The Nonstop Garden: A Step-by-Step Guide to Smart Plant Choices and Four-Season Designs - Softcover

Benner, Jennifer; Cohen, Stephanie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0881929514 ISBN 13: 9780881929515

Publisher: Timber Press, 2010

Synopsis

With hectic lifestyles and busy schedules, people are finding it more and more appealing to enjoy their leisure time at home rather than packing their bags in search of peaceful retreats. But how can they confidently create a garden retreat? By following Cohen and Benner’s trusted advice and building a nonstop garden, they’ll have more creative planting options, a garden that requires less maintenance than a traditional perennial border.

The Nonstop Garden gives gardeners all the information they need to create a productive, beautiful garden. This easy-to-use guide is split into four main parts and includes ten fail-safe design plans that can be incorporated into any garden. Gardeners can choose from a native garden, a scented garden, a gold-colored garden, a garden for wet sites, a vibrant-colored garden, a cool-colored garden, a winter garden, a shade garden, and a design plan for the daunting area known as the hellstrip.

About this title

About the Author

Stephanie Cohen has received awards from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Perennial Plant Association, and in 2000 she was named Garden Commentator of the Year by the American Nursery and Landscape Association. She lives in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.

               

Jennifer Benner holds a bachelor's degree in horticulture from The Ohio State University. She has experience in nursery production as well as garden design, installation, and maintenance. In 2001, she joined the staff of Fine Gardening magazine, where she spent seven years taking articles from conception to print. As an associate editor, Jennifer enjoyed working closely with gardeners from around the United States and photographing their spaces. She now works as the communications manager for a non-profit conservation organization and as a freelance gardening communicator. When not dishing the dirt, Jennifer can be found playing in it in her garden in Connecticut. Although she lives in New England, Jennifer still considers herself a Buckeye.

From the Back Cover

“The Nonstop Garden is the one book every gardener needs for creating year-round interest. The authors’ easy-to-follow style with straightforward talk inspires confidence with plenty of practical guidance, plant lists of proven performers, and labor-saving advice.” —Joe Lamp’l, host of Growing a Greener World 
 
A Nonstop Garden:

• Dazzles with interest all year long
• Combines easy-to-maintain trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and edibles
• Makes the most of the space (and time) you have
• Doesn’t require pruning and deadheading

For anyone dreaming of a simple garden that is simply beautiful all year long, the Nonstop Garden is the answer.
 
Authors Stephanie Cohen and Jennifer Benner break down the basics in this beautifully illustrated guide to gardening from the ground up. From the nuts and bolts of choosing the garden’s main attractions—trees and shrubs—and the best supporting cast—edibles, annuals, bulbs, and vines—to adding the finishing touches with containers and other decoration, the advice in these pages is straightforward and step-by step.
 
Ten easy, enchanting garden plans—including a scented garden, a winter garden, a wildlife garden, a shady garden, and more—will give you all the tools you need to get started. Building a nonstop garden has never been easier.
 

Reviews

Cohen, an award-winning horticulturist and author, and Benner, a horticulture consultant, photographer, and writer, offer a straightforward and inspiring approach to creating a nonstop garden. A garden with something to offer year-round, utilizing trees and shrubs as the backbone for plantings composed of perennials and bulbs, annuals and tropicals, edibles and vines. Those new to gardening will benefit from the book's recipe for success, which is detailed in useful charts, descriptions and abundant photographs of woody and herbaceous selections, and 10 design plans. Each planting scheme, ranging from color-based to scented, befits a certain type of site condition, from woodland to wetland to a parking strip. Novices will find useful advice on invasives to avoid, plant care, and culture. A final section should stir ideas for enlivening the garden with ornaments and containers, structures that serve as design elements, and seasonal displays. A glossary, resource listing, and information about plant hardiness, bloom time, or special characteristics such as fall color and seedheads add to this volume's practical value and aesthetic pleasure. --Alice Joyce

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction
The purpose of this book is to show you how to build an integrated garden (including trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, annuals, tropicals, edibles, and vines) with year-round interest—what we call a “nonstop garden.” Nonstop gardens are better gardens because they require less maintenance, provide continual beauty, allow more creativity, and encourage diversity.
           
We begin with the nuts and bolts, including easy design strategies, but quickly move on to plants, which when it comes down to it are what ultimately make or break the nonstop garden. After all, although elements such as ornaments, paths, and arbors play a big role, these little slices of heaven are mostly made up of plants. The great thing about plants being key players is that they can easily be changed. If a plant is not working, get rid of it. If a plant dies, no big deal—get a new one. If a plant flourishes, get another one. Part of the garden journey is trial and error. Of course, it always feels better if you win more than you lose. With that in mind, we offer chapters filled with plant recommendations based on our forty years of collective gardening experience. The plants we recommend are those we consider top-notch; all offer stunning beauty and require minimal maintenance.
           
The plant entries provided throughout the book are headed by the plant’s common name followed by the scientific name, starting with maple (Acer species and cultivars) in chapter 3, “Trees and Shrubs.” Each plant entry begins with information about hardiness zones, peak seasons, and the conditions required for the plant to grow well.
           
The zones indicate the range in which you can expect plants in that particular genus or species to be cold hardy. For more information, see “Hardiness Zones” at the end of the book.
           
The peak seasons refer to the timing of the plant’s star performance. In the case of maples, these are listed as “Fall (foliage), winter (bark, stems).” This information is essential when choosing plants that you want to provide year-round interest. For your convenience we have also included lists of seasonal peak plant performance at the end of the book.
           
Finally, in addition to describing recommended species and cultivars, each plant entry gives you a heads-up on any particulars you may want to know about cultivation as well as pests, diseases, or other problems the plant is likely (or unlikely) to face.
           
When choosing plants, we highly recommend exploring native options—after all, these plants have been happily growing in our environment for thousands of years without any help from humans. As plantaholic gardeners, we also enjoy exotic plants, but only if they behave themselves. Always be mindful of invasive species, and know that not all plants play nicely in all parts of the world. Check your state listings before introducing a new plant to your garden. See “Invasive Plants” at the end of the book for a list of species to keep on your radar.
           
To show you some choice plants in action, we have also included ten easy-to-follow garden designs: a winter garden, a wildlife garden, a native garden, a woodland garden, a cool-colored garden, a garden for wet sites, a gold-colored garden, a vibrant-colored garden, a scented garden, and a parking strip (or “inferno strip”) garden. And we discuss the finishing touches, from ornamentation and containers to structures such as walkways, fences, trellises, and furniture, all of which create additional interest in the nonstop garden.
           
Nonstop gardening is an approach that can be enjoyed by everyone. Whether you are new to gardening or have a seasoned green thumb, these practical pointers and plants will help heighten interest in any outdoor surrounding, big or small.
 

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881929514
• ISBN 13: 9780881929515
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248