In Exploring Garden Style, the experts from Fine Gardening magazine deliver practical advice and innovative ideas for creating gardens with style and personality. More than 20 talented designers help you design a garden based on a theme -- whether a quaint cottage garden, a naturalistic woodland garden, or an abundant kitchen garden. It's all the inspiration you'll need to create a beautiful garden of your own.

Discover how to create:

• American-style cottage gardens
• soothing water gardens
• colorful tropical gardens
• fragrant evening gardens
• terraced hillside gardens
• gardens that attract wildlife

More Design Guides:

Gardening in Small Spaces
Gardening in Containers
Creating Beds and Borders
Landscaping Your Home

Introduction

PART 1 Traditional Gardens
A Garden Room for Every Mood
Planting a Terraced Garden
A Sanctuary in Every Season
In the Garden, by the Light of the Moon

PART 2 Naturalistic Gardens
Gardening in Harmony with Nature
The Pleasures of a No-Lawn Landscape
Stroll through the Seasons on a Woodsy Garden Path
Creating a Canyon from Scratch
Going Native

PART 3 Specialty Gardens
A Cutting Garden for All Seasons
A Feast for the Eyes
Defining the New American Cottage Garden
Tropical Garden, Temperate Zone
English Roses Anchor an American Shoreline Garden
Planting a Knot Garden
Weave a Garden of Self-Sown Splendor
Design a Greenhouse from the Ground Up
An Inspired Alpine Garden
Designing Water Gardens
Herbs in the Ornamental Garden
Plant a Prairie Garden
Grasses Grace a Garden

Credits

Index

Americans have always been adventurous souls. And as a gardening nation, we are finally coming into our own -- breaking free from a traditionally European style of gardening and exploring new territory. I believe this is happening for a number of reasons. First, we've finally had time, as a nation, to pursue our interest in gardening. (Remember, we're a young country compared to Great Britain, France, or Italy.) Second, we have a lot of talented gardeners and designers who wish to make their own artistic mark on the landscape. Third, we're letting our diversity -- both in culture and growing conditions -- drive our style. And finally, I believe that necessity and lifestyle greatly affect the way we garden.

In this book on garden style, you'll see how American-style gardens are evolving. And you'll be delighted by just how diverse these gardens really are. Even among traditional gardens, you'll find some interesting twists -- like gardens that were designed to be at their peak beauty and fragrance during the evening hours.

What you'll discover in Exploring Garden Style are some of America's most innovative and beautiful private gardens, all of which first appeared on the pages of Fine Gardening magazine. Some were professionally designed; others were created entirely by their owners. These aren't estates or public gardens that require upkeep from an army of gardeners. Instead, they are residential gardens maintained by passionate gardeners. And it's these very gardeners who tell the story of their gardens.