The Exotic Garden

The idea of mixing tropical plants with perennials and hardy annuals has been around since Victorian times. It is now enjoying a newfound popularity because tropical plants are more widely available. Gardeners who want to bring the lush beauty of tropicals to an existing garden, or who want to create an authentic vintage garden, will delight in The Exotic Garden. Although tropicals are novelties in temperate climates, they can successfully be grown anywhere. Iversen shows how tropicals can easily be used as annuals to perk up a garden with color during non-blooming seasons. The author's expert advice shows how to grow tropicals in beds, borders, and containers, select and combine plants, and use the tools of color, texture, and form. Plus, there are special overwintering tips and a full color glossary of more than 100 plants.

Celebrate a new, adventurous style of gardening—one where vibrant colors, large and lush leaves, and dramatic shapes hint at tropical climes. Will Giles proves that both subtropical and Mediterranean-style plants can be grown as easily in temperate as in hot climates. In addition to individual chapters on the different styles of plants, a practical guide offers step-by-step instructions on growing a range of exotics, plus a directory of key plants to grow in your own garden.

With fabulous palms, big bold banana leaves, colour flowers and flamboyant foliage, exotic gardens never fail to fascinate and excite a gardener. This inspirational book introduces the mouth-watering array of hardy and tender plants that can be used to create jungle-style landscapes in every garden. It explains their characteristics, and advises on how they can be planted and grown to produce a stunning display to be enjoyed even in temperate climates. Topics covered include: *Guide to exotic plants *Advice on propagation *Instruction on planting and growing *Ideas for design, finishing touches and desert gardens *A to Z reference section of exotic plants AUTHOR: Ian Cooke is a professional horticulturalist with a particular fascination for exotic plants and gardens. After fourteen years managing the award-winning grounds of the University of Nottingham, where he created an exotic walled garden, he now concentrates on writing, lecturing and garden design. In 2008 he was awarded the Associate of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society. He is a regular judge for Chelsea and major flower shows. SELLING POINTS: * An inspirational guide to exotic gardening and plants aimed at all levels of gardeners * Gives advice on propagation, gives ideas for design and covers planting and growing of exotic plants ILLUSTRATIONS: 149 colour photographs *

Showing a wide spectrum of West Indies gardens, from a tiny garden in an urban backyard to spectacular places designed by renowned landscapers, this book provides a fascination and passion for tropical gardening with a lively touch and detailed research. The texts are lightly translated to French, making it a bilingual book for a wider audience. The gardens on display here includes the Montreal Gardens on St. Vincent, Diamond Gardens on St. Lucia, and Hunte's Gardens on Barbados. The final chapter demonstrates ideas for flower arrangements using tropical flowers and step-by-step instructions of three flower arrangements done by fine flower designers from Grenada, with their original comments.

"Gardeners ready for something different will appreciate...Chapters on form and texture and color supply readers with the tools they need to create the lush jungle-style gardens and dry Mediterranean-style gardens featured...practical guide to exotic gardening rounds out the text."-- "Gardener." "Gardeners grow everything everywhere...The gardens in "THE NEW EXOTIC GARDEN."..are good examples. Each one, including the author's own garden in Norwich, England, is a dramatic allusion to somewhere else, somewhere equatorial."--"The New York Times."

“Fearless Gardening encourages you—exhorts you—to boldly go forth and claim your garden as a space of joy and creativity.” —Jennifer Jewell, creator and host of public radio’s Cultivating Place Embrace your inner rebel and create the garden you want—even if it breaks the rules. Loree Bohl, the voice behind the popular blog The Danger Garden, shows how it’s done in Fearless Gardening, with zone-busting ideas and success stories. Bohl’s own gorgeous home garden inspires, with agaves that shrug off ice storms, palms that thrive in the rain, and planting risks that are beautifully rewarded.

This book takes the "houseplant look" outside by exploring the wonders of lush, green, foliage plants that are hardy in the garden to -10F. Unlike flowers that fade, these big-leaved, larger-than-life plants provide year-round impact for decades and small, urban gardens that are well protected are the perfect home for them. Expert horticulturist Philip Oostenbrink has been an enthusiastic grower for years and in this book recommends the best hardy, foliage plants for texture, leaf shape, and color. Jungle gardens can be shady and immersive, sunny and open or somewhere in between and there are plants suited to all these environments including purple-leaved bananas, desert-island palms, spiky agaves, architectural Pseudopanax, and succulents such as Echeveria and Aeonium. Beautiful special photography by Sarah Cuttle features standout jungle gardens that demonstrate how to combine foliage plants effectively and create backdrops and container displays that make the plants pop. This book is the irresistible next step for all houseplant addicts and for all who are ready to embark on their very own jungle adventure.