The Right-Size Flower Garden: Simplify Your Outdoor Space with Smart Design Solutions and Plant Choices

by Kerry Ann Mendez

Overview

Today, the reality of a “bigger is better” garden no longer holds the same allure as a “small is beautiful” one. We’re busy, we’re aging, and the demands of the garden can feel overwhelming. What to do? Make smarter use of the space we have and the plants we select, says garden expert Kerry Ann Mendez. In The Right-Size Flower Garden, she shares her successful recipe for having a garden we can manage and love again...the right-size, low maintenance, drought tolerant garden. The goal is ditching 50% of the work by choosing high-value plants and making simple design changes. You’ll learn which plants to switch out, which ones aren’t worth the effort, and which tools and practices will take the “chore” out of gardening. The Right-Size Flower Garden is filled with beautiful full-color photos, practical tips, “plant this not that” lists, and valuable shortcuts to success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780989268875
Publisher:	St. Lynn's Press
Publication date:	02/16/2015
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	695,060
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kerry Ann Mendez is the owner of Perennially Yours, a landscaping company focusing on the art of low-maintenance perennial gardening. Perennially Yours gardens have been featured in numerous garden and lifestyle magazines, newspapers, radio and television shows. Mendez is the author of The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Top Ten Lists and Top Ten Lists for Beautiful Shade, and is the founder of the annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposiums at the Equinox Resort in Vermont. A busy lecturer and teacher, she gives over 25 workshops and 60-70 talks yearly. She recently hosted 6 national webinars for Horticulture magazine. www.pyours.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 Help! My Garden Has Taken Me Hostage! 1

2 The " Custom-sized" Garden - Perfectly Fitted to Your Changing Needs 9

3 The Elimination Round: You Be the Judge 31

4 The Big Swap - Plant This, Not That! 51

5 Design Solutions for (Almost) Auto-Pilot Gardens 69

6 Remarkable Perennials, Groundcovers and Bulbs 91

7 The New Glamour Plants: Flowering Shrubs, Ornamental Trees and Evergreens 115

8 Contain Yourself, Please! Outstanding Annuals, Vegetables and Shrubs for Containers 141

I Can See Clearly Now, the "Pain" is Gone! 170

Resources 171

Index of Plant Names 172

Acknowledgments 175

About the Author 177

Editorial Reviews

The pretty pictures we're used to are here in Mendez' book, including befores-and-afters of her own right-sized perennial beds. She also suggests plants for easy care or best use of small space as well as fussy, time-sucking plants to avoid. But if you're wondering how to simplify and where to begin, Mendez will talk you through it like a kind friend. And that, as La Martha might say, is a good thing.

Book Review: Three books for small-space gardeners - Helen & Sarah Battersby

The Right-Size Flower Garden by Kerry Ann Mendez (St. Lynn's Press) is liberating. Many of us want gorgeous landscaping, bountiful veggie gardens and yards that make our neighbors jealous. Often we spend an extraordinary amount of time and money to obtain those results. When we fall short, we become disappointed and the yard doesn't look its best. (We have all said, "That used to be a great yard until the new people moved in.") Mendez suggests admitting you may not have the desire or energy to maintain the garden you think you should have.

Read Now. Plant Later. New spring books provide plenty of inspiration for homeowners' gardens. - Jill Sell

The Right-size Flower Garden isn't an encyclopedia of plants for a low-maintenance garden. It's a hand-holding workbook that encourages over-gardeners to prune, pluck and otherwise eliminate the most likely culprits that enslave us.

Cure for Over-gardening: The Right-size Flower Garden - Jean Starr

It’s the right idea at the right time for boomers and others who still love to garden – or spend time outdoors – but don’t have the time (or healthy backs) to keep up their former hectic pace.

Right-size your garden for ease of care - Debbie Arrington

"The Right-Size Flower Garden: Simplify Your Outdoor Space with Smart Design Solutions and Plant Choices" (St. Lynn's Press) is a guide for garden enthusiasts and "plantaholics" who find they have more than they can handle in their landscapes. The culprit, typically, is overplanting, choosing the wrong plants — or simply the advance of time.

'Right-Size Flower Garden' helps gardeners downsize tasks, cultivate joy - Kari Richardson

The book, "The Right-Size Flower Garden," provides excellent suggestions to simplify the garden by selecting the right plants and using a few smart gardening techniques.

Tips for getting seedlings to thrive - Sue Kittek