Growing Conifers: The Complete Illustrated Gardening and Landscaping Guide

Growing Conifers: The Complete Illustrated Gardening and Landscaping Guide

Growing Conifers: The Complete Illustrated Gardening and Landscaping Guide

Growing Conifers: The Complete Illustrated Gardening and Landscaping Guide

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Overview

Evergreen your landscape with the beauty and benefits of conifers

Growing Conifers is a beautifully photographed, comprehensive gardening guide for selecting and cultivating conifers. Coverage includes:

  • Conifer taxonomy, classification, and geographic distribution
  • Selecting conifers for size, shape, color, and texture
  • Best practices for placement and planting of trees, shrubs, and groundcovers in urban and rural gardens
  • Growing needs and low-input maintenance
  • Building healthy soil, minimizing water stress, and integrated pest management
  • Benefits of conifers including habitat, water and air quality, carbon sequestration, aesthetics, and food.

Conifers are often overlooked in gardening and landscaping in favor of deciduous trees and shrubs. Yet conifers come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors and offer tremendous aesthetic and ecological benefits for any garden.

Growing Conifers is an essential, comprehensive resource for gardeners and landscape professionals looking to develop beautiful, sustainable landscapes.

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New Society Publishers is an activist, solutions-oriented publisher focused on publishing books to build a more just and sustainable future. They pride themselves on holding the highest environmental standards of any publisher in North America. In 2002, they committed to printing all their books (including their full color books) on uncoated 100% post-consumer recycled paper, processed chlorine-free, with low-VOC vegetable-based inks. In doing so, the Growing Conifers' print run alone saved 66 fully grown trees, 5300 gallons of water, and 28,000 lbs of greenhouse gases. When you buy New Society Publishers' books, you are part of the solution!


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780865719569
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Publication date: 05/18/2021
Pages: 224
Sales rank: 756,285
Product dimensions: 8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

John J. Albers has over 30 years of experience growing and caring for conifers in a variety of garden situations. He is an educator for the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association (WSNLA), an ecoPRO-certified sustainable landscape professional, and a former Washington State University/ Kitsap County Master Gardener. He created Albers Vista Gardens, a 4-acre property containing 1,200 different species and cultivars, including 500 different conifers representing 130 different conifer species. John is author of The Northwest Garden Manifesto and a frequent presenter to garden clubs, master gardeners, members of the nursery and landscape industry, and the general public. He lives in Bremerton, Washington.

David E. Perry is a professional photographer who has photographed for books, including The Northwest Garden Manifesto, magazines, Fortune 500 corporate annual reports, and national ad campaigns for more than 35 years. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Conifer Basics 17

Chapter 2 Conifer Families 35

Chapter 3 Evaluating your Garden 63

Chapter 4 Designing with Conifers 73

Chapter 5 Selecting Conifers 105

Chapter 6 Planting Conifers 143

Chapter 7 Propagating Conifers 157

Chapter 8 Sustainably Caring for Conifers 171

Concluding Remarks 197

Appendix 199

Bibliography and Resources 205

Index 207

About the Authors 215

A Note About the Publisher 216

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"One of the most misunderstood aspects of garden design is the proper use of conifers. They provide strong bones to any garden and Growing Conifers provides the key information needed to select the best plants for your garden. This book not only provides fantastic photographs to help you visualize how they will fit into your space, but it also provides all the information you need to properly plant and care for the new stars in your garden. After reading this book you may just decide to create a garden dedicated to only conifers."
—Robert Pavlis, author, Soil Science for Gardeners and Building Natural Ponds

"In a world often devoid of beauty and landscapes lacking imagination, tools to correct the drab status-quo are always enthusiastically welcome. David's photography is artistry to the point of motivation and John's prose, based on decades of experience, is much more than sufficient to guide the home gardener to success, both in terms of plant selection and plant husbandry. Growing Conifers is a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any plant enthusiast and a must-add to the arsenal of those specializing in these captivating and collectable cone-bearing plants."
—David Olszyk, president, American Conifer Society

"Growing Conifers is a work of love for the subject matter, reflecting a lifetime of devotion and a deep appreciation for the role of evergreens in our natural world. I am tempted to say that it's all here – that you will never need another book on this subject. It answers all questions including many that the reader would not think to ask. You owe it to yourself to wade into Growing Conifers with purpose and with time on your hands. It is thorough and passionately written and gorgeously illustrated. I will read it again and again and make it a centerpiece of my modern gardening library. I will turn the pages, slowly, in search of inspiration for my own garden. Like the best cup of coffee or finest wine you have ever tasted, Growing Conifers is not to be rushed. That would be a waste of a most incredible book."
— Mark Cullen, garden columnist, Toronto Star, member, Order of Canada, author, The New Canadian Garden

"This is a wonderful, fantastic, encyclopedic book, worth owning for the information presented alone. Oh, but Albers writes like a poet and OMG, Perry's are not photos, but stunning photography! What an unusual and extremely winning combo."
— Jeff Lowenfels, author, DIY Autoflowering Cannabis

"Growing Conifers is a jewel of a book. Dr. John Albers invites the reader to take responsibility for greening and enriching the urban landscape by planting conifers. He includes everything a gardener needs to know, from planning a garden and choosing the right conifers, to planting, care and maintenance, and propagation. The book has depth, the photos are spectacular, the facts are scientifically accurate, and the charts help the reader find the right conifers for their area of the country. This is a must-have for any gardener's bookshelf."
— Brent Marcus, owner, Conifer Kingdom

"This might be the most practical and handy book I've ever read on gardening with conifers. Being from the eastern Great Plains, I've always felt like we have few options, especially when it comes to sustainability, resilience, and wildlife habitat. Growing Conifers is written so gracefully and matter-of-factly that I feel empowered to try my hand at this almost mythical group of plants."
— Benjamin Vogt, prairie-inspired garden design, author, A New Garden Ethic

"Growing Conifers contains an unbelievable amount of information for the reader. John goes into all parts of cultivation about conifers and their use in the landscape. It is an invaluable resource for the novice while also containing a wealth of information for the expert. It cannot go into detail on any one topic, yet it provides a firm foundation for anyone wanting to explore any one aspect of the conifer world in greater depth. It should be a part of the library of anyone working with conifers."
— Robert Fincham, co-founder, the American Conifer Society, author of five books on growing conifers

"This well-considered introduction to conifers as an important element of our ecosystems and gardens is brought to life with superb photography illustrating every key element of the text, from beautiful images of conifers in their native habitats and the taxonomic identification of cones, needles, and foliage, to garden plants, and design considerations. The author shares his 30 years of gardening with, and caring for, conifers as he learned to relish the shapes, textures, colors, and design possibilities that should allow conifers to be considered as the backbone of climate adapted gardens of the future."
— Saxon Holt, Saxon Holt photography, co-author, Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates

"A rare and unusual combination of a superb gardener as author and a renowned photographer make Growing Conifers a one-of-a-kind book. The detailed descriptions of the many kinds of conifers, along with the excellent advice from John Albers, a long-term gardener, is superb. John has grown and cultivated most of these plants for years. The excellent photography of David Perry adds much clarity to the publication. It is a beautifully written and illustrated publication."
— John Wott, Director Emeritus, UW Botanic Gardens

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