book recommended for garden project

21 years ago

Hi,

I am by no means a professional gardener but I have a big project to do and was wondering if any of you could recommend a good book that would help me. I am to design a border of perennials that is to be 50 feet long by 15 feet wide. The soil is a rich but well drained loam and the border is sheltered but receives full sun. This garden is to be against a seven foot hedge so has a neutral green backdrop. I need to show a display of perennials from the month of May until the month of October. The scale of the drawing is to be clearly indicated. I can do one design or do as many as I want with seasonal overlays to better clarify my design. The zone is 4/5. As well as the design I need to add an annual maintenance schedule for the plants in the border and names of the plant suppliers.

Right now I have about 50 plants I have choosen and I have about 5 gardenering books I am presently looking through. I know Mark Cullen is quite famous for his Gardening advise but I was told that there was a woman called Louise Whole who is even better. Do any of you have a book that you think would be really helpful for this particular project? I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask the people that do this for a living. You have probably read a lot more books than I have about gardening.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Clemmybug.

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Comments (10)

habitat_gardener
21 years ago
Tracy diSabato-Aust, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, is great. Wonderful advice on maintenance. I still haven't gotten a copy of her new book, The Well-Designed Perennial Gardenm which has also gotten rave reviews.

Elizabeth Murray, Monet's Passion, has some overlays showing what's blooming in different seasons in the back of the book. Very nicely done, you may want to look at this book for ideas.
perennialprincess
21 years ago
clemmybug:

the author is Lois Hole, a well-known (in Canada) nurserywoman from Holes Nursery - she wrote a number of books on cold weather gardening.

you might want to look for books relating to your hardiness zone for plant selection (I wholeheartedly agree with the above recommendation for Tracy's book)

Growing Perennials in Cold Climates, by Mike Heger and John Whitman is excellent. Also look for Ornamental Grasses for Cold Climates from the University of Minnesota, for a good list of zone 4/5 perennial grasses.

good luck with your project.

PP
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clemmybug
Original Author
21 years ago
O.K. Thank you so much for the recommendations. I will go to Chapters and find an appropriate book. As far as the plants are concerned, that I have covered already. Some of the plants I have selected are hardy to zone 2. I have a college booklet "Hardy Perennials for the Garden" that gives many examples of some of the flowers I could use but some of them I just don't like. Since I am going to use this to actually create a garden at home, I'd really like to have plants that I like and that are not high maintenance. The books that I presently have are:
1) Perennial Gardening Guide by John M. Valleau
2) Perennial Garden (Flowers for 3 seasons by Harrowsmith -Patrick Lima (this one is pretty good)
3) The Cottage Gardener's Companion-by the cottage garden society
4) The New Greener Thumb by Mark Cullen
5) The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer by Stephanie Cohen and Nancy J. Ondra.
6) Perennials by James Underwood Crockett

The last 5 I have on loan from a local library. What I am looking for mainly is a book that describes how to set up a design with many overlays. I'm not quite sure how to start doing this. One book says to start from autumn and start from the back to the front and others have different opinions so I am left somewhat overwhelmed. I'd really like to go to Chapters with a referred book in mind and purchase one that explains this garden designing well.

Thanks for the correction about the author. I wasn't sure since I was told from a lady at the library. I do live in Canada where we often get cold, harsh, winters.

Thanks again for the help.
Happy Gardening
Clemmybug
Karen Mickleson
21 years ago
This one won't give you the design overlays instruction, but it's one of the best I've seen on this theme. It's Christopher Lloyd's Succession Planting for Year Round Pleasure. He's a famed English gardener in an area which gets cold winters. At least try to look at it from the library. Truly helpful information about structure, seasons, etc. And, it's gorgeous. km
clemmybug
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks km I'm keeping record of the books people recommend. Sure appreciate it.
nandina
21 years ago
Also...BEDS AND BORDERS FOR YEAR ROUND COLOUR by Jill Cowley. British author. Good book with ideas which should be helpful.
GreenieBeanie
21 years ago
The Di Sabato-Aust book is first rate for the kind of job you're working on.

Best of luck!
clemmybug
Original Author
21 years ago
Thank you very much Nandina. I will look through that book also if I find it. Several people have recommended the Tracy Di-Sabato book so I definitely will need to look for that. Perhaps I might find it at Chapters book store. Thank you so much for adding your recomendations GreenieBeanie and everyone else that offered help. Best of luck to all of you also.
Happy Gardening
Clemmybug
nansgarden
21 years ago
It has been my experience that the planting site will dictate to you what to plant.If the area has full sun and irrigation the possiblities are greater than no irrigation or no regular maintenance, which limits you to xeric plants.Maybe look in to Sunset books on Low Maintenance Gardening also Sunset All about Annuals book.A really good place to buy books for half price or less www.half.com you can even add a wish list for books you are looking for.
clemmybug
Original Author
21 years ago
Thank you so much nansgarden. This garden does get full sun. I have bought a few books so far that have been excellent. Luis Hole's "Perennial favorites" - (100 Best for Cooler Climates), Time Life Complete Gardener - "Combining Plants",and Orthos' "All About Perennials." Now I have a good baseline of what I am going to plant, plus I have purchased over 400 bulbs. I'm really looking forward to working on this assignment and I thank you for your help. I will keep my eye out for Sunset books in the meantime on www.half.com.
Happy Gardening
Clemmybug