New eBooks

Perennial Meadows A series of books for gardeners and landscape professionals to enable you to create dramatic meadow gardens using perennial flowers and ornamental grasses.

Perennial Meadows eBooks cost just €4.99 Euros each.

Introduction book one

This Introduction to the series is indispensable. Here you will learn the ideas, principles and practice of making perennial meadows. The history of naturalistic planting is explained, the basic concepts of good plant associations are illustrated and the design of perennial meadows fully discussed. This introduction includes four fully illustrated examples, taken from the following books in the series, to offer a glimpse of prairie, open meadow, dry steppe and shady perennial meadow planting schemes. Read more …

The following books present planting schemes for different needs. For the sake of completeness, each book has a standard introduction page and an Appendix with text taken from the Introduction book one in order to fill in the background to perennial meadow gardening. Purchase only what you need.

Prairie book two

Naturalistic gardens are sometimes referred to as prairie planting schemes as the North American prairies have often served as the inspiration for this contemporary style of gardening. Also many of the most exciting and colorful perennials we grow come from these once extensive grasslands. The schemes presented in this second book in the series use many well loved American perennials together with a wide range of ornamental grasses to create dynamic planting ideas for wide-open sunny locations in our gardens and landscapes. This is where the prairie grasses, the asters and the golden rudbeckias will be found to fill your horizons. Read more …

Dry Steppe book three

Stony sun drenched slopes are home to a range of drought tolerant plants. Their fast draining soils are home to many hardy perennials and shrubs which form a community of plants we call steppe. Perennial meadows for steppe conditions use plants that grow easily in open, sunny, windy and often dry garden settings. Some schemes use plants that although not true “steppe” species, demand an open site free from the competition of bordering neighbors – echinacea cone flowers and stipa grasses for example. Such growing conditions also exist on roof tops and balconies where perennial meadows using lower growing plants can create exciting green roof landscapes. Read more …

Open Meadows book four

The open meadow is sunny and fully exposed to the wind. Perennials suited to these conditions never need staking or cosseting, but instead can be planted in wide drifts to fill garden spaces with colour and movement. These are the schemes to use in most common garden situations to replace lawns and old fashioned borders. The difference between these schemes and those in the “Prairie” (book two) is that in general they are lower growing and use fewer true American prairie perennials. Read more …

Wet Meadows book five

This series of meadows use perennials that need some moisture in the ground throughout the growing season and without it would dry out and die – hostas, astilbes, rodgersias and primulas appear in these pages amidst ferns and woodland grasses. Together with the schemes in book six on shady meadows you will find a range of elegant solutions for some of the most frequently commonly planted areas of private gardens near to buildings, walls and trees. Read more …

Shady Meadows book six

Perennial meadows can create stunning garden features in one of the most challenging garden habitats. Shade comes in many guises; when the soil is moist the opportunities are many, but even when the ground is very dry there are still some exciting possibilities to explore. This final book in the series will surprise you with its scope. Read more …