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Using Succulents to Evoke Water: The Water-Saving Garden Book
Lawn Gone! author Pam Penick has a new book out, The Water-Saving Garden, about – you guessed it – designing gorgeous, colorful landscapes that don’t rely on water to look good. Though I’ve read a couple of garden books on saving water in the past, none has done such a good job of addressing a wide…
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Gardening Books on Kindle Unlimited: My Top Picks
Since I’ve primarily become a digital reader, I’ve really enjoyed getting to dig into gardening books, both old favorites and new discoveries, with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. Kindle Unlimited allows you to read a wide selection of books from participating authors and publishers for free, with your subscription price of $9.99 a month. While the…
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Kindle Gardening Books for $4 or Less
After reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, I’ve been even more enthused to simultaneously save money and space by reading digitally. Digital gardening books look fantastic on an iPad, or you can always read them on your computer screen, especially reference books which are…
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Landscape Designer’s Tools of the Trade: Best Measuring Tools
We’re coming up on that time of the year when most of us are doing more armchair gardening and garden planning than actual outside, in-the-dirt gardening, and one of the biggest challenges people encounter when they start measuring or plotting out their garden to create an overall plan is that their tools are woefully inadequate…
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Amazon Deals: The Drunken Botanist and Sunset Magazine
This is just a quick post to let you guys know that I discovered two great deals on Amazon today. Amy Stewart’s latest on sale Fans of Amy Stewart will be thrilled to know that the digital version of The Drunken Botanist is on sale for only $1.99. Yes people, for the princely sum of…
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Review of Fiskars Quantum Hedge Shear: How Does it Compare to the PowerGear Model?
Over many years of managing a fine landscape maintenance company – one which focuses on the pruning, training, and finer work in the garden beds rather than the mow ‘n’ blow-type service so ubiquitous in the field – I’ve developed some strong loyalties to the workhorse tools which make the day’s pruning faster, more comfortable,…
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Jump On It! Great Deals on Fall Reading
Every so often Amazon has some wonderful things at a price that I can only describe as “WTF”. I think it has something to do with their algorithm and how their computers search for the best deals online, and then automatically match them. Sometimes these deals last a while, and sometimes they’re gone in a few…
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Shipping Now: The New Garden Design Magazine
Design geeks among you may know that Garden Design magazine folded early last year. I had regretful yet mixed feelings about this, because the magazine’s focus on designing a garden, rather than on the minutiae of actually growing a garden, was unique and I immediately felt the lack. However, I confess that the old Garden…
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Review of The 20-30 Something Garden Guide by Dee Nash
Gardening marketers are always getting their pants in a bunch over whether enough new people are picking up the torch and continuing gardening, and initiatives aimed at getting young people to garden abound. Of course, from my own experience I can say that gardening as a hobby evolves over time. As we age, we shouldn’t…
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Review of Kiss My Aster by Amanda Thomsen
Every so often, a book comes along which challenges the limits of the media and shows how much is still possible with old-fashioned paper and ink. Amanda Thomsen’s new book Kiss My Aster: A Graphic Guide to Creating a Fantastic Yard Totally Tailored to You, is just such a book.
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Succulents Simplified by Debra Lee Baldwin: Designer DIY With the Succulent Queen
If you’ve been around the world of horticulture for any time, you’re probably familiar with Debra Lee Baldwin’s work with succulents. Her first two books, Designing with Succulents and Succulent Container Gardens, are still the most thoughtful, in-depth guides to those topics available. However, both of those books have so much information that you could…