The Homeowner's Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook: The Essential Guide to Choosing, Planting, and Maintaining Perfect Landscape Plants - Paperback

by Penelope O'Sullivan (Author), Karen Bussolini (Photographer)

Trees and shrubs can bring regal silhouettes, delightful shade, and spectacular foliage to any home landscape. With detailed profiles of hundreds of tree and shrub varieties that include information on availability, size, hardiness, and special characteristics, Penelope O'Sullivan shows you how to use these plants to add structure and texture to your outdoor space. Create a vibrant landscape full of springtime blossoms, summer shade and fruits, autumn foliage, and winter evergreens.

Back Jacket

Four-Season Drama for Every Yard

Trees and shrubs frame your property and add a sense of structure to the ever-changing environment of your yard. This comprehensive guide explains the principles and practicalities of bringing magnificent woody plants to every landscape.

• Learn to use basic landscape design theories to select trees and shrubs that complement your property.
• Answer a detailed questionnaire to identify trees and shrubs that suit your needs and preferences.
• Enjoy spring flowers, summer fruits, fall foliage, and winter's bare branches with four-season design suggestions.
• Shop and plant with assurance, choosing woodies from nurseries, home and garden centers, and mail-order sources.
• Find everything you need to know--from planting tips to maintenance advice--to keep plants healthy and happy.
• Browse profiles of 357 reliable trees and shrubs. Each entry features how best to use the plant in your landscape, along with complete growing information.

Author Biography

Penelope O'Sullivan is the author of numerous gardening books and contributor to many magazines, including Country Gardens, Country Home, Traditional Home, and several Better Homes and Gardens special interest publications. She has a garden design business in New Hampshire.

Karen Bussolini is a garden photographer, writer, speaker and an eco-friendly garden coach. A lifelong hands-on organic gardener and lover of nature, she has been contributing articles and photographs informed both by her fine arts background and her immersion in ecological landscaping and native plants, for more than 30 years. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Garden Design, House Beautiful, The American Gardener, Wildflower, and in hundreds of books. Her six books (as sole photographer) include Storey Publishing's The Homeowner's Complete Tree and Shrub Handbook, authored by Penelope O'Sullivan, The Naturescaping Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Bringing Nature to Your Backyard, and Elegant Silvers, (which she co-authored), both published by Timber Press. Karen's slide talks and workshops engage, inform and inspire audiences in venues across the nation. Closer to home, she gardens on a deer-infested mountainside in South Kent, CT. She puts her NOFA Organic Land Care Professional accreditation to work in her eco-friendly garden coaching practice, teaching homeowners sustainable garden practices and creating healthy yards that are resilient, full of life, diversity and delight. Find her online at karenbussolini.com.