Russell Page, one of the legendary gardeners and landscapers of the twentieth century, designed gardens great and small for clients throughout the world. His memoirs, born of a lifetime of sketching, designing, and working on site, are a mixture of engaging personal reminiscence, keen critical intelligence, and practical know-how. They are not only essential reading for today’s gardeners, but a master’s compelling reflection on the deep sources and informing principles of his art. The Education of a Gardener offers charming, sometimes pointed anecdotes about patrons, colleagues, and, of course, gardens, together with lucid advice for the gardener. Page discusses how to plan a garden that draws on the energies of the surrounding landscape, determine which plants will do best in which setting, plant for the seasons, handle color, and combine trees, shrubs, and water features to rich and enduring effect. To read The Education of a Gardener is to wander happily through a variety of gardens in the company of a wise, witty, and knowledgeable friend. It will provide pleasure and insight not only to the dedicated gardener, but to anyone with an interest in abiding questions of design and aesthetics, or who simply enjoys an unusually well-written and thoughtful book.

"Case studies from North America, Scandinavia, Great Britain, and Japan demonstrate natural outdoor learning and play environments that support hands-on interdisciplinary lessons and expand the possibilities for schoolyard recreation, while nurturing healthy imagination and socialization"--Provided by publisher.

From spring green to winter gold, the drama of grasses is nonstop. There are the striking yellow-and-green ostrich plumes of Zebra Grass. The fine-textured leaves of Blue Oat Grass. Flame Grass's dazzling red-orange leaves, Fountain Grass's coppery brushes, the rich brown nuggets of Northern Sea Oats, the feathery purple haze of Switch Grass. Whether on their own or as backdrops for colorful garden flowers, ornamental grasses are admired for their color, form, movement, and texture. They also aid in erosion control, soil stabilization, and water retention, making them great conservation tools for gardeners in all hardiness zones. Although grasses are widely available at garden centers all over North America, few books advise the gardener on how to use them in the garden - and especially how to combine them with perennials and other plants. GRASSES features plans and practical advice for more than 24 unique gardens. It's complete with an identification and growing guide to the plants, and it features more than 150 full-color photographs, illustrations, and landscape plans.

Whether it's introducing the soothing sound of water to your garden or choosing plants for graceful winter silhouettes; whether you are landscaping a brownstone backyard or a dry desert retreat, there are lessons to learn from these contemporary garden masters that will forever enhance where you live. The two hundred glorious full-color photographs by Erica Lennard and the engaging text by garden writer and designer Page Dickey capture the spirit and genius of each artist, his or her sources, inspiration, style, philosophy, and method of creation. From the bold southern California designs of Nancy Power to the urban geometries of Maddison Cox to the romantic country gardens of Nancy McCabe, Breaking Ground profiles ten artists who are redefining garden design categories. In addition to the stunning photographs, sketches and garden plans that include ideas for walls, alcoves, borders, planters, ponds, paths, courtyards, and rooftops help inspire ideas and adaptations for the home gardener. In an unusual and practical afterword, Page Dickey describes how she is applying what she learned to her own garden in New York State.

A timely and comprehensive review of these high-color, low-maintenance garden plants. The sight of a wild landscape covered with heathers in full bloom is breathtaking, so it is little surprise that people have found ways of introducing these rewarding plants into their gardens. In the residential context they excel, offering color in the drabbest months and a huge diversity of height, habit, and other valuable characteristics in return for modest cultural demands. A fascinating account of the unique ecological niche they occupy—including their remarkable adaptation to make use of the nitrogen and phosphorus unavailable to most other plants— provides a fitting context for discussion of their specific cultural needs. The detailed selection of cultivated hardy heathers conveniently provides gardeners with the best garden performers while further lists allow them to search for heathers for specific qualities such as heat tolerance, ground cover, or early summer blooming. Design options for displaying heathers at their best in the garden are provided along with advice on spacing, pruning, propagation, pests, and diseases. In this fascinating and beautifully illustrated work, classic wild-collected cultivars are described alongside the latest introductions to produce an invaluable reference that will inspire heather enthusiasts and gardeners for generations to come.

Nancy Power is to landscape what Frank Gehry is to architecture, or Bunny Williams to interiors—a master, a visionary, a seasoned professional at the very pinnacle of her craft. The designs Power creates—whether for parklands, playgrounds, or private sanctuaries—reflect the meticulous attention she pays to each place’s particularity and to the desires and living patterns of those who will use and enjoy her gardens. From residential gardens in Beverly Hills and Malibu to street planning for downtown Los Angeles and play zones for the Pasadena Children’s Museum, the selection of Power’s work in this beautiful book reveals her multidimensional aesthetic. Her approach can range from the lavishly leafy to the meditatively restrained, from the comfortably homey to the superlatively (though always quirkily) formal. But no matter what the look, no matter who the client, each of her projects reminds us of the power that gardens have to refresh the body, center the mind, and liberate the spirit.

Essays explore the philosophies and traditions behind gardening, providing a conceptual basis for practical planning and design

In Exceptional Treehouses, author and treehouse builder Alain Laurens reveals 30 gorgeous treehouse structures, 25 of which are entirely new creations, all illustrated with Daniel Dufour’s beautiful watercolors as well as photographs by Jacques Delacroix, commissioned specially for this book. As in his first book, Treehouse Living, Laurens demonstrates his commitment to sustainable building and environmentalism with his designs, all executed with ecological ideals in mind. In 2000 Laurens started his company, La Cabane Perchée, to design and build treehouses around Europe. Each house takes into account the local environment, as well as the tree in which the structure stands, and the photographs show details of how the treehouses are constructed without driving nails into any part of the host tree. Exceptional Treehouses is the perfect inspiration for treehouse lovers, eco-friendly architects, and enthusiastic amateurs.