Product Description

Illustrated with before-and-after photographs, this is a step-by-step guide for amateur gardeners who have a garden in need of rejuvenation. The book suggests what to keep, what to respect, what to rescue and what to rip out, and is divided into three sections: planning the garden, revitalizing the garden, and a detailed pruning directory with advice for reviving shrubs, trees and lawns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1593514 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-01
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
At first sight the non-gardener is likely to wonder whether the cover of Rejuvenating a Garden represents a garden in need of rejuvenation, or the rejuvenated result. Flick through, and the response depends on whether or not you're a novice or aficionado. Green fingered experts will be thrilled at the amount of information provided by journalist and award winning gardening expert Stephen Anderton. But anyone in hope of a glossy coffee table book full of pretty designer gardens, or some basic makeover tips and inspiration could be baffled.

With most of the photos looking like National Trust land, and before and after examples resembling conversions from forests to parks, aspiring gardeners with an average detached house might be put off. Even the weeds featured here look more like exotic plants. However, Rejuvenating a Garden is an indispensable bible for gardening experts, including professionals.

Divided into a section on "Where to Start" (assessing every element from fertility to frost-pockets) and "Doing the Job" (from clearing old hard landscape to getting rid of trees), plus a directory on pruning, this is as thorough as it gets. And the fact that Anderton's writing could sway the gardening novice into visualising that run-of-the-mill garden as a landscape wonder is a tremendous achievement. --Lorna V

From Publishers Weekly
Readers will find that while there's enjoyment in planting, real satisfaction can be had renovating an overgrown or forgotten garden. Like treasure hunters, gardeners painstakingly clear their way through jungles of rampant overgrowth to discover an old-fashioned peony bravely struggling, the foundation for bulb beds or a tangled vine crying for a healthy pruning. In lively prose, gardening expert Anderton carefully leads gardeners through tangled wild domains. Maintaining that even well-tended gardens need a new life after 20 or so years, Anderton meticulously explains where and how to wield the ax. He discusses the need for a solid plan and shows how to assess soil, micro-climates, existing structures and even local zoning restrictions. Of special interest is a valuable and comprehensive pruning guide listing the growing habits and specific pruning needs of hundreds of trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous plants "that have progressed down the primrose path to neglect." This practical, colorfully illustrated book fills a much-needed gap in the field of gardening literature. A useful appendix includes a resource guide to plant societies, publications and Web sites. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Anderton, a gardening consultant and writer, has 20 years of experience with garden restoration and the management of large private and public gardens. Here he shows readers what to do with an aging, overgrown garden. After explaining how to assess the condition of the gardenAits soil, climate, plants, and structuresAAnderton addresses the work itself, including what to do first and what to let wait, financing, weeds, hard landscaping, and other topics. Many of his suggestions are extremely practical and detailed. For instance, when discussing tree removal, he explains what to do with the wood and even cautions about leaving it in a pile for too long before burning, as it will have attracted earthworms and other beneficial insects. The final section is a textbook on pruning to rejuvenate, with specific instructions for over 200 individual cultivars. The book is well illustrated throughout with 300 excellent color photographs, many of them before-and-after. Recommended for garden collections.ACarol Cubberley, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.