For many of us in Cape Charles and on the shore, it is that most wonderful time of the year, time to once again be reunited with our beloved gardens. Whether your garden is located in town, on seaside or on a beautiful creek, the new book “Chesapeake Gardening & Landscaping: The Essential Green Guide” by Barbara Ellis can help you plant a more healthy, sustainable garden, that will also promote the health of our local waters. The question that Ms. Ellis asks is, what if, one step at a time, we could make our gardens and landscapes more eco-friendly?
Ms. Ellis told the Daily Press, “Matching plants to sites is at the core of becoming a successful gardener. It means that you start a garden by selecting plants that will be happy with the soil, exposure, and other conditions on that site. Matching plant to site stacks the deck in favor of success. There is lots of information on this principle in ‘Chesapeake Gardening & Landscaping,’ along with lots of list of different kinds of plants for different site conditions.”
Barbara W. Ellis’s colorful, comprehensive guide shows homeowners, gardeners, garden designers, and landscapers how to do just that for the large and beautiful Chesapeake Bay watershed region. This area includes Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and part of West Virginia (translating to portions of USDA Zones 6, 7, and 8). Here, mid-Atlantic gardeners, from beginners to advanced, will find the essential tools for taking steps to make their gardens part of the solution through long-term planning and planting.
The guide is built from the ground up around six simple but powerful principles that anyone can use:
* Reduce lawn
* Build plant diversity
* Grow native plants
* Manage water runoff
* Welcome wildlife
* Garden wisely
Included are detailed instructions for assessing and designing your particular garden or landscape site; choosing and caring for trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, and flowers; and succeeding with such conditions as shade or poor soil. From rain gardens to woodland gardens, meadow gardens to wildlife gardens, and much more, this indispensable guide features more than 300 color photographs.
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