The Ultimate Flower Gardener's Guide: How to Combine Shape, Color, and Texture to Create the Garden of Your Dreams

by Jenny Rose Carey

Overview

“Full of practical insights, ideas, and inspiration to help you grow the flower-packed garden of your dreams.”—Greg Loades, author of The Modern Cottage Garden
 
The colors, shapes, and scents of flowers are as ravishing to the senses as to the soul. But it’s all too easy get things wrong: colors that clash, flowers that bloom at the wrong time, plants that fail to thrive. Enter The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide by expert gardener Jenny Rose Carey. She tells you exactly how to get started, how to combine plants for the most spectacular effects, and how to keep your garden going from year to year. Whether you’re interested in dramatic color combinations, how best to use a favorite flower, or how to create a garden for a specific purpose, such as nourishing pollinators, you’ll find the answers in this friendly, information-packed book. As Jenny herself says, “Don’t be afraid—just have a go!”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643260389
Publisher:	Timber Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Pages:	364
Sales rank:	463,420
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jenny Rose Carey is a renowned gardener, educator, historian, and author, and the former senior director at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm in Jenkintown. She previously worked at Temple University for over a decade, first as an adjunct professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and then as director of the Ambler Arboretum. Jenny Rose has been lecturing nationally and internationally for many years. She is an avid hands-on gardener who has gardened in both England and the United States. Her Victorian property, Northview, contains diverse garden spaces, including a cutting garden, an herb garden, a dry garden, and various mixed flower beds. Jenny Rose and her gardens have been featured on the PBS series The Victory Garden, in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Grow magazine, and The Pennsylvania Gardener.
 

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Introduction 11

Your Garden of Flowers 15

A Look at Shape, Role, Presence, and Color

The Flower Gardener's Calendar 61

A Guide to the Flowery Year

The Flower Gardener's Palette 95

Choosing Plants for Your Garden

Laying the Groundwork for Your Flower Garden 243

Location, Inspiration, and Design

Putting Your Flower Garden Together 303

Preparing, Planning, Planting, and Maintaining

Epilogue 344

Into the Future

Suggested Reading 348

Garden and Photography Credits 349

Acknowledgments 350

Index 351

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/02/2022

Expertise and artistry are in full bloom in this outstanding floral masterclass from historian Carey (Glorious Shade). “Flower gardens are as individual as the...gardeners who cultivate them,” she writes, urging readers to pay attention to what grows in their area, keep a list of the flowers they admire, and “think about who you are making this garden for.” Favoring a cottage-garden-inspired “plant-packed look,” Carey breaks down the difference between plant types (including bulbs, annuals, and perennials), and instructs on coordinating flowers by size, form, and foliage (let bold ones such as peonies take center stage, while hollyhocks add fullness and do well in the background). Carey includes “favorite flower” mood boards for spring, summer, and fall, and shares an alphabetized index of her star performers, including delphinium (“sigh-worthy”), catmint (“a great companion for spring bulbs”), and yucca (“indestructible”). Stressing the importance of stewardship, her philosophy is to anticipate, appreciate, and adjust, as “Gardeners live concurrently in the past, present, and future.” Encyclopedic knowledge and a fantastic eye for detail make this a must-read for gardeners of all levels. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A thorough approach to landscaping. A wrap-up section showcases inspirational layouts and provides practical suggestions for starting…A detailed and handy reference.” —Booklist
 
“Expertise and artistry are in full bloom in this outstanding floral masterclass from historian Carey…Encyclopedic knowledge and a fantastic eye for detail make this a must-read for gardeners of all levels.” —Publishers Weekly

“Full of practical insights, ideas, and inspiration to help you grow the flower-packed garden of your dreams.” —Greg Loades, author of The Modern Cottage Garden
 
“The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide is a master class on flower gardening. It is like my favorite cookbooks: chatty, inspiring, informative, and packed with luscious, mouth-watering photographs. A must for every flower gardener.”—Marta McDowell, author of Unearthing the Secret Garden
 
“Jenny’s infectious love of flowers radiates out from this beautiful how-to guide to turning your flower garden dream into reality. Whatever your skill level, this book offers new learning and delight.” —Matt Rader, President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
 
“Whether your garden is sunny or shady, wet or dry, The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide will inspire you to get planting.” —R William Thomas, Executive Director of Chanticleer Garden

“All the information you will need to prepare, plan, finally plant, and maintain the plants in your garden.”—Commonweeder

“Carey’s writing style is wonderful, and the pictures are good enough that this would be a coffee table book…in short, get this book.”—The Washington Gardner

“From bloom shape to colour and more, this book gives you the knowledge to design your flower borders for maximum effect.” —The Garden, RHS

"Amazingly helpful for every gardener…[it] gives you all the information you will need to prepare, plan, finally plant, and maintain the plants in your garden.”—Commonweeder ​

From the Publisher