Country Style Gardens

“A practical and inspirational guide to a new style of planting.” —Country Homes & Interiors In this practical and inspirational guide, Greg Loades presents a new style of planting: a fusion between classic cottage style and the new perennial movement. Using real gardens as examples, The Modern Cottage Garden teaches gardeners how to combine the best of both styles—big, colorful blooms and striking grasses and native plants—into one beautiful space that requires little maintenance and has a long season of interest. Fresh planting ideas for containers, small gardens, and diverse climates present an exciting style that can shine anywhere.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

The instantly recognizable English cottage garden encapsulates that delightful mix of scented climbers, drifts of flowers inter-mingled with herbs and vegetables, fruit trees and traditional features. Much loved and copied throughout the world, it is uniquely individual. With no strict rules to adhere to, it is a garden style that is both informal and functional, celebrating fragrance, flowers and seasonal interest at its heart. The old cottage style of gardening, that blended planting to create a flowery yet productive plot within a small space, is still highly relevant and easily transferable to today's modern garden, whether it be a city courtyard or a large garden in the country. Appropriate for gardeners of every level of ability, The English Cottage Garden covers all aspects of designing a cottage-style garden; from choosing the right trees, climbers, shrubs and perennials to creating an authentic cottage feel to the planting It also covers the use of colour within the garden; how features can establish a framework and create focal points; and why companion planting is essential to this style. Illustrated throughout with a wealth of photographs showing gardens, planting combinations, colourful border schemes and individual flowers, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in the quintessential cottage garden.

An inspirational and practical book of country gardens and gardening techniques, for all those who dream of creating their own country retreat. This book is designed to appeal to the country gardener, showing the practical techniques as well as the tools and materials necessary. It covers every size, style and type of garden including the country garden in any town. John Brookes is the author of The Garden Book, The Indoor Garden Book and The New Small Garden.

CLICK HERE to download sample native plants from Real Gardens Grow Natives For many people, the most tangible and beneficial impact they can have on the environment is right in their own yard. Aimed at beginning and veteran gardeners alike, Real Gardens Grow Natives is a stunningly photographed guide that helps readers plan, implement, and sustain a retreat at home that reflects the natural world. Gardening with native plants that naturally belong and thrive in the Pacific Northwest’s climate and soil not only nurtures biodiversity, but provides a quintessential Northwest character and beauty to yard and neighborhood! For gardeners and conservationists who lack the time to read through lengthy design books and plant lists or can’t afford a landscape designer, Real Gardens Grow Natives is accessible yet comprehensive and provides the inspiration and clear instruction needed to create and sustain beautiful, functional, and undemanding gardens. With expert knowledge from professional landscape designer Eileen M. Stark, Real Gardens Grow Natives includes: * Detailed profiles of 100 select native plants for the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, plus related species, helping make plant choice and placement. * Straightfoward methods to enhance or restore habitat and increase biodiversity * Landscape design guidance for various-sized yards, including sample plans * Ways to integrate natives, edibles, and nonnative ornamentals within your garden * Specific planting procedures and secrets to healthy soil * Techniques for propagating your own native plants * Advice for easy, maintenance using organic methods

From fragrant rose-filled beds and wild, forest-like backyards to hardy native-filled gardens and verdant outback oases, Country Style's first garden book brings together a collection of the most beautiful gardens from around Australia. A labour of love for most, a country garden provides respite and calm from the paddocks beyond and a place for farming families to gather. Filled with Country Style's trademark photography, this 224-page hardcover book tells the stories of the people behind the gorgeous gardens and is packed with inspiration for you to start planting.

A celebration of a beloved and uniquely British garden style. The cottage garden's abundant, informal style is rooted in Victorian dreams of a perfect country life. But it has found new expressions from the Arts & Crafts movement to the present day. This book showcases a selection of National Trust cottage gardens, famous and obscure, including writer Thomas Hardy’s cottage in Dorset; the flower-filled cottage garden created at Sissinghurst, Kent, by Vita Sackville-West and harold Nicolson; the Tudor manor Cothele in Cornwall, Beatrix Potter's Cumbrian home, Hill Top, and the picturesque Alfriston Clergy House in East Sussex. Cottage Gardens also features some of the most famous non-National Trust examples from around the country, including Kelmscott Manor, Dove Cottage and Eastgrove Cottage Garden. With practical advice on creating your own cottage garden, including key plants and techniques, this is a wonderful companion for all garden enthusiasts. With climbing roses, bright hollyhocks, pathways edged with honeysuckle, blossom-filled orchards and wildflower meadows, this is the perfect book to capture the idyllic British country garden.

This is the definitive and most authoritative book ever published on the glories of English gardening--historically and horticulturally, a tour de force. An unprecedented in-depth look at the English garden by one of Britain's foremost garden writers and authorities, this book showcases the enduring appeal of the English garden whose verdant lawns and borders of colorful plants are the inspiration for garden lovers worldwide. Kathryn Bradley-Hole--the longtime garden columnist for Country Life--takes a fresh look at more than seventy gardens from across England and distills the essence of what makes the English garden style so sought after. Seasonal photographs capture the gardens--some grand, some personal, some celebrated, some rarely photographed--at their finest moments, accompanied by sparkling, insightful text. Featuring photographs from the unparalleled archives of Country Life, the full story of the English garden is here, from medieval monastery gardens to the Victorians and the Arts and Crafts movement to the twenty-first century. Designs by many of the horticultural world's greats are amply featured, including Gertrude Jekyll, Capability Brown, Piet Oudolf, and Arne Maynard, as well as gardens famous the world over--Sissinghurst, Hidcote, and Great Dixter--alongside new and less-well-known ones, many open to the public.