Country Gardening: Design Ideas and a Practical Guide

Country Gardening-from the team that created Abrams' popular Seaside Gardening-provides the ideas and information needed to create a beautiful garden for relaxation and entertainment, full of surprising points of visual interest and alive with birds, butterflies, and even fish. Among its valuable features are:

Handsomely illustrated sections devoted to creating a country ambiance; essentials of garden architecture, such as fences, gates, walls, containers, and outbuildings; whimsy in the garden; water gardens; and vegetable gardens. Wise practical advice for the inexperienced gardener, ranging from design principles to simple hints on growing perennials, annuals, and vegetables. Extensive annotated plant lists, carefully chosen to feature a broad range of easy-to-grow varieties. Full of inspiration and ideas, Country Gardening offers a relaxed approach to planning and creating easy-to-maintain gardens for the casual enjoyment of nature.

186 photographs in full color, 184 pages, 9 x 9"

THEODORE JAMES, JR., and HARRY HARALAMBOU have collaborated on more than 10 garden books and hundreds of articles for national magazines, including Architectural Digest, Town and Country, Vogue, Country Living, Family Circle, and Woman's Day. Both of them live, and garden, on the east end of Long Island.

From the same team who delivered Seaside Gardening comes another sleek, lushly photographed volume designed to inspire gardeners to greater horticultural heights. Once again, James proves an amiable host, quickly setting a casual tone in keeping with the style explored here. "Informality is the key word when it comes to country living," he notes, and his relaxed prose is peppered with anecdotes, convivial bon mots and humor (as when he admits that his mother "burst into tears" the first time she laid eyes on his newly purchased rundown property). While James focuses in on such general subjects as garden architecture, whimsy and water features, readers are taken on an extensive tour that ranges from quaint and humble cottage-style gardens to the exclusive enclaves of the wealthy (including a bona fide deer park that sports a faux Greek temple). Haralambou's sumptuous photographs offer visual entr?e into these country Edens, while James's conversational but information-packed captions identify the various plants pictured and elaborate on design concepts. The second half of the book contains a recommended plant list and a breezy "practical guide," which James rightly notes "is written for inexperienced gardeners." As such, it offers a credible introduction to site assessment, flower-bed design, planting and maintenance, as well as tips on attracting (and repelling) wildlife. Any gardener who owns or aspires to own a spot away from the hustle and bustle of city life will find an inspirational feast here.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The talented team of James and Haralambou turn their attention to the fine points of creating gardens in a country milieu. Illustrated are plantings, garden structures, ornamentation, and whimsical features that show great flair as well as a sophisticated style that does not preclude an informal approach to garden design. Practical information is presented in a chapter that addresses planning concerns, the selection of plants and trees, flower bed design, the allure of water gardening, and the benefits of attracting wildlife to the garden. Accompanying the inspirational text and beguiling photographs are recommendations for a range of easy-to-grow annuals, perennials, shrubs, bulbs, vines, and water plants. Alice Joyce
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