Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Generally, a gardening book that teaches practical skills is designed to look more like a plain textbook than an artful coffee-table decoration, but Ken Druse (The Natural Garden, The Collector's Garden) has changed that with his gorgeous book Making More Plants. An invitation to examine the miracle of birth in the botanical world is at the center of this book, and you'll be amazed and delighted as Druse's photos and text bring this astonishing world to life.
Filling these pages are close-up photos of plants at every stage of life and in every variety--pinecones, dried seed pods, root and stem cuttings, ripe fruits, and lush flowers show off their unique shapes and colors everywhere you look. Specific techniques are outlined with both photos and text; from the spore prints of ferns to the nicking of hard-shelled seeds, you'll learn exactly how to tackle every aspect of creating new plants. Careful attention is paid in the text to the timing of taking different types of cuttings from different plants, and these practical details will hopefully help curb any urgent desire to play Johnny Appleseed with your favorite wildflowers until the season is exactly right. Special projects like hardwood cutting and involving children in plant propagation have small sections devoted to them; the African violet project for youngsters is a fascinating introduction, and only slightly more involved than that old carrot-top-in-a-dish-of-water project. For serious gardeners who enjoy plants for more than their pretty flowers and attractive shapes, this combination of science and beauty will supply both inspiration and information. --Jill Lightner
Book Description
For people who love gardens, propagation is gardening itself, the practice of growing whatever you want, whenever you want. Whether you crave healthy, vigorous plants, wish to grow new ones to share with friends, or hope to produce scores of them to fill your own beds and borders -- for free -- Making More Plants will help fulfill your most vivid garden dreams. Ken Druse, one of America's foremost gardening authorities, an award-winning photographer, and the author of the best-selling Natural Garden series, presents innovative, practical techniques for expanding any plant collection, with more than 500 full-color photographs.
Based on years of personal research, Making More Plants is a practical manual as well as a beautiful garden book, presenting procedures Ken Druse has tested and adapted, as well as photographed step by step. In clear, nspirational language Ken takes the mystery out of seemingly complex practices such as seed conditioning, bulb division, leaf and stem cutting, grafting, and more. Whether focusing on techniques as easy as creating multiple plants from a single perennial using a common kitchen knife or on more complicated practices such as air layering, Ken's advice will inspire both novice and experienced gardeners to turn their homes and gardens into personal nurseries.
Supplementing the text and photographs is a comprehensive appendix charting methods for propagating more than 700 different plants, listed by both common and Latin names, an invaluable resource unmatched by even the most thorough of propagation manuals.
Straightforward advice, gorgeous photographs, and Ken's own engaging voice all combine to make Making More Plants an indispensable guide for every passionate gardener and plant lover.
Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation
Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation,Ken Druse,Clarkson Potter,051770787X,Garden Design,Gardening,Gardening / Horticulture,Gardening/Plants,Landscape gardening,Natural landscaping,Plant propagation,Reference,Gardening / Reference
Book Contents:
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