Synopses & Reviews
Do you ever lament that you'd love to be able to garden more, but just don't have the time? The demanding pace of modern life leaves little space for the pleasures of gardening. On the other hand, gardening itself could be the culprit: elaborate, traditional perennial borders; water-hungry or disease-prone plants; needy lawns; and high-maintenance plants that require staking or clipping all suck up precious hours.
Simply put, we need to start gardening in a whole new way. In this inspiring book, Val Easton shows exactly how to have a low-maintenance garden that doesn't sacrifice style. You won't have to give up your favorite plants or settle for expanses of ugly bark nuggets. You just have to unlearn some bad old habits and pick up some good new ones.
So, how do you go about making a "new" low-maintenance garden? First, design your garden with maintenance in mind -- good-looking hardscape will both save weeding time and showcase your favorite plants. Second, simplify your garden routines -- learn the most efficient planting and maintenance techniques and don't get stressed if everything isn't letter-perfect. Third, learn how to work with nature rather than against it. And finally, embrace home-grown fruits, herbs, and vegetables; well planted containers; and thoughtfully chosen plants.
The New Low-Maintenance Garden doesn't just tell you how to garden in a whole new way -- it shows you, through profiles and beautiful photographs of real gardens that embody low-maintenance techniques.
The pressures of life are not likely to ease up anytime soon, but the lessons of this timely book will help you banish guilt over undone garden chores and revel in your garden successes.
Review
"A garden can be a consuming passion--at least until you feel it consuming you. When Val Easton found herself in that spot, she knew it was time to move on, this time to a gem of a low-maintenance garden she made for herself. It kept her passion for gardening alive and spawned a terrific book, The New Low-Maintenance Garden." Sunset - ' - s - " - Fresh Dirt - " - blog
Review
"[Easton's premise] will be embraced by gardeners facing the limitations of an aging body or the time constraints of a busy career; by gardeners who want an inviting place to enjoy being outdoors; and, not least, by designers who are asked by nearly every client for a low-maintenance garden." Digging blog
Review
"You look and say 'I want this,' realizing that your desire has everything to do with the sanctuary garden that Easton is calling you back to. Low maintenance is just the part of the equation that gives you the time to enjoy the sanctuary you create." Sunset - ' - s - " - Fresh Dirt - " - blog
Review
"This book is an invaluable addition to the garden library - destined to be a classic for many years to come." Garden Design Online
Review
"[This book] shows authentic beauty achievable by regular folks like you and me, as opposed to gardening super-heroes who spend every waking moment plucking dead blades out of their chive plants."
Life on the Balcony blog
Review
"This [is a] handy guide to a garden you can raise without a corresponding increase in your blood pressure ... handsome and informative."
Metropolitan Home
Review
"A well-informed and useful guide that ' will appeal to gardeners all over the country. Recommended." --Metropolitan Home
Review
"Easton shows us how to garden reasonably without feeling overwhelmed. [This book] is a long overdue cry for gardening sanity, with guidelines for restoring balance to our lives." Portland Tribune
Review
"Over the years, countless books have espoused a low-maintenance approach to gardening. None have been as engaging, practical, or inspiring as this latest of Easton's contributions to the gardener's bookshelf." Pacific Horticulture
Review
"If you're looking for photographic inspiration, key tips for garden victory, additional books and resources, or success stories from other gardeners, you'll find it all in this well-written, easy-to-navigate guide."
Sacramento Book Review
Review
"A well-informed and useful guide that ... will appeal to gardeners all over the country. Recommended." Library Journal
Review
"If you'd like a beautiful garden but find yourself on the treadmill called life, this book just might help you understand it's doable...this book provides inspiration while steering readers away from traditional elaborate perennial borders, water-hogging and disease prone plants, high-maintenance lawns, and time consuming plants that require deadheading, pruning, and constant care."
About the Author
Valerie Easton is a weekly garden columnist for
Pacific Northwest Magazine of
The Seattle Times. Her own low-maintenance garden, the muse for this book, has been published in
The New York Times,
This Old House, and
Horticulture. She has contributed articles on gardens, homes, and the people who make them to a variety of magazines, including
Metropolitan Home, Fine Gardening, and
Gardens IllustratedA Pattern Garden Jacqueline Knox trained at the leeds school of Physiotherapy and has a Postgraduate diploma in Manipulative therapy. She runs her own physiotherapy clinic, lectures on spinal problems and is physiotherapist to the British rowing team who won a gold medal at the Athens olympics. She co-wrote the
Official Body Control Pilates Manual and was medical consultant on the book
Pilates Pregnancy Guide.
Photographer and journalist Jacqueline M. Koch's assignments have taken her from the Pacific Northwest to the South Pacific, Africa, and Europe. Her portfolio includes gardens and landscape design as well as coverage of world events, and her work has appeared in Pacific Northwest Magazine of The Seattle Times as well as in Garden Design, Time, Newsweek, and The Washington Post