Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change

Description

A successful garden is rewarding, stimulating, and environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, traditional gardening practices don't often deliver on that promise. Not only are these outdated methods resource- and time-consuming, they result in gardens that are weedy, labor-intensive, and at odds with wildlife and local ecosystems. For decades, Larry Weaner has been at the forefront of ecological landscape design. With horticulturist Thomas Christopher, he shows us how to garden in a way that is responsible, exciting, and revolutionary. By understanding the ecological processes of change in our native landscapes and incorporating them into our designs, we can create beautiful, dynamic landscapes that require less labor and are more aesthetically rewarding and environmentally sound. The book abounds in practical advice. For example, instead of yanking weeds, cut them off at ground level so that more weed seeds aren't brought to the surface. Rather than amending your soil, simply choose plants that are adapted to your site-they'll thrive and keep invasive plants from gaining a foothold. Forget about dividing and replanting; just allow your plants to establish pleasing patterns that evolve over the years. The stunning landscapes and easy-to-follow techniques showcased in this book will forever change the way you think about what a garden should do and be. Forget about nonstop weeding, fertilizing, and watering. It's time for a garden revolution. AUTHOR: Larry Weaner is a leading figure in North American landscape design and founder of the educational program series New Directions in the American Landscape. His firm Larry Weaner Landscape Associates is known for combining ecological restoration with traditions of fine garden design and has received the top three design awards from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Thomas Christopher, a graduate of the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture, has created gardens for clients for forty years. He is the author of many books, including 'Essential Perennials: The Complete Reference to 2700 Perennials for the Home Garden'. REVIEW: "An invaluable and provocative resource for gardeners who want to collaborate with their local ecologies-and save themselves both heartbreak and backbreak." -The New York Times Book Review 71 colour photos, 9 illustrations

Larry Weaner is a leading figure in North American landscape design and founder of the educational program series New Directions in the American Landscape. His firm, Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, is known for combining ecological restoration with traditions of fine garden design and has recieved the top three design awards from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and the Regional Impact Award by the New England Wild Flower Society. Weaner was awarded the Lady Bird Johnson Award by the Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College. Thomas Christopher is the author of more than a dozen gardening books. He has written for The New York Times, The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, and Horticulture Magazine, as well as serving as a columnist for House & Garden and a contributing editor at Martha Stewart Living.

"This beautiful book shows us that guiding natural processes rather than fighting them is the key to creating healthier landscapes and happier gardeners. An essential addition to our knowledge of sustainable landscapes." --Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home "An essential reference for conservation-minded home gardeners and stewards of larger landscapes." --Rick Darke, author of The Living Landscape and The American Woodland Garden "There's inspiration here, from the honesty with which the authors address climate change to the experiential wisdom they bring to every aspect of the complex process of creating a landscape." --Booklist "In this text-heavy volume, a landscape designer and a horticulturist teach us that gardening can be a partnership with nature when gardeners shed conventional practices, exploit plants' life cycles, and embrace unpredictable plant communities." --Library Journal "What is marvellous about reading this book is the powerful sense of those lifetimes of knowledge and skill being shared, and so concisely--there is hardly a spare sentence here. . . . Illustrations are plentiful, clear and enticing. . . . I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who wants to work with wild or ecological planting styles; we can all learn a lot from it." --Gardens Illustrated "A guide to every aspect of a new kind of garden based on age-old laws--nature's law." --Country Gardens "There's a way to design and plant that's beneficial to the environment, that looks beautiful, and that saves you--the homeowner-- from a lot of toil and trouble. . . . the principles he outlines can be adapted for almost any garden, so it's a book that you'll want on your bookshelf. . . . This is a book that's long, long overdue." --Garden Design Online "This book shows how [Larry Weaner] evaluates the natural habitat, chooses plants, and watches them grow and reseed, then edits if necessary. . . . This is a book that will guide a designer through a planning process, including a demonstration of the use of themed maps to show microclimates and other features of a site." --San Francisco Chronicle "Garden Revolution reinforces what we've been told again and again--and thankfully are beginning to heed--that as garden makers, we need to pay attention to the local ecology. . . . Throughout the book, practical content is presented alongside anecdotal planting examples. . . their observations and analysis open our eyes and invite us to adopt an approach that can be deeply meaningful and filled with 'surprises and revelatory events.'" --Pacific Horticulture Magazine "Garden Revolution gives land managers the toolkit to work with land on large and small scales in order to create ecologically sensitive landscapes. For anyone who is a steward of land or interested in the topic, this is a book to find and read sooner rather than later." --NYBG's Plant Talk "A thoughtful meditation on ecology, garden design, and theory of native landscapes." --Garden Collage