Are you anxious to create a green, restful outside space, but waiting until you move into “the perfect place” and not so sure when that will happen? Do you long for a gardening life that brings together your friends and family, but you honestly don’t know where to start? Marianne Willburn doesn’t want you to wait a minute longer. In Big Dreams, Small Garden this popular garden columnist and blogger helps you to change your perspective, pack away feelings of envy and inadequacy, and build the skills you need to start creating the space you’ve always dreamed of. An ideal guide for those who struggle with limited resources, Big Dreams, Small Garden leads you through the process of visualizing, achieving, maintaining, and enjoying your unfolding garden. It gives you tips for making a sanctuary in less-than-ideal situations and profiles real-life gardeners who have done just that—including the author herself.

Covering a broad array of landscape plants, including edibles, flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs, evergreens, and perennials, horticulturist Jessica Walliser takes a deep dive into the emerging category of compact plants. Whether short, narrow, columnar, or dwarf, this new and exciting group of plants provides the same decorative function as full-sized ornamental plants, but in a fraction of the space. Plus, edible compact plants offer comparable productivity, without having to add more square footage to the garden. In this comprehensive guide, Jessica uses her numerous contacts in the seed and plant production world to give space-challenged gardeners a heads up on what's new, as well as re-introducing a few traditional small-footprint favorites. In both urban and suburban neighborhoods, yards are shrinking, and big plants and gardens require too much maintenance for today's time-starved homeowners. If you're searching for plants that require less space and reduced day-to-day maintenance, dwarf shrubs and other compact plants to the rescue! With little to no pruning required, columnar trees, dwarf shrubs, mini veggies, short-statured perennials, and other compact plants fill a much-needed niche. In the Gardener's Guide to Compact Plants, you'll discover fantastic, brand new dwarf and compact plant varieties you didn't even know existed. And, you'll learn how to grow more flowers, fruits, and veggies than ever before, no matter how much—or how little—space you have. It's the perfect book for homeowners with small yards, urban gardeners, container growers, or anyone looking to grow a beautiful and productive small-scale garden.

Adventurous Gardener seeks relationship with Tropical Plant… *As featured in The New York Times* *Winner of the GardenComm 2022 Media Awards Gold Award of Achievement in the Book Writing General Readership Category* *Winner of the GardenComm 2022 Media Awards Silver Award of Achievement in the Publisher/Book General Readership Category* Tropical plants are energizing. They awaken a tired summer garden with lush, sensuous foliage and fascinating flowers and turn a suburban patio into a sophisticated, late-night paradise. But if you garden in a temperate climate and have been reluctant to commit to what you’re sure will be too much work, it’s time to let Tropical Plants and How to Love Them author Marianne Willburn act as your tropical matchmaker. Using five relationship types to help you understand the different levels of care required for many common (and uncommon!) tropicals, Marianne introduces you to an impressive array of outstanding tropical plants by providing care instructions, easy tips for seeing these tropical beauties safely through the winter, and advice for designing a tropical paradise of your own. Tropical Plants and How to Love Them gives you permission to jump headfirst into: A summer romance that ends with the first frost. A long-term commitment to beautify indoor and outdoor spaces. A friends-with-benefits relationship that yields exotic flavors and fragrances. A breakup with that high-maintenance beauty. A best friend relationship that lasts a lifetime. From the striking red leaves of the Abyssinian banana to the unusual flowers and healing powers of turmeric, there are hundreds of tropical plants worth loving. Find your new sweetheart in the pages of Tropical Plants and How to Love Them.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & BEST GARDENING BOOKS OF 2020 - Sunday Times 'Every page a joy' NIGEL SLATER 'From a very early age I loved the countryside as much as any garden and was fascinated by the life that I saw all around me from trees, wildflowers, birds, insects and mammals. In a sense this book has been over sixty years in gestation. I have kept notebooks and journals ever since I could write and I have drawn upon these as well as the events of the past year.' Spend a year with Monty Don. My Garden World is a celebration of every living creature and the natural world that we all share. Recent times have given us the enforced opportunity to learn more about the fascinating natural world around us. Whether you live in the countryside or the town, Monty's observations and insights are relevant to each and every one of us. My Garden World is Monty Don's personal journey through the natural year, month by month, season by season, observed from the immediate world around him. 'Wildlife is not something that we watch happening in remote and exotic parts of the world on our screens, but right here in our own back yards and the more that we encourage it and learn to live with it, the more rewarding it becomes. If, in our own modest back yards, we can help preserve and treasure our natural world then we will make the world a better place -- not just for ourselves but for every living creature.'

Micro-financing is considered one of the most effective strategies in the fight against global poverty. It can be implemented on the massive scale necessary to respond to the urgent needs of the world's poorest. And now, in this book, the author looks at the lives of micro-lending borrowers from the Grameen Foundation in Bangladesh and Chicago. All of the borrowers profiled here are women of little-to-no means, each struggling to gain financial independence. Readers will discover how, in Bangladesh, these women face off against very poor living conditions and the prejudice of men, while in Chicago, they must overcome crime and other hurdles that come with life in the inner city. A comprehensive look at the concept of micro-financing, it reveals how Muhammad Yunus and his concept of micro-financing has helped those living in poverty achieve real financial independence.

The term “guerrilla” may bring to mind a small band of armed soldiers, moving in the dead of night on a stealth mission. In the case of guerrilla gardening, the soldiers are planters, the weapons are shovels, and the mission is to transform an abandoned lot into a thing of beauty. Once an environmentalist’s nonviolent direct action for inner-city renewal, this movement is spreading to all types of people in cities around the world. These modern-day Johnny Appleseeds perform random acts of gardening, often without permission. Typical targets are vacant lots, railway land, underused public squares, and back alleys. The concept is simple, whimsical, and has the cheeky appeal of being a not-quite-legal call to action. Dig in some soil, plant a few seeds, or mend a sagging fence—one good deed inspiring another, with win-win benefits all around. Guerrilla Gardening outlines the power-to-the-people campaign for greening our cities. Tips for effective involvement include: • Finding plants and seeds cheap (or free) • Handling city officials • Getting the dirt on soil • Planting to bring back the birds • Knowing when to ask first Social activists, city dwellers, and longtime gardeners will delight in this fast-paced and funny call to arms. David Tracey is a journalist and environmental designer who operates EcoUrbanist in Vancouver. He is executive director of Tree City Canada, a nonprofit ecological engagement group.

Dive into the art and allure of gardening on a miniature scale with The Joy of Miniature Gardens. This comprehensive guide unveils the secrets to creating lush, inviting landscapes within the smallest of spaces. From terrariums that encapsulate ecosystems to vertical ventures that defy gravity, every chapter reveals a new realm of possibilities. Perfect for urban dwellers, space-challenged enthusiasts, or anyone with a passion for gardening innovation, this enjoyable little book will transform your perspective on planting. Discover curated step-by-step projects, expert tips on plant selection and maintenance, and inspirational resources to expand your gardening horizons. Embark on a journey where every inch is fertile ground for creativity, and the joy of gardening is magnified. Your compact planting canvas awaits!

Gardening Your Front Yard is an active, inspiring resource that shows you how to treat your front yard like a backyard without sacrificing beauty, from choosing the right plants to building front patios and walkways. With her unique combination of DIY/building savvy and gardening expertise, author Tara Nolan (Raised Bed Revolution) weaves you past the main pitfalls you may encounter when trying to fit a garden or gardens between your home and the street. This beautiful and comprehensive book shows how to accomplish several hardscape projects, such as building front patios, borders, edging, and walkways, as well as making your own raised beds, planting containers, trellises, rose arbors, privacy screens, and more—all custom-designed for the rigors of front-yard gardening. Gardening Your Front Yard is a garden book in every sense of the word, however. Choosing the right plants is even more important when you are dealing with a small, highly visible area with less than ideal growing conditions—all common traits of most front yards. You will find advice on training vines up brickwork and planting around foundation walls, planting boulevards/hell strips, and you’ll even take a trip into the side yard. Shade gardens, privacy screening, and security dos and don'ts are covered, plus how to intermingle edibles and landscape plants, cactus and succulent gardens, birdbaths, and much, much more. With the sage advice and step-by-step projects of this comprehensive guide, convert your front yard from a bland grasscape to a vital living space.

Big League Dreams finds the Krimsk Rebbe and many of his flock in St. Louis on a Saturday, the Sabbath, in the summer of 1920. In St. Louis, it is the summer of 1920 and the day is the Sabbath, but there is little rest for the Jews from Krimsk and less reverence for the wondrous Krimsker Rebbe, who led them to the New World seventeen years before. The rebbe's former hasidim have embraced America to discover that the vision of "gold in the streets" evokes larceny in the heart. Matti Sternweiss, the ungainly, studious child wonder in Krimsk, now the cerebral catcher for the St. Louis Browns, is scheming to fix Saturday's game against the pennant-contending Detroit Tigers. It is an American Sabbath: Prohibition, bookies, the criminal syndicate, the Hiberian fellowship of the police brass, hometown blondes, a bootlegging rabbi, and big league baseball. It is also Krimsk in America: Boruch Levi, the successful junkman, confiscates his zany, crippled brother-in-law Barasch's sizable bets; Barasch's lusty wife, Malka, has her own connubial reasons for wanting to stop the gambling; the chief of police fatefully inspires his loyal disciple, Boruch Levi, to bring Matti before the Krimsker Rebbe on the Sabbath in order to preserve the purity of the national pastime. Recluse and wonder-worker, messianist and pragmatist, the Krimsker Rebbe navigates the muddy Mississippi River, haunted by a recurring prophetic vision of Pharaoh's blood-red Nile. In the final, decisive innings, with Matti crouched behind home plate, it will come down to Ty Cobb versus the kabbalah. Richly imagined, populated with robust, complex characters, Big League Dreams is a profoundly original, inspiring, and comic creation. It is the second volume in the series Small Worlds, which follows the people of Krimsk and their descendants in America, Russia, Poland, and Israel. In each volume Allen Hoffman draws on his deep knowledge of Jewish religion and history to evoke the finite yet infinite "small worlds" his characters inhabit.

In 1948 Joseph Kinnebrew was a little boy becoming aware of his place in a bigger world. Back then his territory was small, he was maturing from age six to eight. Living with his family on a steep hill running down to Commencement Bay in Tacoma, Washington, Joseph, in those days just Joe, with his dog Skipper, and neighborhood pal Freddie with his dog Chipper were serious adventurers. Young boys, “persons of curiosity”. In this entertaining chronicling Kinnebrew shares two summers of idyllic childhood, sometimes serious, sometimes hilariously comedic experiences of little boys growing up, still attached to their mothers who fed, healed and comforted them. Valuable lessons they would carry forward into the remainder of their lives. Joe’s life ahead with uncommon abilities would be exceptionally accomplished. He tells a story of charming innocence, emotions and evolving beliefs along with how he and Freddie struck gold on the steep hillside of a gully, shared secrets with Skipper and Chipper, and ditched Davy who told everyone his father owned the Wonder Bread company. Exploring the beaches of Puget Sound these boys played marbles inside their fort deep in dense blackberry brambles, safe from troublesome little girls and babysitters. They built many “forts” to spy on dreaded hobos who resided at the bottom in the gully near their homes. Parents had forbade them going to the gully where it was said the hobos kidnapped children and sold them into slavery sending them to Arabia. And then profound and lasting lessons for impressionable little boys from their encounters and friendship with Bobbie the older seriously handicapped young man who lived nearby. Kinnebrew provides magical and captivating glimpses into his childhood. Two years later, in 1950 his family moved to the Midwest, Joe forever leaving behind his best friend, Freddie, towering fir trees, salt water, mountains, and his compelling innocence. Little Boys, Big Dreams is an unforgettable touching recollection of precious unspoiled youth.