Create your own beautiful cottage garden. This practical book offers advice to help Midwestern gardeners--whether novices or old pros--achieve beautiful, organic gardens drawing on ageold cottage garden traditions. Learn how to use a lively mixture of perennials, annuals, fruiting trees and shrubs, vegetables, and herbs.

“An inspirational book, with encouraging words and down-to-earth advice for achieving a year-round beautiful garden.” —Michael Marriott, chief rosarian at David Austin Roses In this practical and inspirational guide, Greg Loades presents a new style of planting: a fusion between classic cottage style and the new perennial movement. Using real gardens as examples, The Modern Cottage Garden teaches gardeners how to combine the best of both styles—big, colorful blooms and striking grasses and native plants—into one beautiful space that requires little maintenance and has a long season of interest. Fresh planting ideas for containers, small gardens, and diverse climates present an exciting style that can shine anywhere.

A portrait of the United States through its cottage gardens and gardeners.

Designing and planting a garden can be a daunting task for the novice gardener. How do you start? What plants do you choose? What style of garden should you have? In this primer, the author provides a step-by step guide. Covering a wide gamut of plants – from trees and shrubs to herbs, annuals and perennials, fruits and vegetables, she provides suggestions of top picks, as well as details on maintenance and plant care. Ideas of how to deal with problems in the garden are also provided. Garden design principles are covered so that the resulting garden can be one that suits the goals and life style of the gardener. The book ends with a discussion of the gardening trends of the 21st century. A great addition to the library of the novice gardener.

Christopher Lloyd's evocative presentation of the development of the cottage garden, from humble vegetable patch to lush flower garden.

Includes recipes for cooking with herbs, preserving herbs in jellies and vinegars; creating potpourris; and using herbs in decorating and gifts.