Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Preparing Yourself (and Your Garden) for Planting 5 Chapter 1: Getting Ready for Gardening 7 Playing the Name Game 8 Getting used to plant nomenclature 8 Anatomy 101: Naming plant parts 10 Beautifying with Flowers (and Foliage) 11 Amazing annuals 11 Perennial plants 15 Bulbs and roses 18 Gardening for Your Dining Pleasure 18 Working with Woody (or Viny) Plants 19 Shrubs 19 Trees 21 Vines 22 The World Is Flat: Caring for Your Lawn 23 Chapter 2: Creating a Landscape That You''ll Love 25 Evaluating What You Already Have 26 Looking at the big picture 26 Identifying problems and restrictions 27 Taking advantage of your yard''s assets 31 Getting Ideas for Your Garden Space 33 Gardening with the kids in mind 33 Establishing a good garden for pets 34 Creating space for entertainment 35 Designing a sanctuary 36 Cooking up an edible garden 37 Zeroing In on Your Ideal Garden Style 39 Gardening around a theme 39 Perusing sources for inspired ideas 42 Keeping Your Budget in Mind 43 Bringing Your Garden Ideas to Reality 44 Sketching out the yard you have now 45 Making your drawing match your dream 46 Defining key areas to start 47 Getting Professional Help 48 Considering different professionals 48 Hiring a pro for landscaping help 50 Chapter 3: Getting into the Zone - Your Garden''s Zone 51 Focusing on Location -- Different Hardiness Zone Maps for Different Folks 52 Looking at the world''s plant hardiness zone maps 52 Warming up to the heat-zone map 54 Savoring the Sunset zones 54 Reading plant hardiness zone maps 55 Fathoming Frost Zones and Growing Seasons 57 Zoning Out: Breaking the Zone and Growing Season Rules 58 Managing your microclimates 59 Cheating the system: Creating microclimates 61 Bending the rules to stretch your growing season 62 Chapter 4: Live Long and Prosper: Giving Plants What They Need 65 Welcoming the Sun -- Let There Be Light! 66 Facing Fertilizer Facts 67 What to use: Natural versus chemical 71 When to fertilize your garden 71 Composting: More Than Just Fertilizer 72 Demystifying Soil pH 75 Matching plants to different pH levels 75 Finding out your soil''s pH 76 Adjusting your soil''s pH 76 Much Ado about Mulch 77 Knowing your mulches 78 Applying mulch -- how to and how much 79 Tackling Watering Issues 80 Providing the right amount of moisture 80 Determining which watering system to use 82 Cutting back on watering 84 Dealing with drainage problems 85 Making Sure Your Plants Get Enough Air 86 Chapter 5: Gathering Your Gardening Gear 87 Digging into Those Digging Tools 88 Getting down with shovels and spades 88 Trowels: More than just little shovels 91 Garden forks: Not for dining! 93 Dabbling in dibbles (or dibbers) 94 Cultivating 101: Clues to Quality Tools 95 No Santa Claus: Ho, ho, hoes 96 Weeding out the weeders 97 Making the Right Cut with Cutting Tools 98 Getting a handle on hand pruners 99 Hedging your bets on hedge shears 101 Branching out with loppers 101 Moving up to pruning saws 102 Putting Power Tools to Use 102 Safety first: Controlling your power tools 103 Chewing through chores with chainsaws 103 Working with trimmers and whackers 104 Tilling soil with rototillers 104 Rolling Out the Wheelbarrows and Carts 106 Wading through Watering Tools 107 Hoses 108 Nozzles 110 Hose-end sprinklers 110 Water timers 111 Part 2: Flowers and Foliage: Growing for Color 113 Chapter 6: Adding Yearly Variety to Your Garden with Annuals 115 Finding Flowers that Fit Your Garden 116 Some like it hot: Warm weather annuals 117 Some annuals like it cool 117 Mixing and Matching Annuals 117 Good habits: Taking advantage of shape, height, and structure 118 Combining colors 121 Designing annual beds for fragrance 122 Buying Annuals 123 Starting with seed packets 123 Starting with annual, well, starts 124 An Annual Event: The Whens, Wheres, and Hows of Planting 125 Filling in the garden after the last frost 125 Deciding where to plant annuals 126 Getting annuals in the ground 127 Feeding the Flower Power: Taking Care of Annuals 127 Watering 128 Fertilizing 128 Mulching 129 Grooming 129 Dealing with annual pests 129 Chapter 7: Growing Perennials: Plants That Make a Comeback 131 Looking at the Repeat Performers 132 Hardy perennials 132 Tender perennials 132 Planning Long-Term Strategies for Your Perennial Garden 133 Timing perennial blooming 133 The living palette: Keeping colors in mind 135 Designing perennial beds and borders 135 Finding and Buying Perennials 138 Getting perennials in containers 138 Buying perennials by mail 139 Acquiring free divisions from others 141 Planting Perennials 141 Figuring out where to plant perennials 141 Deciding when to plant perennials 144 Preparing for the actual planting 147 Taking Care of Your Perennials 148 Supporting with stakes or rings 148 Practicing good grooming habits 150 Dividing perennials 151 Preparing perennials for winter 152 Dealing with perennial pests and diseases 152 Chapter 8: Brightening Up the Garden with Bulbs 155 Shedding Light on Bulbs 155 Defining bulb terms 156 Looking at early and late bloomers 160 Getting acquainted with the most popular bulbs 161 Choosing to Combine Your Bulbs 162 Combining various types of tulips 162 Mixing up your daffodils 163 Combining different kinds of bulbs 164 The Search: Where to Get Your Bulbs 166 Buying bulbs -- home stores and nurseries 166 Purchasing bulbs through mail-order 167 Getting Down and Dirty: Planting Bulbs 168 When to plant bulbs 168 Where to plant bulbs 172 How to plant bulbs 174 Taking Care of Bulbs 176 Watering your bulbs 177 Fertilizing bulbs 177 Mulching 178 Caring for fading leaves 178 Fighting bulb pests 179 Chapter 9: Coming Up Roses 181 What Makes a Rose Be a Rose Be a Rose 181 Checking out blooming habits 182 Looking at hardiness 183 Identifying the various rose types 183 Deciding Where to Put Your Roses 188 Planning your beds and borders 188 Using roses as groundcovers 190 Screening with roses 191 Using roses as vines 192 Buying the Best Roses 192 Getting a potted rose 193 Purchasing a bareroot rose 193 Planting Your Roses 196 Putting containerized roses in the ground 196 Planting bareroot roses 198 Taking Care of Your Roses 199 Watering 199 Fertilizing 199 Keeping roses in shape 200 Maximizing winter hardiness 203 War of the roses: Tackling rose pests 204 Chapter 10: Multiplying Your Plants 207 Growing Plants from Seeds (Sexual Propagation) 208 Recognizing the different kinds of seed 208 Sowing seeds versus buying plants 209 Buying seed: What to keep in mind 210 Testing seeds 211 Treating seeds to increase germination 212 Sowing Seed Indoors 213 Getting better results 214 Thinning seedlings 216 Hardening off 216 Transplanting seedlings 217 Sowing Seed Directly Outdoors 218 Cloning Your Plants -- Vegetative Reproduction 219 Cutting and rooting stems 220 Air layering 221 Reproducing Bulbs 223 Bulb scooping 224 Reproducing lilies 224 Part 3: Stretching Your Garden beyond Its Boundaries: The Permanent Landscape 227 Chapter 11: Growing a Perfect Lawn 229 Patching Up the Lawn You Already Have 229 Making a Lawn from Scratch 230 Preparing your yard for a lawn 230 Designing the lawn 232 Seeding and Sodding: Adding the Grass 233 Determining the grass you want or need 233 Cool-season and warm-season grasses 234 Growing lawns from seed 235 Your own turf: Growing lawns from sod 240 Watering a Thirsty Lawn 242 Getting the water balance right 243 Boosting watering efficiency 244 Fertilizing Your Lawn 244 Deciding on the kind of fertilizer 245 Knowing your serving sizes: How much fertilizer is enough 247 Checking out the fertilizing schedule 247 Mowing the Lawn, Cutting the Grass, and Otherwise Giving the Yard a Trim 248 Battling the Weeds 250 Preventing lawn weeds 250 Treating already-weedy lawns 251 Chapter 12: Reaching New Heights with Trees 253 Knowing Your Trees 253 Exploring evergreen trees 254 Falling for deciduous trees 256 Choosing the Right Tree for Where You Live 259 Getting Treed! Planting Trees 260 Not just for Arbor Day: Deciding when to plant your tree 261 Finding a sui.