Gardening with Confidence: 50 Ways to Add Style for Personal Creativity

Each of us brings a unique quality to everything we do. While garden types are definable cottage, formal, contemporary your personal style will make your garden unique. There are some gardens that make me feel like I m in the pit of a well orchestrated symphony, with each instrument a flower, a shrub, a tree, an accent insignificant on its own but lyrical within the arrangement. These gardens may not be expensive, but they are thoughtfully arranged, with each addition carefully considered. The rhythm, the scale, the color echo it all works well together. Nothing dominates or upstages the other important players. Considering the garden as a whole allows it to sing. Knowing what makes a garden work, what makes it sing, begins with understanding the elements of a garden. You can give your garden a voice once the use and placement of various elements, an arbor, a trellis, a bench, are understood. This book is designed to give you insight on the basics of adding and arranging the components of your garden. The confidence you ll gain in knowing how to add design features, while developing your own personal style, will help take your garden to the levels seen in the fantastic gardens that inspired you to begin your own work of art. The gardens with the most melodic voices are those reflecting good design plus the owner s individuality. You may find you are comfortable with your fashion or interior style, but once you step outside, you lack the confidence to create a beautiful space. The purpose of this book is to give you insight into how to develop a design with your signature. Keep in mind that each childhood memory, each turn of a page in a gardening book or magazine, every trip to a botanical garden,either locally or afar, has influenced your gardening style. It s not a mystery. Hand me a garden magazine you ve just read and I can tell your garden style by reading the dog-eared pages. If you peek at the colors in your bedroom closet, you ll find them echoed in the garden: racks of red or pink or blue or yellow are often repeated as rows of color in your garden beds. Even the way you hang your family photos on the refrigerator door can say a lot about your gardening style. Those of you who allow your photos to touch and overlap or to be a bit off-kilter will gravitate to a certain gardening style. Those of you who don t allow your photos to touch at all will likely move towards a different style. If you express your true self and let your passion be your guide, then your unique style will be the right choice. Natural curiosity and wanderlust took me around the world several times over, and with each trip I sought out great gardens along the way. I learned to appreciate each and every garden type and all the many styles that fit within each. I ve never met a garden I didn t like. It s true. From frothy cottage styles to minimalist contemporary styles, I see something to appreciate in each garden I visit. During my career working for some of the nation s leading shelter magazines and gardening organizations, I found myself in a position to evaluate gardens for touring and publication merit. In every case, whether I saw them for tour or publication, the most memorable gardens were of good design, with the homeowner s unique personal touch. This book shares my design perspective, providing tips that you can apply to your garden at home. Each chapter will walk you through an element of design, allowing you to think about your own situation at home. Then you can add your own flair so that you can create a fantastic garden, a garden that sings. So get comfy and come along with me as we journey down the garden path with Gardening with Confidence--50 Ways to add style for personal creativity.

Helen Yoest is a lifelong outdoor enthusiast who would much rather spend a day in a garden than anywhere indoors. Helen is a stylist, garden coach, and writer. She is a contributing editor for Country Gardens magazine and Carolina Gardener magazine and field editor for Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Homes, and also scouts gardens for Southern Living magazine. She has authored articles published in more than 40 outlets, including Martha Stewart Living, The Christian Science Monitor, and Fine Gardening magazine, along with pieces for P. Allen Smith and many others. Helen served for five years as the regional representative for the Raleigh-area Garden Conservancy s Open Days tour, with which she is still actively involved, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum. Helen lives with her husband and three kids in Raleigh, North Carolina. Helen was born in Chincoteague, Virginia and was raised in Norfolk, Virginia. She earned an undergraduate degree from Old Dominion University and a graduate degree in environmental engineering and science from Brunel University, London, England. Helen is an honorary member of Pi Alpha Xi, the national horticultural honor society.