Garden Renovation: Transform Your Yard Into the Garden of Your Dreams

by Bobbie Schwartz

Overview

A do-it-yourself guide to a complete garden rehab

Gardens, just like houses, sometimes need makeovers. The changes can be as minor as replacing a shrub or as major as pulling everything up and starting from scratch. No matter the size of your space or the scope of the project, the sage advice in Garden Renovation will help you turn a problem-filled yard into a paradise. Bobbie Schwartz draws on her years of experience as a garden designer to teach gardeners how to evaluate their yards, determine what to keep and what to remove, choose the right plants and design plans for successful remodels, and know when to hire help. A gallery of before-and-after photos provides ideas and inspiration for turning a tired garden into an enlivening retreat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604696127
Publisher:	Timber Press
Publication date:	11/01/2017
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	120,192
Product dimensions:	8.06(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Bobbie Schwartz is the owner of Bobbie’s Green Thumb in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her landscape signature is the use of perennials, flowering shrubs, and ornamental grasses to facilitate color and interest throughout the year. She is a certified Member and Fellow of APLD. Schwartz has won several awards for her designs, lectures nationally, and writes columns on perennials and landscape design and freelances.

Read an Excerpt

Preface
In my many years as a gardener and certified landscape designer, I have met very few people who are satisfied with their landscapes. I see so many frustrated homeowners who know they want to make changes but have no idea where to start or what questions to ask. And while there are hundreds of books that talk about various aspects of the landscape, few tie them all together in a way that gives you the confidence to embark on such a project. In this book, I hope to give you the knowledge you’ll need to begin that journey. The process will leave you with a garden that brings you endless joy and pleasure and a great sense of accomplishment for making a positive change to your surroundings.

This is a very personal book. The process of landscape reinvention can reveal a lot about yourself. You will need to think long and hard about who you are and what your tastes, needs, and wants are in relation to your property. If you fail to do this, your new landscape will not fulfill your aspirations. Landscaping can be just decorative or it can be substantive, a fulfilling extension of your home. Whether you call it renovation or reinvention, the key is acknowledging that you want change in your landscape, that you are no longer willing to accept the ordinary and the common. You want your landscape to make you feel good.

This process may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be if you know which questions to ask. I’ll pose many of them for you. Your job, then, will be information gathering, and coming up with the answers. If you divide your landscape into sections and prioritize the order in which you want to change things, the task will not seem as daunting as you think. You will have a plan with a starting point and then successive phases.

We will begin where all successful projects begin: with a focus on your goals and budget. We can then concentrate on evaluating the components of your existing landscape, and suggest ways to enhance what you already have. Finally, we will take a hard look at the plants you have and think about new ones that can be added. As you move from kickoff to touchdown, you will come up with a strategy to balance out the demands of time and money, asking many important questions along the way. How much do you want to tackle yourself? Can you create impact inexpensively? Should you pay for expertise? What are the differences between a landscape designer and a landscape architect? How can you best make use of that expertise?

Writing this book has called on all of the knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated in my forty-eight years as an obsessed gardener and forty years as a landscape designer. I’m happy to share with you and hope that reading the book will help you achieve your goals. My gardening and design experience has mostly been gathered in zone 6 where I live, but the principles of landscape design are universal. Obviously, if you live in more extreme climates, you will have to substitute plant material that is suitable to your zone, but the basic forms, textures, colors, and sizes can almost always be found in plants that grow well in your region.

There is a wealth of information in other books and online about the many aspects of horticulture and landscape design upon which I have touched only lightly. Take advantage of the bibliography and resources to broaden your understanding of particular subjects in which you are interested. The principles of landscape design are a starting place but there are no design police who will arrest you if you do not always follow the rules or make up some of your own. Remember that what you create is yours and reflects who you are. So take your time, and have some fun along the way.

Editorial Reviews

“Delivering sensible and wide-ranging tips, this useful guide to updating any type of yard is an excellent resource for the casual or inexperienced gardener in suburban or city settings, and in particular for new homeowners.” —Library Journal starred review

“Whether the solution is a DIY project or hiring a professional, Garden Renovation will teach readers how to assess a landscape and make informed decisions about its future.” —NYBG’s Plant Talk

“Filled with 275 photos that are lovely to look at and are fodder for ideas.” —Cleveland.com

From the Publisher

★ 09/15/2017
For most people, redesigning and reinvigorating a yard with a completely fresh start seems unrealistically time-consuming and expensive. Yet, as landscape designer Schwartz explains in this accessible and humorous book, it should be a gradual process. It starts with evaluating the current plantings, making a plan for the future, and moving deliberately through projects. The author describes what tends to go wrong with yards, such as overgrown and ill-suited shrubs and trees, poor plant selections for the light and water conditions, and old hardscape. Addressing these issues though understanding the goals for the yard, she provides the best plant types to meet those goals and practical information about the time or money required to amend the soil and revitalize decorative beds or other features. In addition to plants and trees, Schwartz has ideas for furniture, sculptures, and mirrors to give the illusion of more space and to suit the landscape. There is also a section on pools and hot tubs. VERDICT Delivering sensible and wide-ranging tips, this useful guide to updating any type of yard is an excellent resource for the casual or inexperienced gardener in suburban or city settings, and in particular for new homeowners.—Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.

Library Journal