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Gardening Canada

Garden Design for the Short Season Yard

Everything You Need to Know for the Chinook and Canadian Prairie Zones

by (author) Lyndon Penner

Publisher
Brush Education
Initial publish date
Mar 2015
Category
Canada, Garden Design, Organic
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781550596038
    Publish Date
    Mar 2015
    List Price
    $11.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781550596007
    Publish Date
    Mar 2015
    List Price
    $14.95

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Description

The only garden design book written just for the Canadian prairies

Tired of advice for gorgeous yards that can only be created in climates like California, southern Ontario or Victoria? Author Lyndon Penner wrote Garden Design for the Short Season Yard for you, because he knows prairie gardeners face challenges no one faces in gentler climates.

Anyone can learn the basics of garden design. In this accessible guide, you’ll discover the pros’ secrets: practical ways to transform your yard using basic design principles. You can create an aesthetically pleasing yard that meets your needs, whether you want stunning curb appeal, privacy, low maintenance, or a lush retreat. You’ll develop your eye for design with Lyndon’s short critiques of gardens, both good and bad. You’ll also find worksheets to help you design your own garden.

With his signature style and wit, Lyndon delivers his expert advice for a four-season makeover for your yard. Topics include:

  • Elements of design, such as scale, balance, texture, colour and repetition.
  • Choosing a theme and a focal point.
  • Weather, diseases and pests.
  • Low-maintenance, water-wise, and shade gardening.
  • Trees, perennials, annuals and permanent garden features.

About the author

Lyndon Penner has been gardening since the age of three and has never forgotten the thrill of growing his first flowers from seed. Few people match the enthusiasm for gardening that Lyndon has! Starting in the greenhouse industry at the age of 16, he has become well known as a garden speaker and writer for CBC Radio, The Gardener for the Prairies magazine, the University of Saskatchewan, Olds College, the University of British Columbia, and the Calgary Zoo Botanical Garden. Lyndon also does botanical interpretive work in Waterton Lakes National Park.

Lyndon Penner's profile page

Excerpt: Garden Design for the Short Season Yard: Everything You Need to Know for the Chinook and Canadian Prairie Zones (by (author) Lyndon Penner)

Introduction

Landscape design explores the use of trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals to create pleasing and functional outdoor spaces. Design techniques are the result of good use of suitable plant material for the site, one’s own design experience, climate, and personal taste.

That sounds like one of the dusty old horticultural textbooks that sits on my bookshelf. It also sounds tremendously boring if you ask me, but the truth is that landscape design is anything but boring. There is an added dimension of risk and gamble if you live on the Canadian prairie, as I do.

It’s all very well and good to know what a peony requires to be happy, or the best way to grow roses, or that carnations make good cut flowers. Facts about plants and flowers can be learned by anyone who has the time and interest, but what do you put that rose next to is often the better question. No plant exists in a vacuum, and yet most of our prairie gardens are random and hodge-podge collections of either plants that happened to be on sale or plants we happen to like, and the resulting gardens are usually colourful but haphazard and incoherent.

In this book, we are going to start by examining some of the practical considerations you’ll have to think about to design your garden, and from there we’ll move on to inspiration, expectations, and risks. Are you excited yet?

I’ll teach you about the bones of the garden and creating a sense of permanence, we’ll look at ways to analyze your space (and thus use it wisely), and of course, we’ll also have to explore topics such as soil and sun, shade and weather, and all those pesky matters like death and disease and critters that will eat your plants and critters that will hopefully eat, well, the other critters.

By about the middle of the book we’ll be looking at trends and fashions in gardening; there will be much ado about trees and shrubs, and I’ll even take you through grass and groundcovers. Rocks, focal points, ponds . . . it’s all in here! Colour, texture, bark, and berries rounds out the back of the book, followed by some (hopefully very helpful) worksheets that can help you along the way.

A garden is always a journey—ever changing, ever evolving, and never “finished.” Ask any gardener about their yard and they will say, “You should have been here last week when the lilies were in full bloom” or “Come next week when the lilacs are in flower.” Real gardeners are never satisfied. There is always a hunger and a thirst for bigger and better things. I want to help you realize your vision for your garden, and my hope is that with this book, I’ll be able to do just that.

Editorial Reviews

[Lyndon] has definitely filled a need for all Canadian Prairie and Chinook gardeners who are looking for a practical guide to landscape design that is not boring or condescending but packed with useful information and suggestions.

Alberta Horticultural Association

Like Penner’s earlier books, Garden Design for the Short Season Yard is chatty and opinionated, but backed by solid knowledge of what grows here, real-life examples, and lots of pictures.

Edmonton Horticultural Society

[Lyndon] offers excellent advice on plant selection, describes interesting garden styles and themes, and inspires us to be bold.

<i>Saskatoon StarPhoenix</i>

If... you love to experiment, are looking for inspiration and enjoy listening to Lyndon as he talks about gardening on CBC, you will enjoy Garden Design for the Short Season Yard for its entertainment value alone.

<i>The Gardener Magazine</i>

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