Here is page 2 of a collection of books to teach you about Landscaping techniques. These books will give you insight on how to turn your plain grass lawn into beautiful backyard oais. They may cover topics ranging from gold fish ponds to stone retaining walls. Even if you don't have a million dollars, you can make your lawn look like you do.

Stone in the Garden: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects
by Gordon Hayward, Gordon Morrison (Illustrator)

How to use stone—in walls, walkways, terraces, and more—to create beautiful, lasting gardens. Stone furnishes the framework, the structure, and the sense of permanence that transforms gardens. Whether in the form of retaining walls or benches, terraces or walkways, as bold standing stones or as boulders at the edge of a small stream or pond, stone lends a garden focus, providing the perfect foil to plants. In this lavishly illustrated book, readers are inspired to think creatively and practically about the many roles stone can play in their gardens. More than one hundred color photographs show ways in which stone graces great gardens from around the world. One hundred detailed drawings give readers the know-how to complete a wide range of projects with confidence and finesse. A full-color visual index of fifty-three widely available varieties of stone lets readers select the right color and texture for their purpose and overall plan, and a comprehensive list of resources nationwide tells how to find skilled stonemasons and where to buy stone. 125 color photographs, 100 drawings.

Landscaping Your Home: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners
by Lee Anne White (Editor)

In Landscaping Your Home, some of the best designers in the field show how to do a complete makeover of front, back, and side yards. The book is packed with fresh ideas for entrances, foundation plantings, and pathways, and explains how to use landscaping to better situate a house, thereby increasing its property value. Lavish illustrations make this practical approach to landscaping easy to follow.

Stonework: Techniques and Projects
by Charles McRaven, Elizabeth McHale (Editor)

Discover the lasting satisfaction of working with stone and learn the tricks of the trade from a master craftsman.

No building material rivals stone for beauty, permanence, and enduring popularity. Builder Charles McRaven offers the benefits of his fifty years of stonework experience in Stonework, a book that will inform, entertain, and inspire anyone using or working with stone.

McRaven helps even first-time builders comprehend the intricacies of working with different stone types; choosing the most suitable stone; handling, cutting, and shaping stone; working with recycled stone; and using stone inside the home.

Stonework presents complete, fully illustrated instructions for:
* Using stone for gardens, paths, pools, and waterfalls
* Building walls, from simple to serpentine
* Making gateways, pillars, and doorways
* Using large stones as wall and landscape accents
* Installing stone steps for porches and entries
* Creating retaining walls
* Building bridges and walkways

Creating Beds and Borders: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners
by Lee Anne White (Editor)

Creating Beds and Borders covers everything from layout to plant selection. Aimed at the North American gardener, the information is based on the experiences of 15 top designers who stress experimenting with color, texture, and form; show how to use color to dazzling effect; and promote the idea of leaving some of the design to chance. Lee Anne White is the former editor of Fine Gardening.

Trees, Shrubs & Hedges for Home Landscaping : Secrets for Selection and Care
by Jacqueline Heriteau

Trees, Shrubs, & Hedges for Home Landscaping, a magnificently illustrated book, presents over 1,000 of the best woody species and cultivars for all regions of the United States and southern Canada. They are "best" because they're beautiful, low-maintenance, pest- and disease-resistant, and available at local nurseries and home centers. This environmentally friendly book is both a comprehensive reference on top-rated plants and a complete guide to their selection, planting, and care. Within separate tree, shrub, and hedge sections, more than 500 full-color photographs and paintings showcase plant features and illustrate procedures step by step.

Home Landscaping: Northeast Region : Including Southeast Canada
by Roger Holmes , Rita Buchanan

Home Landscaping: Northeast Region, Including Southeast Canada, shows how to beautify 23 common landscape situations, such as front and back entries, walkways, borders, slopes, and patios. Over 40 design variations incorporate more than 200 of the best plants for the region. Readers also learn all they need to know to install the paths, fences, walls, arbors, and trellises that make up the designs. Step-by-step instructions show how to tackle each project. Plant descriptions also explain planting and care.

Architecture in the Garden
by Tom Christopher (Author), Penelope Hobhouse (Preface), James Van Sweden (Author)

The elements of garden architecture—paths, walls, gates, fences, terraces, sheds, lighting, furniture, waterworks, and art—together form the backbone of any well-designed garden. In this beautifully illustrated and accessible book, legendary landscape architect James van Sweden explains how to design and build a garden like a professional. He leads his readers on a tour through some of his most exquisitely designed gardens—in the country, in the city, in the suburbs, and by the shore. “When it comes to planning a comfortable and rewarding garden,” van Sweden writes in his Introduction, “the challenges that confront the owner of an estate or a weekend cottage are often substantially the same. The principles and techniques used for organizing a large site work equally well in a more modest setting.”

Each case study highlights a particular architectural element, breaking it down into practical ideas that any gardener can apply to his or her own garden or yard. The book includes dozens of detailed schematic drawings that can be used to build many of the elements described by the author, along with an extensive, illustrated glossary. Architecture in the Garden is sure to inspire you with its many practical ideas on how to domesticate your landscape and design an outdoor space that suits your taste as well as your lifestyle.

Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design
by Gordon Hayward, Janet Fredericks (Illustrator), Richard Felber (Photographer)

Landscape design books abound, yet few tackle the subject as practically or proficiently as Hayward's. Beginning with a simple and obvious premise, that your house is the center from which your garden design should flow, Hayward breaks a property into its separate landscaping areas--entrance, side yards and back yards, specialty areas such as courtyards, and outbuildings--to effectively illustrate how the whole really can be the sum of its parts. He addresses the aesthetic as well as the... read more

A breakthrough in inspiring yet practical do-it-yourself garden and landscape design, including dozens of detailed plans.

Finally, homeowners can tackle new garden designs and fix old ones with the confidence and know-how to succeed. Professional garden designer Gordon Hayward provides the tools by demonstrating the guiding principles behind his own designs: take clues from the style, materials, and proportions of existing features, particularly your house, but also garages and outbuildings, property lines, streets, walls, and walkways. Look closely at these features, and they will suggest good design.

Over sixty color photographs and over one hundred detailed watercolor sketches of Hayward's plans for his clients show how to read the clues and then design gardens that relate to their surroundings and unify entire properties. Many tricks of the trade are given, including how to make inviting, sheltering entry gardens; screen unsightly features and utilities; and reclaim narrow, shady side yards. Surefire methods for designing front, side, and backyard gardens are explained. 200 color photographs and drawings.

Landscaping for Dummies
by Phillip Giroux (Author), Bob Beckstrom (Author), Lance Walheim (Author), The Editors of the National Gardening Association (Author)

A beautiful landscape reflects well on your house, making it a welcome part of a neighborhood or native terrain. And it dramatically increases your home’s value. Landscaping also makes your house and yard more useful and better able to complement your family’s lifestyle. Trees shade your home to reduce energy use. Thorny shrubs deter prowlers. Lawns reduce dust from bare ground and give children the perfect play area. Patios and decks are great for entertaining. And a vegetable garden can yield fresh, delicious salads to eat on that patio or deck.

Landscaping for Dummies has everything you need to turn the little patch of earth you call your own into a personal paradise. Whether you’ve waited for the day to have property to landscape, you’d never given it a second thought until you had to, or you want to improve on an existing landscape, this book offers a clearly written wealth of knowledge on:

* Designs
* Fences, walls, gates, and paths
* Decks, patios, and outdoor rooms
* Trees
* Shrubs and vines
* Ground cover

From the basic principles of landscape design, to all the ins and outs of hillsides, balcony gardens, and water gardens, this book will show you how to:

* Think like a designer
* Dream up the right landscape for your family’s needs
* Increase your home’s resale value
* Conserve energy
* Deal with contractors, nurseries, and hardware suppliers
* Create an edible landscape

Full of helpful problem-solvers for all kinds of landscapes, Landscaping for Dummies also features sample plans, “theme” landscape ideas, and a brilliant color photo section to inspire the imagination. Accessible and informative to both beginner and expert landscapers, this is the complete guide to creating the yard you’ve always wanted.

Landscaping With Tropical Plants
by Monica Moran Brandies, Sunset Books (Editor), Leisure Arts

Imagine the lush possibilities. In one volume with over 200 photographs, readers will discover how to grow an entire spectrum of exciting new plants in their home gardens. This book reveals the types of tropical plants that are right for your site, no matter what your climate. In addition, it will tell how to get various plants through the winter and into the next growing season. Just the thing for the gardener who wants to incorporate the exotic into the usual landscape.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Landscaping
by Joel M. Lerner, Chris Eliopoulos (Illustrator)

Produced to be the most comprehensive do-it-yourself book on successful landscaping.

Half how-to and half idea guide, this book will contain 240 pages with 400+ photos/illustrations.

Includes a visual encyclopedia of the most popular plants, shrubs, trees and flowers.

The Lawn Bible: How to Keep It Green, Groomed, and Growing Every Season of the Year
by David R. Mellor

Everyone wants a green lawn, but how do you actually get one? Bags of fertilizer? Weed killer? Sod? What about mowing? Everyone knows how to, but do you really know when to? Fenway Park's master groundskeeper David Mellor does. He's been caring for some of the nicest lawns around for years. In The Lawn Bible, Mellor offers you everything you need to know about lawn care for your part of the country, including planting, mowing, feeding, and troubleshooting, as well as tips, illustrations, and anecdotes.

Whether your yard is full shade, full sun, or something in between, David Mellor will help you transform it into the greenest grass of your dreams.

The Gospel of Grass, according to David:
--How to think like a lawn
--How to make a lawn child-friendly and a child lawn-friendly
--What combination of good soil, good seed, and good sun adds up to a great lawn
--The mechanics and artistry of mowing
--How to win the war on weeds, pests, and disease

Natural Landscaping: Designing with Native Plant Communities
by John Diekelmann, Robert M. Schuster, Renee Graef (Illustrator)

In response to demand from landscape architects and home gardeners, Natural Landscaping returns to print in an updated and expanded second edition. It is unique in its focus on plant communities; it approaches landscape design as the establishment of natural ecosystems, rather than the mere planting of specimens. Emphasizing the natural landscapes of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, this book: * reviews landscaping principles and techniques * introduces native plant species for grasslands, savannas, forests, edge areas, & small wetlands * illustrates how to evaluate a site and plan for visual effect & maintenance * presents the issues involved in restoring bogs, ponds, and other wetlands * offers practical advice on reducing chemical use while still combatting invasive plants * addresses social, legal, design, and planting problems often encountered on residential sites * discusses natural landscaping for public parklands, civic buildings, school grounds, and corporate properties

Landscape With Roses: Gardens, Walkways, Arbors, Containers
by Jeff Cox, Jerry Pavia (Photographer)

There are many books about roses but this is one of the better ones. Written by well-known garden host (HGTV and PBS) Jeff Cox, it is a beautiful yet practical book that delivers exactly what the title promises.

The first couple of hundred pages give you ideas for using roses in a whole range of different garden settings. The remainder explains how to buy, plant and care for roses. The advice is excellent for the novice or intermediate gardener. I give the writer full marks for not just providing a "directory of roses" - a cop-out all too often used to fill pages in garden books. Instead he shows how different types of roses can be used in the landscape.

The book has plenty of colour photographs showing roses used in different settings. I have to say that I was turned off by the hype on the cover. This is not a "ground-breaking book", the effects are not "dazzling" and as a guide it was useful rather than "inspirational". However, the writer has produced a practical, workman-like guide to effective landscape design using roses.

The book is well-designed and easy to read. I would recommend it to anyone who was thinking of incorporating roses into their garden. -- A Reader from Pacific Northwest

Landscaping With Fruits and Vegetables
by Fred Hagy, Clare McCanna (Illustrator)

Just in time for planting comes this profusely illustrated, immensely practical, and very different approach to gardening-fit for novices and seasoned green thumbs alike.

Most homeowners design their gardens as little decorative plots set amid expanses of green lawn. Europeans, on the other hand, have long understood the value of making the most of what the land has to offer, emphasizing a garden's potential for year-round productivity and beauty. This highly informative book by noted U.S. landscaper and designer Fred Hagy offers a new approach-providing lots of great ideas for a totally edible garden.

Beginning with the premise of "maximum beauty with maximum utility," Hagy discusses the principles of garden design and shows how one can easily visualize what the land-from lawn garden to backyard to field-can provide. He outlines a step-by-step procedure for combining all one's ideas, dreams, and tastes to create a setting that is both eye-pleasing and food-producing.

In addition, Landscaping with Fruits and Vegetables includes an authoritative series of "Plant Information Sheets" featuring the most up-to-date, genetically advanced tree, bush and plant varieties available. They not only specify the characteristics and varieties of each plant and where you can get them, but describe how to maintain them for maximum productivity and longevity. Information on drainage and irrigation, pest control, espaliering, container gardening and pollination requirements as well as an extensive bibliography make this an informative and indispensable reference for any home gardener.