Synopses & Reviews
Lazy landscapers rejoice! Here's an invaluable book for everyone who loves to have an attractive garden, but hates to spend lots of time and energy on it. Marianne Binetti's philosophy is simple: Don't fight Mother Nature! Investing time up front -- preparing the soil and selecting the best plants for your area -- can save hours of sweat in the long run.
You'll learn how to keep down lawn maintenance by incorporating flowering shrubs and groundcovers into your landscape and by not striving for the "perfect" lawn. How to plant hedges that need little or no pruning. When you can save a problem plant from bugs and diseases and when you should just "throw in the trowel."
Professional garden writer Marianne Binetti shares hundreds of expert tips that guarantee maximum gardening enjoyment with a minimum of fuss. Tips for Carefree Landscapes answers the most-asked gardening questions and recommends the easiest plants to grow in both sunny and shady areas of your garden. Chapters on shrubs, bulbs, annuals, perennials, container gardening -- even low-maintenance roses -- explain exactly where you can cut corners and where you can't.
Here are just a few of the creative, sensible, and time-saving suggestions you'll find in Tips for Carefree Landscapes:
* Own an old, leaky hose? Punch a few more holes in it, put it along a shrub border or perennial bed, and cover it with bark mulch. You'll conserve water and save yourself work.
* Don't want to wait for compost? Try "spot composting" by digging small holes in your beds and throwing in your old weeds. You'll improve the soil as you go.
* Have a supply of Styrofoam "peanuts" around the house? Put them to good use by placing them in the bottom of a large planter -- they provide good drainage.
About the Author
Garden columnist and owner of a landscape design business, Marianne Binetti has been searching for the perfect plant--impossible to kill, but always in full bloom. It's something most gardeners are probably looking for, not to mention an honest request coming from the author of the Storey titles, Shortcuts for Accenting Your Garden and Tips for Carefree Landscape. Mother of three, Marianne's articles have been featured in Woman's Day magazine, and she writes a syndicated gardening column called "The Compleat Home Gardener" which runs in more than 20 newspapers in Western Washington, where she resides with her husband Joe. in 1988 she received the National Garden Bureau's annual Exemplary Journalism Award. Marianne has also worked for florists, nurseries and greenhouses for nearly 20 years. Binetti is a member of the Garden Writers Association of America and Plant Amnesty.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One - Lanscaping Rules for the Lazy Gardener
Chapter Two - Lawn Care for the Very Lazy
Chapter Three - Flowering Shrubs: The Backbone of Carefree Color
Chapter Four - Bulbs: Fancy Flowers without the Fuss
Chapter Five - I'll Promise Your a Rose Garden If...
Chapter Six - Blooming Annuals for Summer Color
Chapter Seven - Perennials: Many Happy Returns on Yoru Energy Investment
Chapter Eight - Let Your Garden Go to Pots
Chapter Nine - No Naked Soil: Groundcovers and Mulches
Chapter Ten - Plant Problems: The Lazy Way to Deal with Bugs, Weeds, and Disease
Chapter Eleven - Gardening Horror Stories
Source Guide
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