Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68240 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

Easy, natural gardening
I always look forward to a new gardening book from Ann Lovejoy and this one did not disappoint. Beautifully illustrated with Janet Loughrey's color photographs, this book is full of practical ideas for creating a Northwest garden that is both beautiful and easy to care for.

The writer's mantra "Natural, sustainable, organic" pervades the whole book - fourteen densely packed chapters covering topics from "Sustainable Garden Design" to selecting different types of plants. In the chapter on garden design she outlines what she considers to be the ten issues of good garden design. They are good, basic common sense, but so easy to ignore or forget. In just a couple of pages the writer addresses them briefly but vividly, then goes on to suggest how you might start your garden planning from an assessment of your garden's assets and liabilities.

One of Ann Lovejoy's strengths is her knowledge of and commitment to all aspects of sustainable natural gardening. She presents this thoroughly without being wordy (quite a trick in itself) and points out that natural gardening - working with nature - is far easier and more satisfying than trying to control nature.

In the chapters on plant selection the reader is guided in the choice of trees, shrubs, perennials etc that are not just pretty, or fashionable this year, but that will really work well in a specific place in your garden. Careful plant choices mean a minimum of stress for the plant and a minimum of effort for the gardener.

This writer's particular talent is her ability to combine practicality with vision. Her books, while primarily written for the gardener in the Pacific Northwest, contain much that is of value to gardeners elsewhere.

Wonderful information and enjoyable read.
I usually do not buy what I call "How To" books as I can skim what I want in the book store. I purchased this book as a skim read too, hoping only to get some good info for my PNW area.
Once I started the book though, I couldn't put it down. It was a great read and full on information. There was no dryness or boredom at all. Ann is great at entertaining you while educating you and keeping you interested. One of those teachers that makes you enjoy the class.
I would recommend having your highlighter ready. I did highlight certain things I came across that I wanted to be able to flip to easy.
I definetly recommend this book to any gardener beginner and already educated. It is full of ggod information on how to make your garden grow and work for you.

the essential book for the northwest
I love all of Ann Lovejoy's books for her straight forward style of writing and gardening and the photography is always wonderful too. I checked this book out several times (after long waiting lists) from the library and finally decided i didn't want to share it anymore! If you live in our amazing Pac.N.W. and love to garden, this is the only book you really need.