100 Best Native Plants for New Zealand Gardens


Book Description

From trees to ground covers, ferns to hebes, an expert guide to the top 100 New Zealand native plants for gardens. Since its first publication, this book has been an indispensable guide for gardeners wishing to use New Zealand plants. Now extensively revised, it features inspirational and practical advice on 100 species that are easy to grow and maintain, across a range of climates. It lists each plant's likes and dislikes and gives sage advice for care and maintenace and for combatting pests and problems. It suggests how your soil can be best prepared for maximum growing results and gives creative landscaping tips for combining textures and forms to maximum effect. Engagingly written by the head gardener at Larnach Castle, whose gardens are world-renowned, it deserves a place on every gardener's book shelf.




Know Your New Zealand-- Native Plants


Book Description

New Zealand has a unique and attractive native plant life that is of interest to everyone from gardeners and trampers to students of botany and ecology. In Know Your New Zealand Native Plants Lawrie Metcalf introduces a selection of the most interesting, iconic and important New Zealand plants, spanning latitudes from subtropical to temperate, and altitudes from sea level to alpine mountaintop, describing their natural history and distinguishing features. This title joins New Holland's hugely successful 'Know Your ...' series, of which the first two titles - Birds and Trees - both reprinted twice within two years of their release. Written for a family readership and with the novice in mind, the text of 'Know Your...' titles is light and easy in tone, with simple language, and is accompanied by full-page, full-colour portrait photographs.




100 Best New Zealand Native Plants for Gardens


Book Description

There are hundreds of species of native plants of all shapes and sizes suitable for the garden, but which are the best? Which will be the easiest to grow and the most likely to 100 Best New Zealand Native Plants offers a selection of readily available, hardy, versatile and attractive trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, ferns, vines and groundcovers. From the interlacing divaricates to the bold-leaved puka, from the flowing grasses to the structural lancewoods, this book suggests ways of combining different textures and forms to enhance your garden throughout the seasons.Including advice on care and maintenance, pests and problems, likes and dislikes and extensive landscaping suggestions, 100 Best New Zealand Native Plants is an indispensable handbook for novice gardeners through to landscaping professionals.




Native by Design


Book Description

"In this ... book, 20 of New Zealand's top landscape architects and designers offer their wisdom and advice on landscaping with native plants. These personal narratives showcase some of our country's most beautiful out-door environments, from private gardens to public recreation land, urban and industrial spaces, and even farmland."--Back cover.




New Zealand Native Ground Cover Plants


Book Description

There is increasing enthusiasm for using native plants in gardens throughout New Zealand. This book is aimed at helping gardeners and landscaping professionals to select and care for native ground cover plants in order to create low-maintenance, good-looking and sustainable gardens. As with other forms of gardening, ground cover planting is most successful and satisfying when thoughtfully planned, with plants chosen to fit the design objectives and scale of the area to be planted. Hasty, ill-informed choices aimed solely at easy care can result in gardens that need to be removed a few years later because the area has become overgrown or the plants are unsuitable for the site. The authors show how a carefully considered use of New Zealand native plants as ground cover can reduce maintenance in gardens of all sizes while creating an aesthetically pleasing environment. They suggest suitable ground cover plants, based not only on the species but also on the continuing development of the range of hybrids and cultivars that are now available to gardeners. Accompanied by more than 100 colour photographs, these suggestions will help with your plant selection.




The Gardener's Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Native Plants


Book Description

This reference brings together over 1000 species, hybrids and cultivars. It includes colour photographs, arranged according to the plant's attributes and use in the garden, and also includes examples of landscaping possibilities as well as numerous plant portraits.




Common Ground


Book Description

Common Ground: Garden histories of Aotearoa takes a loving look at gardens and garden practices in Aotearoa New Zealand over time. While a lot of gardening books focus on the grand plantings of wealthy citizens, Matt Morris explores the historical processes behind 'humble gardens'--those created and maintained by ordinary people. From the arrival of the earliest Polynesian settlers carrying precious seeds and cuttings through early settler gardens to 'Dig for Victory' efforts, he traces the collapse and renewal of home gardening culture, through the emergence of community initiatives to the recent concept of food sovereignty. Compost, Maori gardens, the suburban vege patch, the rise of soil toxin levels, the role of native plants, and City Beautiful movements...Morris looks at the ways in which cultural meanings have been inscribed in the land through our gardening practices over time. What do our gardens say about us, and where we have been? Matt Morris digs deep in Common Ground.




Contemporary Gardens of New Zealand


Book Description

Author Carol Bucknell and photographer Sally Tagg have travelled the length of New Zealand to capture more than twenty of our most impressive and interesting modern garden designs. The result is Contemporary Gardens of New Zealand, a stunningly photographed book celebrating some of the best contemporary gardens our country has to offer. With gardens ranging in style from cutting-edge minimalism to landscaping as architecture, Contemporary Gardens of New Zealand offers you the experience and enjoyment of a garden trail, all from the comfort of your own home.




In Defense of Plants


Book Description

The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.




Edible Backyard


Book Description

In this practical step-by-step guide, gardening teacher Kath Irvine shares her wealth of knowledge from more than 20 years of helping Kiwi gardeners design, build, grow and maintain their own productive edible gardens. Kath's sage, hands-on, often humorous advice steps readers through everything they need to know to grow great produce at home, including garden design, tools and equipment, seasonal planting advice, soil fertility, seed-saving basics, managing pests and diseases, and how to incorporate organic and permaculture gardening methods into any home garden. While documenting a year on her own property, Kath shows how you can successfully produce bountiful crops throughout the seasons to provide a steady, daily harvest with minimal wastage. The book is illustrated with hundreds of stunning photographs and helpful hand-drawn illustrations that share clever design concepts and planting plans for gardens of all shapes and sizes. Kath is the perfect guide, and this easy-to-understand, comprehensive book is ideal for gardeners at any skill level, from beginners setting up a new garden from scratch, to intermediate trouble-shooters, to advanced green-thumbs seeking deeper knowledge.