Landscape Planning: Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener

by Judith Adam

In this comprehensive guide, professional landscaper and horticulturalist Judith Adam guides homeowners with the overwhelming task of landscaping their property, from determining and balancing needs and wants, to choosing the best plants. How-to drawings, watercolor illustrations and more than 300 full color photographs simplify the process while bringing it to life, making the myriad choices to be made much easier. Landscape Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener covers all the basics, from assessing the current state of a property to constructing steps to choosing plants at the nursery using the techniques used by professional landscapers. Adam includes more than 200 of her favorite plants, shrubs and trees, the outcome of her years of experience. With hands-on projects, expert tips and hints on every page, this book is a must-have guide for the homeowner. Landscape Planning also

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2002

Reviews

[Lynne]

Excellent how-to instructions for landscape design and construction for slopes, drainage, steps and pathways. The book is somewhat dissappointing with regard to plant selection because the author recommends a number of aggressive and invasive plants. It's also not clear where she was gardening. References to bloom times make me think she was in British Columbia, but certainly not Ontario.

[Juanita]

This book is suitable for a first-time backyard owner like myself and also for the seasoned backyard landscaper. It gives how-tos from simple things like planting bulbs to more complex projects such as fixing drainage and putting in fences and walkways. It is north-american based, and well organized and designed. I took this book out from the library, and after looking at it i'd like to by it for myself as it seems like a good "go-to" book when it comes to designing, planning and maintenance. This is a beautiful book - at first glance it could be a coffee table book, or one that you see in the backdrop in house and home magazines, and a practical one too.

[PoligirlReads]

Adam's wasn't lying when she said it would be practical. This is well-designed for the first-time landscaper. What I liked about this book was the attention made to considering what the average person might be thinking. In other words, there's an emphasis on cost, thinking about the impact on neighbors, and the use of the land (what might look cool in a magazine might not be practical for a family of small kids and multiple pets).

I liked the breakdown of different plants to achieve different effects (10 best trees for garage corners, top plants to cover a shed, etc.). The pruning section is excellent.

[Julie]

This book had great tips, with well-done illustrations, on pruning a variety of items. I would recommend it as a pruning reference alone, though it has countless other useful recommendations and how-to's.

[Roxane]

This is an excellent resource for any homeowner. I bought it for the lessons in building patios, walkways, and other hardscaping.

[Richelle]

Decent plant guide & basics for creating stone paths/steps and fencing. Very basic depictions; novices to landscaping may need a more detailed guide.

[Sarah]

Helpful framework for planning projects large and small. Wry acknowledgment of non-gardening needs for the space and help frame choices about plants in terms of needs of a larger (or smaller) household.

[Elizabeth]

I’ve recently created a large space for a garden. I’ve never crew a garden from scratch before so this books has been very useful as I begin to design my future garden.

[Michelle]

How-to projects, mostly unnecessary.