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Deer Resistant Gardening Made Easy: a Book Review
Ruth Rogers Clausen, author of 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants, has some straightforward advice for dealing with deer, and selecting beautiful plants that will go well together in deer country. I share some of her advice for dealing with deer over at the Christian Science Monitor, and give an in-depth review of her new book there…
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Wicked Bugs: Video Interview with Amy Stewart
I am adoring Wicked Bugs, the latest from author Amy Stewart. She’s back with more deliciously morbid musings, this time about the insects, spiders, and squirmy things that have us so outnumbered that for each one of us, there are two hundred million of them. Eeep! While Amy’s a huge fan of bugs, she didn’t…
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Understanding Garden Design book – Interview on Kirkus Reviews
…in which I tease Amy Stewart about her garden, and get to say “hell” on Kirkus Reviews. I am sure I can die happy now. Read it here: Garden Rant: A Conversation about ‘Understanding Garden Design’
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Top Landscape Plants (Excerpts from Experts)
When the Garden Designers Roundtable chose Top Landscape Plants as this month’s topic, I thought to myself, “Hey, no problem, I can write that in my sleep.” I mean, enthusing about plants is kind of my thing, you know? But given that this is book excerpt week here at North Coast Gardening, I thought it’d…
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Book Excerpt: Energy-Wise Landscape Design
Energy-Wise Landscape Design should be a required read for anyone going into the landscaping field. In this book, Sue Reed outlines a number of steps you can take to green your landscape. Some steps are easy and can be done right away; others take more time, energy, thought or care. When I reviewed this book…
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Book Excerpt: Garden Rules – The Snappy Synopsis for the Modern Gardener
***Giveaway! Win a copy of Garden Rules by commenting below. *** Holly is the winner – congrats! Jayme Jenkins and Billie Brownell dish the dirt to new gardeners in their book, Garden Rules. I remember being a new gardener and feeling like I’d stepped into a new world, complete with a whole new language as…
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Book Excerpt: Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies by Owen Dell
A couple weeks back, I reviewed this deliciously funny and extremely useful guide to sustainable landscaping by Owen Dell. You can check out my video and written review here. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share an excerpt with you, so you could get a feel for Owen’s writing style, which is…
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Book Excerpt: Designing With Succulents by Debra Lee Baldwin
Two weeks ago, I reviewed the popular, and deservedly so, Succulent Container Gardens by Debra Lee Baldwin. I think of Debra as a real advocate for these plants, because she shows such elegant ways of designing with them that we all want to grow these colorful, varied plants ourselves. And so we should! They’re low-water,…
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Book Excerpt: Yes, You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too
***Giveaway below! Comment to win your own copy of Yes, You Can!*** EDIT: Nicole won! Congrats, Nicole. Daniel Gasteiger charmed me recently when I asked him to tell me about his new book, Yes, You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too: The Modern Step-By-Step Guide to Preserving Food. Daniel said: The most mind-bending moment…
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Book Review: The Revolutionary Yardscape
If you often see odd materials at hardware stores, rummage sales, and friends’ garages and have flashes of insight that they could be repurposed for a totally new use, then you are going to love The Revolutionary Yardscape. It’s subtitled: Ideas for repurposing local materials to create containers, pathways, lighting, and more, and it’s all…
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Book Review: Understanding Garden Design
Understanding Garden Design by Vanessa Gardner Nagel is billed as the “complete handbook for aspiring designers”, and that’s pretty accurate. Whether you’re a homeowner with a passion for gardening, or an aspiring pro, this book clarifies a number of professional tricks that Nagel uses to great success in her own landscape design business. So many professionals…