Taylor's Master Guide to Landscaping

by Rita Buchanan

Developing your landscape is one of the pleasures of owning a home. It's an opportunity to surround yourself with beauty and provide for your comfort and convenience. In a well-designed yard, kids have room to play and adults have an attractive area in which to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Your guests find a safe, welcoming path to the front door, and you don't have to struggle to bring in the groceries and take out the trash.

TAYLOR'S MASTER GUIDE TO LANDSCAPING is a stunning and useful book on a subject that even experienced gardeners find intimidating. It is essential reading if you plan to do all or most of your own landscaping work, but it's equally important if you intend to hire the work out. Buchanan's description of what to expect from landscape and gardening professionals is an eye-opener that will save a lot of disappointment and a great many dollars.

In TAYLOR'S MASTER GUIDE TO LANDSCAPING, you will learn how to - choose plants that will thrive in your climate and growing conditions - avoid common mistakes with foundation plantings - plan and plant for future growth - create an outdoor living room - design and build walks, paths, and steps - create privacy with fences, walls, and hedges.

Separate chapters explain how to care for landscape plants -- trees, shrubs, vines, lawns, groundcovers, and perennials.

Genres: Gardening, Reference, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2000

Reviews

[Pat Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to try to learn about landscape technicalities and practices because I am in a house now that needs work in the back yard. I didn't get all I needed from the book because it is a universal kind of book and most of the info is about plants and techniques that would be used in other places besides Phoenix, Arizona, where the heat and arid climate are very specific. I gave the book a four because it was easy to understand and it goes into all aspects of landscaping. There is stuff about all kinds of plants, grasses, flowers, ground covers, trees, and whatever you can think of. There is even a small section about how to start your own prairie, if you can imagine that. There is also a lot of info about landscape structures and how to go about building them, and which ones to try yourself, & which ones to hire someone for. There is very little personality in the book. No funny stuff, no I prefer this or that plant to these others, and the end of the book, the very last sentence, is technical info on bulbs and their propagating. There is no goodbye, no good luck, or anything like that. But the info throughout all seems sound and is well written for the person who wants to learn it.

[A_s · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and to the point. Probably one of the more useful gardening books I've come across.

[Ann Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for the new or intermediate gardener. Instruction is provided in the basics of landscaping from how to design with plants, landscaping around your own home and in outdoor rooms, as well. There are so many unique ideas provided in walks and paths, edging, fences, walls and hedges. The author also brings in water elements into key designs, making this vital resource eye appealing and a calming influence to the visitor.

Once the garden has been established, the gardener might need some help in maintaining trees, shrubs, lawns and ground covers. Ground covers such as sweet woodruff, moss or creeping thymes are sometimes used in place of standard lawns. Ms. Buchanan provides information on which ground covers can tolerate full sun or partial shade, as well as flowering characteristics.

Good combination of various types of flora from different climates, too. Great gift idea for the avid gardener who would like to try something a little different.

[Wes Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never would I have imagined I'd read a how-to book on landscaping from cover to cover, but I've just done that.

I recently bought a suburban home that was previously owned by a serious gardener, so I needed to learn how to care for what I have and improve where needed. This book lived up to its "Everything a Homeowner Needs to Know" claim, and I found it to be a surprisingly enjoyable read.

Design, hardscape, and landscape construction projects are prioritized, following by general discussion of how to choose and care for various types of plants. The recommendations are pragmatic, opinionated at times (which I liked), and charmingly dated, but never in a way that subtracted from the material.

I'm excited to start landscaping!

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive read. Some of the information is a bit outdated (recommending to only plant invasive plants in out of the way places instead of just not planting them at all), but very educational and approachable.