Salvias are available in a huge range of sizes, colors, foliage, and hardiness, with over 900 species and hundreds of hybrids. Salvia’s popularity stems from how easy they are to grow, their multiple medicinal and culinary uses, and the vibrancy of their blooms that cover every color in the spectrum from white to nearly black. The Plant Lover’s Guide to Salvias features everything you need to know to grow this vibrant and fragrant plant. Plant profiles of 150 varieties highlight each plant’s type, habitat, size, hardiness, origin, cultivation, and use in the landscape. Additional information includes tips on design, how to grow and propagate salvia, where to view them in public gardens, and where to buy them.

Showcases 150 of the most beautiful, gardenworthy species. Salvia is derived from the Latin word salvare, "to heal," and for centuries salvias have been valued for their medicinal and culinary qualities. Salvias, commonly known as sages, grow throughout the world. They occur in many forms: perennial, biennial, annual herbs, and evergreen or deciduous shrubs. These amazingly varied plants are also noteworthy for their remarkable resistance to pests and diseases, their drought tolerance-- and their beautiful flowers. In The New Book of Salvias: Sages for Every Garden, Betsy Clebsh highlights 150 beautiful, gardenworthy species and significant hybrids. She documents them alphabetically and includes botanical descriptions, information on habit, blooming cycle, recommended companion plants, and delightful historical tidbits of discovery and usage. In her ardent pursuit of salvias, Clebsch has explored the wild to collect plants and seeds to test in her garden. The resulting wealth of cultural information in The New Book of Salvias ensures that our gardens will not only be exquisitely aromatic but also wonderfully picturesque.

This is not your grandmother's gardening book. You Grow Girl is a hip, humorous how-to for crafty gals everywhere who are discovering a passion for gardening but lack the know-how to turn their dreams of homegrown tomatoes and fresh-cut flowers into a reality. Gayla Trail, creator of YouGrowGirl.com, provides guidance for both beginning and intermediate gardeners with engaging tips, projects, and recipes -- whether you have access to a small backyard or merely to a fire escape. You Grow Girl eliminates the intimidation factor and reveals how easy and enjoyable it can be to cultivate plants and flowers even when resources and space are limited. Divided into accessible sections like Plan, Plant, and Grow, You Grow Girl takes readers through the entire gardening experience: Preparing soil Nurturing seedlings Fending off critters Reaping the bounty Readying plants for winter Preparing for the seasons ahead Gayla also includes a wealth of ingenious and creative projects, such as: Transforming your garden's harvest into lush bath and beauty products Converting household junk into canny containers Growing and bagging herbal tea Concocting homemade pest repellents ...and much, much more. Witty, wise, and as practical as it is stylish, You Grow Girl is guaranteed to show you how to get your garden on. All you need is a windowsill and a dream!

Turn a shady yard into a sumptuous garden Shade is one of the most common garden situations homeowner’s have, but with the right plant knowledge, you can triumph over challenging areas and learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Glorious Shade celebrates the benefits of shade and shows you how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard. You'll learn how to determine what type of shade you have and how to choose the right plants for the space. The book also shares the techniques, design and maintenance tips that are key to growing a successful shade garden. Stunning color photographs offer design inspiration and reveal the beauty of shade-loving plants.

The Royal Horticultural Society The Half Hour Allotment (first published in 2005) has been a best-selling gardening title for many years. This new edition re-presents the classic in a fresh new illustrated format with hundreds of new photographs and a bright new cover design. The book shows you how to manage your allotment and enjoy fresh vegetables through the year on just half an hour’s work a day with weekends off. It combines expert advice from Lia Leendertz and the Royal Horticultural Society and time-saving ideas for planning the most effective use of your time and energy, giving you something to eat fresh every day of the year and ensure bumper crops in summer! Lia Leendertz, the best-selling author of The Almanac, is an organic gardener with a great sensitivity for the environment so the book is a gentle and thoughtful read as well as being a bible for productive and time-starved gardeners.

Following the success of Colour for Adventurous Gardeners, the most adventurous gardener of all time is back to reveal how he plans, creates and maintains his celebrated borders. Most gardeners want their borders to be interesting and colourful over a long season, even year-round if winters are not too severe. Christopher Lloyd OBE shows how he and Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener at Great Dixter, choose and orchestrate plants for maximum effect. Having covered the principles of succession planting, Lloyd explores the ingredients from anchor plants and permanent perennials to drop-in plants and self-sowers - necessary to ensure continually lively borders. The master of his craft reveals the secrets of keeping every inch of border working hard so that planting schemes are created and maintained in brilliant succession. With superb photographs by Jonathan Buckley, this book will inspire as well as instruct those passionate about their garden.

Monty Don made a triumphant return to our screens as presenter of Gardeners' World. A firm favourite with viewers, Monty's infectious enthusiasm for plants, attention to the finer details of gardening technique and easy charm have seen the ratings soar. Here Monty invites us into the garden at Longmeadow, to show us how he created this beautiful garden, and how we can do the same in our own. Following the cycle of the seasons, Gardening at Longmeadow will introduce readers to the garden from the earliest snowdrops of January through the first splashes of colour in the Spring Garden, the electric summer displays of the Jewel Garden, the autumn harvest in the orchard, and on to a Christmas feast sourced from the vegetable gardens. Describing the magic of each area at different times of the year, Monty will explain the basics of what to do when and how to get the most from each plant. He'll talk through the essential techniques and more complex processes, accompanied by easy-to-follow, step-by-step photography. Longmeadow is a gardeners' garden, but this will be a book for gardening enthusiasts of all skill levels who have been inspired by what they've seen, and who would like to achieve something similar for themselves.

Dahlias are the showgirls of the garden. A favorite of floral and landscape designers, they come in a wide range of jewel-like colors—rich reds and vibrant oranges, shocking pinks—and an engaging variation of form and petal shape. The Plant Lover’s Guide to Dahlias is packed with everything you need to know to grow these fantastic flowers including tips on using dahlias in garden design, growth and propagation information, and lists of where to buy the plants and where to view them in public gardens. The bulk of the book is devoted to profiles for over 200 varieties, organized by color, with information on type, height, and spread. Gorgeous color photographs bring the plants to life.

Snowdrops have a delicate, quiet beauty. Their white bell-shaped petals are striking alone and in a swath, and they are a harbinger of spring. The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops is the first book to make this group of bulbs accessible to the home gardener. It features profiles of 60 hybrids, species, and cultivars, with information on flowering time, distinguishing features, and ease of cultivation. It addition, it shows how to design with snowdrops, and how to grow and propagate them, also offering tips on where to see snowdrops in public gardens and where to buy them. Each Plant Lover’s Guide in the series is supported by lush, photo-driven design, featuring the most beloved plants and valued expertise of the gardening world in a visual, comprehensive resource.

The distinctive rounded daisy head acts as a useful foil to plants with more upright forms, making it a useful member of the herbaceous border. This book details the variations on the daisy flowerhead from genus to genus, providing growing and buying information.