Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead: Five Steps to the Drop-Dead Gorgeous Garden of Your Dreams

When I grow up, I want to be like Mrs. Greenthumbs! This book doesn't have any glossy photos - just so much practical gardening information that it's the BEST gardening book I ever read (and I've read many, many, many). Cassandra Danz shares her successes - and her failures - and hard-learned lessons in a funny, easy-to-read, month-by-month format. I LOVE this!!!

What a wonderful garden book! This is the first garden book I've found that explains the idea of proportion in garden design, with many specific examples to make the concept clear and easy to understand. (For example, if you have a six foot fence, the bed alongside it should be four feet deep. Read the book to get the mathematical formula.) She also describes the idea of "garden rooms" as a way to organize a property's landscaping. Very, very helpful and inspiring.

I first happened across this book on display at my library and was entranced. The breezy style and down to earth advice were just right for my overworked, January-numbed mind. And after about the twentieth time Cassandra hammered away at the concept of garden "rooms," something finally clicked. I know this sounds corny, but one of those lightbulbs flashed on above my head, and I finally thought, "Hey, I really can do this in my own yard! I can have GARDENS!" Her clear, personal, descriptions of how to create gardens have radically changed how I view my little suburban yard and the act of gardening. And yes, I'm happily planning for spring.

This is the best garden book I've seen yet, and my shelves are lined with them. There is very useful gardening information here, unlike many of the pretty but impractical British books. It's especially helpful if you live and garden in the Northeast as the author does. She even covers the deer problem and what kinds of things they really won't eat. This book is also very funny and hard to put down. It will be on and off my shelf a lot this Spring as I re-work my garden with her great tips!

What a treat to read a gardening book that is a bit irreverant but full of information that I have not found in other gardening guides. The information on drifiting, proportion and scale has completely revitalized my approach and garden design. And I found myself laughing out loud at her stories and metaphors!