Customer Reviews

Home Landscaping: Northeast Region: Including Southeast Canada (Home Landscaping)

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If you are just starting to landscape this is the place to start. Like many books there are quite a few landscape plans, but this book does three things others don't:

1)Shows many variations of the same plan (shade and sun, fall color and spring, when planted and when mature).

2)Clearly lists the name and quantity of each plant required, plus the plans are to scale so plant spacing is easy. (You or your installer could work directly from these plans or you can scale the plans up or down to fit your lot)

3)Has an excellent reference section for all of the plants listed on the plans. This feature alone makes the book a good buy for Northeastern gardeners since most landscape books suggest buying a separate, comprehensive plant reference book - that will always contain many,many,many plants not suitable to the Northeast.

This is a wonderful book. I constantly use it as a reference and keep meaning to bring it with me when I go to the nursery. (Otherwise I come home with plants like Larkspur, which look beautiful now, but might not make it through the winter.) It is divided into three sections. The first, Portfolios of Designs is full of plans for every location, sun or shade. The Guide to Installaton shows you how to do everything from making wooden planters, building a retaining wall, creating paths and walkways, to installing a pond. The third section, Plant Profiles, gives descriptions and care information for all of the plants in the designs.

I have only one criticism. Cost doesn't appear to be a factor in any of these designs, most call for dozens of plants. It would be nice if they had a few designs for those on a smaller budget.

P.S. Just an update to this review. After trying some of these designs out, I think people need to remember when planting to be careful to match bloom times for their bulbs and perennials. The illustrations show everyhing in bloom during a particular season, but for instance in spring, some varieties might be in bloom in April, others in May or early June. In particular for the design on page 32, Angle of Repose, I'd go with Scilla siberica instead of Spanish bluebells, so they bloom at the same time as the daffodils.

(Also, for those who were wondering, two out of the three Larkspur I planted survived the winter.)

We have recently moved from California to New York and needed a lot of help in planning the relandscaping of our home. Not familiar with the plants of this region, this book has been an invaluable tool. It has everything one would need to create a beautiful landscape design!

I have purchased a great many books on this subject and this is far and away the best. Helpful tips on what plants to put in different conditions, settings and combinations, as well as plans to help get you started. I've used it over and over and have given copies to numerous friends.

I purchased several books on landscaping and I found this book to be the most valuable to me. We recently landscaped the front of our home and since we live in upstate New York we needed some guidance in plant selection for colder climates. I found myself looking at this book over and over while researching what plants to use. The book is well organized with many useful photos, plant descriptions and profiles. As a result, I was well informed when I went to purchase the plants at the nursery and was confident in my plant selection. It was money well spent.

I recently became interested in gardening (now that I have a yard in which I can plant). This is one of my favorite books on gardening and landscaping. Great resource for those of us living in the northeast. Full of wonderful photos, explanations and illustrations. It gives many ideas for addressing certain areas of your yard (i.e. front entryway, patio, rock wall). Explanations are excellent; I learned a great deal from this book. Very well written. Highly recommended.

I have so many landscaping books that I never opened again after the first week I bought them. This is not one of those books. It's by far so much better than most of the other ones out there. It's well organized for info, and the plans are numerous and easy to follow. Not just for beginners. a really great book!

It's great the way these books are customized for each individual climate area here in the U.S. Saves a lot of wasted planning with the wrong plants and materials.

A neighbor showed me her copy and I had to get one for myself. Great layouts, great plant selections, this book offers great ideas and variations and is FULL of information! I showed another neighbor the garden I am planning and now I'm buying her a copy as well. We are going to have a GREAT looking street!!

This book is an excellent source of ideas for gardens of many different sizes and types. It has a plant information section which is helpful in choosing the plants in your garden. I would strongly recommend it to any gardener.