Synopses & Reviews
Transform your deck into the ideal outdoor living space
When surrounded by shrubs and small trees, perennials and annuals, ornamental grasses and vines, your deck becomes an appealing link between your home and yard. In this book, you'll find everything you need to know to create your dream deck environment. Barbara Ellis offers dozens of creative ideas and fail-proof techniques.
Long-blooming flowers, fruit-bearing shrubs, and gracefully drifting grasses offer fragrance and color while attracting visits from butterflies and hummingbirds.
Plant-packed containers grouped on a deck convey a special feeling of abundance, and they instantly create a gardenlike feel.
Flowering vines trained over a sturdy arbor create an island of welcome shade. Flowers and foliage spilling over railings and covering a trellised wall or arbor provide a sense of privacy.
Count on Barbara Ellis to pick up on just what the American deck needs. Deckscaping shows us how to turn our own bland (or cluttered!) space into a delightful, usable room that seamlessly joins our indoor dTcor with our garden landscape. With so many good ideas, I can't wait to get started! (Frances Tenenbaum, Editor, Taylor's Guide to Gardening)
Barbara Ellis offers a whole new approach to making this outdoor living space one of the most attractive areas of the home landscape. (Lewis and Nancy Hill, authors of The Lawn and Garden Owner's Manual, Daylilies, Pruning Made Easy, and Secrets of Plant Propagation)
Review
"Inspirational color photographs and detailed project checklists help develop design needs; and to further enhance deck landscaping possibilities, Ellis thoughtfully recommends plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies, incorporate fragrance, provide screening, or furnish kitchen herbs." Booklist
Review
"Barbara Ellis offers a whole new approach to making this outdoor living space one of the most attractive areas of the home landscape." Lewis and Nancy Hill, authors of The Lawn and Garden Owner's Manual, Daylilies, Pruning Made Easy, and Secrets of Plant Propagation
Review
"Count on Barbara Ellis to pick up on just what the American deck needs. Deckscaping shows us how to turn our own bland (or cluttered!) space into a delightful, usable room that seamlessly joins our indoor décor with our garden landscape. With so many good ideas, I can't wait to get started!" Frances Tenenbaum, Editor, Taylor's Guide to Gardening
Synopsis
Decks are popular in North American landscapes because they serve as outdoor santuaries. They are in the back yard, where life is quiet and less hectic. But a large, flat expanse of deck isn't all that exciting. Often decks look bare and univiting and can take up valuable gardening space. With Deckscaping, learn to landscape on and around your deck. Landscaping and planting techniques help create the feeling that the deck is surrounded by the garden while hiding the decks unsightly undercarriage. Containers planted with flowers, herbs, or vegetables bring the garden, with its fragrances, butterflies, birds, and wildlife, right up onto the deck. Running low on space? Attach hanging baskets and planter boxes to the railing.
Synopsis
Realize the full potential of your deck, whatever its shape and size. Barbara W. Ellis shows you how to turn your outdoor space into an inviting retreat with long-blooming flowers, butterflies, and a cozy chair. Ellis's straightforward, easy-to-follow advice on plantings, furniture, maintenance, and even lighting provides everything you need to know to create the deck of your dreams. Stunning photography and color drawings will inspire you to work with nature and use your deck more in every season.
Synopsis
Decks are popular in North American landscapes because they serve as outdoor sanctuaries. They are in the back yard, where life is quiet and less hectic. The deck is the perfect place to read the Sunday paper, listen to a ballgame, or entertain when the weather's nice. But a large, flat expanse of deck isn't all that exciting. Often, decks look bare and uninviting and can take up valuable gardening space.
With DECKSCAPING, learn to landscape on and around your deck. Landscaping and planting techniques help create the feeling that the deck is surrounded by the garden while hiding the deck's unsightly undercarriage. Add structure and privacy to the deck by building a lattice-covered pergola and growing climbing vines on it for shade. Containers planted with flowers, herbs, or vegetables bring the garden, with its fragrances, butterflies, birds, and wildlife, right up onto the deck. Running low on space? Attach hanging baskets and planter boxes to the railing. What you plant around your deck is just as important as what you plant around your house.
In addition to teaching landscaping and planting techniques, DECKSCAPING provides decorating tips on furniture, ornaments, and water features that strengthen the link between indoor and outdoor rooms. Homeowners will also learn how to evaluate a deck, analyze its usefulness and effectiveness, and identify options to improve it so that it is comfortable, safe, and appealing.
Description
176 pages; 9 1/4" x 10"; Full-color photographs and illustrations throughout; Paperback.
About the Author
Barbara Ellis is a freelance writer, an editor, and a lifelong gardener. The author of several books in the Taylor's Guide series, she has also worked as a Managing Editor at Rodale Press and as a Publications Director for the American Horticultural Society. Ellis lives with her husband and an assortment of dogs in a 200-year-old stone farmhouse surrounded by a large, organic, wildlife-friendly garden.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Ideal Outdoor Living Space
Chapter 1: Customizing Your Design (4)
Chapter 2: The Surrounding Gardens (24)
Chapter 3: Container Gardening (58)
Chapter 4: Trellises and Arbors (86)
Chapter 5: Decorating with Style (112)
Chapter 6: Favorite Deckside Plants (124)
Index (158)