The Water Garden Design Book

"Pursues the concept of integrating water features into garden design. A group of stunning photographs enhances the text as it explores the history of water features in the gardens of diverse cultures....effectively juxtaposes images of the natural world with vignettes that show how elements such as water spouts, pools, ponds, and rills can lend refinement to garden settings. Blueprint-like drawings are interspersed to depict the unseen components and mechanical elements necessary to construct naturalistic streams, waterfalls, and both simple and more complex types of fountains....inspiring effort."--"Booklist."

Water gardening is making a big splash in today's landscapes. Called the fastest-growing part of the landscape industry today, the installation of water features in the landscape is a multi-billion dollar market. It's easy to see why. Splashing fountains make hot days seem a bit cooler. Basins of water reflect the blue sky, puffy clouds, and colorful fall leaves. Naturalistic ponds and waterfalls attract birds and butterflies to backyards. And tiny tabletop fountains offer soothing sounds that drown out neighborhood noise. Water Garden Idea Book brings these ideas to life, providing more than 300 photos of all types of water features--with tips for design and placement so that they become striking focal points or soothing and subtle additions for any setting. From ponds and streams to pools and water stairs, fountains, containers, and bubbling urns, Water Garden Idea Book has it all. Special emphasis is given to siting all types of water features and how to install a water feature yourself. Extensive resource list is included.

With more than 120 garden plans designed to fit every imaginable landscape situation, this new volume guides readers through the issues that perplex everyone planning a garden.

The Water Garden Design Book will enable you to create exciting and stylish water features for your garden or backyard. It provides full details on how you can create individual features. The authors address every aspect of water gardening, from construction and design to fountains, falls , features and accessories. You'll also find a comprehensive plant directory, extensive advice on choosing and keeping fish, and background information on equipment and maintenance. Advice allows plenty of leeway for your individual taste, and makes allowances for variations in climate. Whether your space is large or small, you're sure to find the instruction and inspiration you need to create a beautiful water garden.

“Gardentopia is that rare marriage of the art of landscaping and the technical knowledge of how to compose a landscape—boiled down to readily understood and easily executed actions. This book puts you in the driver’s seat and shows you how to chart the course to your own personal garden utopia.” - Margie Grace, Grace Design Associates Any backyard has the potential to refresh and inspire if you know what to do. Jan Johnsen’s new book, Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces, will delight all garden lovers with over 130 lushly illustrated landscape design and planting suggestions. Ms. Johnsen is an admired designer and popular speaker whose hands-on approach to “co-creating with nature” will have you saying, “I can do that!’ This info-packed, sumptuous book offers individual tips for enhancing any size landscape using ‘real world’ solutions. The suggestions are grouped into five categories that include Garden Design and Artful Accents, Walls, Patios, and Steps and Plants and Planting, among others. Whether you are an experienced gardener or a landscaping novice, Gardentopia will inspire you with tips such as ‘Soften a Corner”, “Paint it Black”, and “Hide and Reveal”.

For years Garden Design magazine has been bringing its unique vision of the garden to a smart, savvy readership through its lush, arrestingly beautiful photography and thought-provoking, informative articles. Now Garden Design captures this wisdom and style in a book that delights the senses and enriches the mind. This book of visions for the new gardener. The man or woman who -- like most of us -- longs to create a special place within the world of nature. Step-by-step, from essential design elements to offbeat flourishes, from the all-important conception of an overarching design plan (the hallmark of a successful garden, be it minimal and Japanese in style or an exuberant English countryside profusion of color and shape) to the basics of planting and cultivating, from the habits and personalities of both rare and common plants to suggestions on the best ways to make the most of limited growing space (crucial to land-deprived city dwellers). Cheryl Merser and the editors of Garden Design magazine explain the new garden: What is it, exactly? And what makes it grow? From first seed to first frost -- season after season -- The Garden Design Book takes us through the sometimes complex, sometimes blessedly simple, but always rewarding experience that is gardening.

Backyard Water Gardens is a complete overview of everything you need to know in order to create a backyard water feature, from ideas, to installation, to maintaining, to stocking with plants and fish.