Description
"I have written this book so that others can experience the thrill of making a garden that is as boisterous as it is beautiful; a garden that sizzles with vivid colour and is alive with bees and butterflies; a garden of intoxicating scents that suffuse your skin and make you feel good even if the day is grey. And I also wanted to share the pleasure of a garden that somehow puts itself together with little intervention from the gardener - no planting plans required - and, as a bonus, needs no watering and very little maintenance." The traditional Mediterranean garden offers a garden that is beautiful through every season, whatever the climate, so that it can survive through the driest summers, and yet can cope with damp, rain and even frost. The low-water no-water method is for those who like their plants spirited and their flower beds exuberant. There are instructions for planting evergreens with robust, aromatic foliage, as well as low-maintenance shrubs that need no staking, watering, feeding or pruning. The book shows how tough love, not pampering, pays off, giving you a drought-proof and aromatic paradise in your own plot. Create a garden that is full of radiance and scent, with vivid flowers and foliage, and aromatic herbs - the perfect outdoor living room, whatever the weather. * Includes a foreword by writer and broadcaster Richard Mabey, and photographs by Simon McBride
About the Author
Pattie Barron is a well-known gardening journalist, lecturer and author with a special interest in Mediterranean gardens. Formerly the gardening editor of the London Evening Standard for many years, she is currently creating her third Med garden, on the southern coast of England.
Reviews
With today's global warming gardeners are finding it harder and harder to continue with the English country garden tradition and are discovering new ways of planting. This timely book is about a most viable alternative - Mediterranean gardening. Anyone who has visited the continent will have noticed the colourful groundcover so proliferate around the coastal regions and smelt the aromatic maquis so endemic to the area. It is a scent and sight instantly recognisable and believe it or not, eminently suitable to our climate. Author Pattie Barron has made two Mediterranean gardens so far in her gardening career - one in the ideal situation of a southerly-facing terrace but the second in harsher conditions - flat and with a northerly aspect. Still learning but obviously very experienced, she divulges her secrets of success from soil preparation, mulching, plant selection and aftercare. Being drought-tolerant the main care needed is over winter when our climate turns wet and cold but using a decorative mulch of stones or gravel will assist and ensure that the plants survive to prosper for another year. Whether you prefer the delicate greys, pinks and lilacs of yuccas, lavenders and cistus or the more vibrant nerium oleanders, anagallis and papavers, the range of Mediterranean plants is huge and sure to suit every gardening taste. In addition to plant choice the book includes inspirational ideas for garden decorations such as mosaic tables, painted pots and shell grottoes for you to add that definitive Mediterranean touch. This is a superbly illustrated and well-written book full of ideas for existing or prospective drought-tolerant gardeners, no matter their location or soil type. - Lucy Watson
Book Information
ISBN 9780754835240
Author Pattie Barron
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Lorenz Books
Publisher Anness Publishing
About the Author
Pattie Barron is a well-known gardening journalist, lecturer and author with a special interest in Mediterranean gardens. Formerly the gardening editor of the London Evening Standard for many years, she is currently creating her third Med garden, on the southern coast of England.
Reviews
With today's global warming gardeners are finding it harder and harder to continue with the English country garden tradition and are discovering new ways of planting. This timely book is about a most viable alternative - Mediterranean gardening. Anyone who has visited the continent will have noticed the colourful groundcover so proliferate around the coastal regions and smelt the aromatic maquis so endemic to the area. It is a scent and sight instantly recognisable and believe it or not, eminently suitable to our climate. Author Pattie Barron has made two Mediterranean gardens so far in her gardening career - one in the ideal situation of a southerly-facing terrace but the second in harsher conditions - flat and with a northerly aspect. Still learning but obviously very experienced, she divulges her secrets of success from soil preparation, mulching, plant selection and aftercare. Being drought-tolerant the main care needed is over winter when our climate turns wet and cold but using a decorative mulch of stones or gravel will assist and ensure that the plants survive to prosper for another year. Whether you prefer the delicate greys, pinks and lilacs of yuccas, lavenders and cistus or the more vibrant nerium oleanders, anagallis and papavers, the range of Mediterranean plants is huge and sure to suit every gardening taste. In addition to plant choice the book includes inspirational ideas for garden decorations such as mosaic tables, painted pots and shell grottoes for you to add that definitive Mediterranean touch. This is a superbly illustrated and well-written book full of ideas for existing or prospective drought-tolerant gardeners, no matter their location or soil type. - Lucy Watson
Book Information
ISBN 9780754835240
Author Pattie Barron
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Lorenz Books
Publisher Anness Publishing
