garden replaces a bland slope

“Around Back”• Dress up the family’s day-to-day entrance

Beautify a Blank Wall• Paint a picture with plants

A Shady Hideaway• Build a cozy retreat in a corner of your yard

Create a “Living” Room• A patio garden provides privacy and pleasure

A Big Splash with a Small Pond• Add an extra dimension to your landscape

Garden in the Round• Create a planting with several attractive faces

A Beginning Border• Flowers and a fence make a traditional design

Back to Nature• Create a wooded retreat in your backyard

Make a No-Mow Slope• A terraced planting transforms a steep site

A Pleasant Passage• Reclaim a narrow side yard for a shade garden

Down to Earth• Harmonize your deck with its surroundings

A Woodland Link• Create a shrub border for nearby woods

Gateway Garden• Striking structure and plants make a handsome entry

A Pleasing Postal Planting• Provide a perennial setting for the daily mail

Elegant Symmetry• Add a formal touch to your backyard

GUIDE TO INSTALLATION

Organizing Your Project• Introducing the tasks involved in a landscape installation. How to organize them for best results.

Clearing the Site• Removing turf, weeds, and other unwanted material.

Making Paths and Walkways• Choosing materials, preparing the base, installing edgings, laying the surface.

Laying a Patio• Employing the same materials and techniques as for walks and paths. Ensuring proper drainage.

Installing a Pond• Siting, excavating, installing a flexible liner or fiberglass shell. Growing pond plants.

Building a Retaining Wall• Laying out, excavating, and assembling a precast modular wall system and steps.

Fences, Arbors, and Trellises• Selecting wood, layout, setting posts, basic construction. Plans for building the fences, trellises, and arbors shown in the Portfolio of Designs.

Preparing the Soil for Planting• Digging and improving the soil. Edging for beds.

Buying Plants• Where to go, what to look for, how to get the best quality and price.

The Planting Process• When to plant, steps in the planting process, spacing. Annuals as fillers.

Planting Basics• Plants in containers, balled-and-burlapped plants, bare-root plants, ground covers, and bulbs.

Basic Landscape Care• Mulches and fertilizers. Controlling weeds. Watering.

Caring for Woody Plants• Basic pruning for trees, shrubs, vines, and roses. Making a hedge.

Caring for Perennials• Routine care, pruning, dividing.

Problem Solvin• Understanding common problems with animal and insect pests and diseases. Winter protection.

PLANT PROFILESDescriptions of all the plants shown in the Portfolio of Designs, plus information on how to plant and care for them.

Glossary

Photo Credits

Index

Editorial Reviews

Your yard is a blank canvas just waiting for inventive design and plantings. Enter Holmes (founding editor, Fine Gardening magazine), horticultural consultant and photographer Buchanan (A Weaver's Garden), and Walheim (Citrus), who offer a succession of possible landscaping designs in this neat and polished series. Simple projects such as fencing, arbors, and pathways are logically and clearly illustrated. Each volume is broken down into three parts-"Design Portfolio," "Guide to Installations," and "Plant Portraits"-and each features approximately 50 designs, 200 plants, and 430 photos and paintings. Selection and seasonal care are individualized for the region. These lovely volumes are revisions, with first editions published between 1998 and 2001. Highly recommended but purchase according to your location. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal