The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes : Designing, Building, and Decorating Your Outdoor Home

by Black & Decker, Jerri Farris, Bryan Trandem

The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes represents a new, innovative way to look at the yard and landscape. Up until now, landscapes have been considered mostly ornamental, and average homeowners were thought to be incapable of designing and creating a great landscape. This book will change all that. In refreshingly simple and practical language, The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes teaches the seven secrets of good landscape design, shows how to plan a stylish landscape that meets practical family needs, and teaches readers how to build a functional, beautiful landscape. With this innovative method, readers will learn how to create a new or "remodeled" landscape consisting of outdoor "rooms" dedicated to various lifestyle activities. A landscape built using this method will be attractive and stylish-but more important, it will provide practical outdoor living space.In addition, readers will learn how to put the finishing touches on a new landscape, thanks to comprehensive plans and directions for more than 20 beautiful and ingenious garden ornaments-ranging from simple cedar planter boxes to elegant copper archways and trellises.

Highlights:


Includes more than 60 how-to projects that can be built with ordinary materials available at any home center. Each project includes complete directions and step-by-step photography.
Includes a wide range of projects, from the very simple (creating a planting bed) to major hardscape features (building a retaining wall).
Refreshingly simple and practical approach to the principles of landscape design-a book that is useful, not intimidating.
The only "big book" of landscaping that includes a section on building garden ornaments.
Innovative book design features an exciting blend of state-of-the-art color photography and elegant, hand-crafted illustrations.
Contains a reference appendix, that includes helpful web sites, manufacturers, and an additional reading list. Also includes a complete index.

Genres: Gardening, Home Improvement, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Black & Decker Corporation is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products and technology based fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland.


Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sean S · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Earth as a whole has not changed much in the last few thousand years, so even if this book is a bit older, the information contained within will almost always apply. I used this book to help me plan out landscaping under and around my deck. Provides plenty of useful and practical information throughout.

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful resource, but a bit outdated (especially in the photo department).

[Deodand · Rating 4 out of 5]

You've got your coffee table garden books, and then you've got this one. There is plenty of practical step-by-step advice in this book. I plan to use some of the instructions on how to build ornamental hardscape elements, like cement planters and wooden benches.

Some parts made me roll my eyes, though. Like the part where they show a guy planning his garden and drawing elevations with a one-page instruction on how to do the same. Guess what? 99% of amateur landscape designers couldn