Everyone loves to be surrounded by plants, but who has the time, energy, and patience needed to cultivate a large, work-intensive garden? Here's a guide for everyone who wants the peace and tranquility of a private retreat without the fuss. Easier to create and tend, patio and courtyard gardens also offer more enjoyment per square foot than other gardens. They are designed for living--eating, entertaining, or simply sitting--not admiring from afar. All you need to know to make these intimate "outdoor rooms" is found in these pages. Learn how to choose and lay the surface. . .pick containers...construct raised beds. . .even add finishing touches such as lighting. And, a comprehensive, fully illustrated plant directory gives a host of ideas for filling your garden with flowers and foliage--and tips to ensure they will thrive. So, relax--the perfect garden retreat is just outside your door.

The essence of the cottage garden is informality, a comfortable retreat from the cares of modern life: this old-fashioned warmth accounts for its increasing popularity. Bring cozy charm to your own outdoor space with this manual of planting schemes, flowers, flowering shrubs, and trees. Recreate the authentic feel of the cottage garden with fencing, fountains, and paving, and see which plants traditionally bloomed in these gardens...and which ones have become modern alternatives. The integration of fruit, as well as vegetables and herbs, has always set cottage gardens apart from others. Find out how to plant and care for the trees, as well as how to pick and store their bounty. The directory features such beauties as the lacy Shasta daisy, hardy purple sea lavender, bright vermilion Oriental poppies, and the sweet-scented flag iris. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Foliage--the often overlooked basis of a garden--brings an exciting range of shapes and textures, as well as a long-lasting green backdrop. It's one of the most important features you'll choose--so do it wisely. From striking climbers to subtle background plants, add architectural features, scent, and sound to your outdoor space...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Whether you have a tiny patio or a larger plot, vertical gardening adds dimension. If you long for climbing plants to mark boundaries, intensify beauty, or mask eyesores, these authoritative tips and illuminating photographs target what you need to know...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: "Grow" an enchanting space for the whole family--even pets--with 300 photos, 50 artwork sequences, 4 garden plans, gardening basics, practical advice, and projects. Involve children in gardening projects; put in child-friendly structures for creative play; and add safe water features that work wonderfully...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Invite nature right to your own back door! Whether you're going all out to develop a full-scale sanctuary or simply a small urban oasis, here is wildlife gardening in all its aspects, from obtaining and planting native plant species to encouraging avian and four-legged friends to come by...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: A well-planned garden offers bountiful rewards for years. All the essential steps to create an extraordinary garden that reflects your personal style. From the initial survey to planting the last shrub, full-color photos and clear instructions help to design plant arrays in terms of form, size, color, texture and flowers...read more

Product Description: Water is almost magical, an attraction to the eye and the ear--and even the most modest garden can showcase a water feature, along with a wide selection of plants that thrive in this damp environment. Whether you're creating a miniature pond, fountain, natural pool and bog garden, or cascade, you'll find out about edging; fish to stock; buying, preparing, and planting the right flowers and foliage; and wildlife...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Foliage--the often overlooked basis of a garden--brings an exciting range of shapes and textures, as well as a long-lasting green backdrop. It's one of the most important features you'll choose--so do it wisely. From striking climbers to subtle background plants, add architectural features, scent, and sound to your outdoor space...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Create a vertical garden, whether you have a tiny patio or a larger plot, with this highly practical, richly illustrated reference. If you long for climbing plants to mask unsightly buildings, to mark garden boundaries, or strictly for aesthetic reasons--roses tumbling over a fence, or clematis screening a gazebo--the authoritative, jargon-free tips and illuminating photographs target exactly what you need to know...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Walk into the garden and what do you smell: the rich perfume of aromatic flowers and foliage? Or, is one of your most important senses deprived because of the absence of a delicious fragrance? A highly practical reference--with over 300 informative illustrations and all the details of planning, planting, and maintenance--shows how to bring the wonder of scent to the garden. Find out about the types of fragrance found in flowers, leaves, stems, and seeds; and which aromas complement each other. Examine planting schemes to get an idea of how you might lay out your own space, and remember that not all scented gardens are the same--the different styles range from climbing to patio and courtyard to large-scale plots. Develop a scented shrub border, rose garden, herb garden, or even an aromatic bog or rock garden. A comprehensive plant directory with more than 250 entries will make selection easy! (view table of contents)