5 comments about Easy Answers for Great Gardens: 500 Tips, Techniques, and Outlandish Ideas.

1. Marianne Binetti has done it again! "Easy Answers for Great Gardens" is easy to read and with great advice! I found this book potted full of helpful hints and new ideas. Marianne Binetti writes with such wit, you can't help but laugh as you learn. The clear chapter divisions makes it easy to weed through the bounty of information to target key problems or questions that you may have. "Easy Answers for Great Gardens" provides thorough step by step advice and clear instruction coupled with urging for the reader to use their own creative license to add their personal flair to any garden. This helps make it even more fun to create and enjoy the garden of your dreams. Binetti caters to those who wish to keep the creation and maintenance of their garden simple and cost-efficient without sacrificing beauty. The tips I've used so far from this book have helped me do just that! The "quick and easy" theme extends into the very format of this book. As a busy mother I am often uprooted from my cozy chair, so I found the question and answer format with highlighted tips and ideas a great way to pick up great information in the often short periods I have to read. This book would make an excellent gift for a novice gardener in need of easy to read and follow advice, or a super reading boost of inspiration for an aged green thumb looking to find new ways to enjoy the look and care of their garden. I give 'Easy Answers for Great Gardens" to very green thumbs up!



2. No color photos to drool over and get distracted by--just practical advice from a real person who understands how to juggle gardening chores and joys with other parts of a busy life. Martha Stewart she is not! As in her other books, Marianne Binetti has lots of unusual little shortcuts for saving time, money and energy that are as useful for the experienced gardener as for the beginner. The chapter on roses is excellent for folks like me, who love these flowers but don't have the time to baby them. Lots of disease-resistant types are listed, as well as some really useful tips contributed by readers of her newspaper column.



3. The original blurb I read about this book was misleading. I thought it was going to be about using unusual containers. I bought it for my sister. Now I have to get her another one. I started reading it and read it cover to cover. It was great! Very practical, imaginative, and common sensical. I wish I had had this when I was actually living in Tacoma, WA. But you don't have to live in the Pacific Northwest to derive a great deal of benefit from this book. I am putting some of her suggestions to use and in 3 short weeks am already seeing the difference they make. Thanks for writing this book!



4. This book focuses on giving the reader easy answers for more carefree gardening. This is not the writer's first gardening book and she has a syndicated gardening column and is featured on HGTV and the Discovery Channel. Her forte is giving practical gardening advice in easy-to-read, light-hearted small doses. This book consists of 500 tips, techniques and outlandish ideas; it also contains the kind of energy and enthusiasm that makes you want to go out and implement the ideas right away.

   Many of the tips and ideas are based on questions she has answered in her newspaper column. The answers are cheeky and irreverent. When asked "How much should I fertilize my trees?" the writer answers "The easy answer...Just forget it." After a couple of paragraphs explaining why fertilizing trees isn't a good idea she concludes, "Make your trees lean, mean and independent." And that illustrates the whole point of the book - don't stress over garden chores that you hate and plants that don't do well for you - gardening should be a pleasure, not a pain.

   The writer's light touch keeps the reader energized and coming back for more. She uses the term "carefree" quite often and points out that, while gardening is work, we should enjoy it more and worry about it less. If a plant doesn't do well it's OK to dig it up and throw it out.

   The question and answer format works well in this book, as do the many sidebars. The material is well organized and upbeat throughout. The writer is knowledgeable and up-to-date on recent research. My quibble with this book is the amateurish interior design and the poor copy editing. The writer deserved better.




5. This book focuses on giving the reader easy answers for more carefree gardening. This is not the writer's first gardening book and she has a syndicated gardening column and is featured on HGTV and the Discovery Channel. Her forte is giving practical gardening advice in easy-to-read, light-hearted small doses. This book consists of 500 tips, techniques and outlandish ideas; it also contains the kind of energy and enthusiasm that makes you want to go out and implement the ideas right away.

   Many of the tips and ideas are based on questions she has answered in her newspaper column. The answers are cheeky and irreverent. When asked "How much should I fertilize my trees?" the writer answers "The easy answer...Just forget it." After a couple of paragraphs explaining why fertilizing trees isn't a good idea she concludes, "Make your trees lean, mean and independent." And that illustrates the whole point of the book - don't stress over garden chores that you hate and plants that don't do well for you - gardening should be a pleasure, not a pain.

   The writer's light touch keeps the reader energized and coming back for more. She uses the term "carefree" quite often and points out that, while gardening is work, we should enjoy it more and worry about it less. If a plant doesn't do well it's OK to dig it up and throw it out.

   The question and answer format works well in this book, as do the many sidebars. The material is well organized and upbeat throughout.. The writer is knowledgeable and up-to-date on recent research. My quibble with this book is the amateurish interior design and the poor copy editing. The writer deserved better.

2 comments about The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy (Garden Lover's Guides to).

1. This is the most comprehensive guide I have found to Italian gardens open for visitng. Written by Penelope Hobhouse, one of England's foremost garden designers, it offers a real garden-lovers insight into what makes Italian gardens truly unique in style. The book is laid out in sections according to regions of Italy with good regional maps attached for route planning. Each garden has its own summary including an history of its design and later modifications, with elegant pictures, symbols denoting especial features, hours of opening, and other nearby sights worth visiting. "Gardens of Italy" is a slim volume perfect for not only plannning a comprehensive garden-accented trip from home but also small enough to carry whilst travelling. It is best used as an aide for advance planning rather than ad-hoc garden visits as many gardens are privately owned and visits are by appointment / advance arrangement only, a fact which Hobhouse notes in herforeword, but which after all is hardly her fault!



2. I visited Tuscany & the Marches & Florence this past September (2005) and bought this book to guide me through planning a garden tour itinerary. Initially I thought the book's organization structure of grouping gardens in chapters devoted to a particular region would be perfect. It turned out to be very hard to use and frustrating. In the chapters, the gardens are sometimes listed by their name and sometimes by their town so there is no logical order. Plus on the maps the gardens are numbered haphazardly - the five gardens around Padua should be numbered sequentially but instead they are 2,3,4 and 8&9. The info for each garden though is detailed and lists the hours, fees, who to contact for appointment only gardens and nearby sights. It also covers the history of the garden. If you are going to tour gardens in Tuscany and Florence I would highly recommend a book I found in Florence at the Boboli Gardens. It is "Gardens of Florence and Tuscany - A Complete Guide" by Mariachiara Pozzana and is published through Giunti. The ISBN is 8809020642. It has MANY more gardens listed, lots of history and information and is well organized. Translated into English.

3 comments about Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guide to Water Gardens: How to Plan and Plant a Backyard Pond (Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides).

1. lots of great tips in here for a beginner. this helped me out a lot



2. For the beginner this is a decent INTRODUCTION to water gardens but it is loaded with inconsistencies, lacks definitions (a glossary), is illogical in many places and left me frustrated many times trying to understand the basic stuff. Again a decent introduction to water gardening but the serious "gardener" would be well advised to look to other sources.



3. Excellent guide that I highly recommend. This is well organized, clear, complete and is very well illustrated. This is an excellent book on water gardening that will be particularly helpful to beginners, but also contains interesting and creative ideas for the more experienced water gardener.

2 comments about The Cactaceae: Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family (Volume 3 and 4 Bound in One Volume).

1. This is really a scientific work, but anyone with a knowlege of "Flora's" will find thier way around these books with ease. Although some of the nomenculture is outdated it is still a "Must" for the serious Cacti Species collector.



2. This book and its sister volume are much too technical and verbose for the average hobbyist. The illustrations are poor black and white photographs and/or drawings that are not of much help in identifying cacti that most of us would encounter. The material also seems to be dated, and very, very limited in some areas of general interest, (schlumbergera, for example....) I have found these books to be of little help, and certainly not worth the price....

No comments about Projects for Small Gardens: 56 Projects With Step-by-step Instruction.

No comments about Cooking From the Garden.

No comments about Gardening With Nature In Texas.

1 comments about A Gardener's Guide to Frost: Outwit the Weather and Extend the Spring and Fall Seasons.

1. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I've got some nerve reviewing a book about frost. Yes, we do have frost here, but it isn't the problem here that it is in northern New York State where Philip Harnden lives.

   So, for all the gardeners in the colder regions of the US and Canada, here is a really useful book that explains how to outwit the weather and extend the spring and fall seasons. The writer is concerned primarily with the kitchen garden, mostly vegetables. You won't find much about flowers in here, although much of the advice would apply to most plants. What you WILL find is ways that determined gardeners even in New Hampshire manage to harvest at least a few vegetables all winter long. Even in Maine one couple enjoys a "four season harvest". An added pleasure in this book is the well-selected photography of plants and gardens in frosty weather.

   If frost is a problem in your garden you'll enjoy reading this practical and down-to-earth book. This writer has been there, done that when it comes to cold climate gardening. The book is well-researched, well-written and contains a goodly number of resources for further exploration.

2 comments about Flora's Plant Names.

1. can't search by latin name | February 13, 2004
   Reviewer: B. Knapton from Chile (beknapton@hotmail.com)
   I give this book one star because I need a book that can be searched from latin to common name, and vice-versa. The blurb on the back cover of the book says "gardeners will find this book useful because............they will be able to search by both common and botanical name." Well, I assumed the "botanical name" meant "latin name", and you can't search by latin name without reading every of the 20,000 entires until you find the right one; the entires are listed only by common names. Occasional, with genera such as Salvia, the names are in alphabetical order within the common names. On page 7 of the book the author equates "botanical names" with genus and species, so how, exactly, can one "search by botanical name"? I live in Chile and many flower books give down here give latin names, since some of these plants also occur in the north I had wanted to find the equivalent in English to better communicate with my clients. The book will obviously be useful for people in the US reading seed catalogs, but I believe the editor should, well, edit that back cover to let people know they can't search by latin names. I can't send the book back as the postage would be too high. So here I am stuck with a book that is nearly useless for me.



2. Bought for my son he really likes it and has used it quiet a lot.

5 comments about The Lost Gardens of Heligan.

1. For anyone even remotely interested in gardens this is the book for you. A totally absorbing chronicle of the restoration of a unique Victorian garden in Cornwall, Great Britain. To think I once lived only 10 miles from it and never knew of its existence makes me want to make a return visit to Cornwall to see this magnificent restoration.



2. You will love this if you are interested in gardening. Especially old gardening tools which are a favorite of mine.



3. This is not an actual review of LOST GARDENS OF HELIGAN. I would like to purchase the hard back version. NOT THE SOFT BACK... I see Amazon only has the soft back. I have the book here from my local library which is hard back and that is what I want to purchase. I have checked the major book stores in Los Angeles but can't find anyone that can order it for me. I really enjoyed reading about this magnificent gardens that the two men rescued. I plan on visiting the garden the next time I am in Cornwall.



4. We all have a fascination with man-made works that lie in ruins. Rose Macauley wrote an entire book on "The Pleasure of Ruins." Think of the ruins of the Acropolis, all that white marble bleaching in the Athenian sun. But then, think of the Acropolis as it was when it was built-- its many statues covered with what we would consider gaudy paint. Which does the modern eye prefer? Somehow, the romance of ruins wins out, and it is the ruin of Heligan that seduces us rather than its restoration. Restoring the lost gardens of Heligan, in Cornwall, has been Tim Smit's enviable job for the past decade. Heligan "fell asleep" after WWI, when much of its gardening workforce was drafted to fight. Smit is at his best when he describes the eerie atmosphere of the overgrown gardens under their canopy of self-seeded trees. Ghosts haunted the gardens, spreading a creepy air, and Smit relates how he had to call in a vicar to exorcise them. Smit's account lags, though, in the many paragraphs devoted to the nitty gritty of dealing with camera crews, staffing the ticket booth and applying for various grants. Unfortunately, Smit's earnest writing would have greatly benefited from collaboration with a professional writer. While this book describes a wondrous project, Smit's writing is often tedious. Personalities don't quite emerge as clearly as certain plants do. Still, I'd recommend this book to any serious gardener. The book is nicely illustrated with many color photographs that evoke the romantic atmosphere of the ruins as well as show the beautifully-restored, productive gardens of today.



5. I bought the book at Heligan. After reading it I found I wanted to go back and see it all again (not that easy as I live in Sweden). Found the story of the discoveries and the restoration fascinating, moving and descriptive. I just loved it. Should be read before you visit the gardens.