The Homeowner's Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook: The Essential Guide to Choosing, Planting, and Maintaining Perfect Landscape Plants | 
| Author: Penelope O'sullivan
Creator: Karen Bussolini
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $15.25
You Save: $14.70 (49%)
New (39) Used (10) from $14.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 123942
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 408
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.5 x 1
ISBN: 1580175708
Dewey Decimal Number: 635.977
EAN: 9781580175708
ASIN: 1580175708
Publication Date: October 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: THIS BOOK IS NEW AND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. SAME DAY SHIPPING WEEKDAYS BEFORE 3:00PM EST
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Product Description
Trees and shrubs bring permanence and structure to home landscapes, adding character and beauty to the entire property. They can impart an immediate sense of geography; act as background staging for flower gardens, outdoor living spaces, and children’s play areas; and provide cool shadows and privacy from neighbors and passers-by. They are essential to every beautiful yard, yet many homeowners do not give them the attention that flowers and lawns traditionally receive.
Penny O’Sullivan gives trees and shrubs the respect they deserve in her lively, comprehensive book, The Homeowner’s Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook. Woody plants, she maintains, can be the heart and soul of the home landscape plan. Their contribution to the yard might include a springtime canopy of blossoms; colorful, delicious summer fruit; a regal year-round silhouette; rough and rugged bark; or seasonally changing foliage. Their presence is a soothing anchor in the ever-changing environment of a typical yard.
In three sections — design, plant profiles, and care — this handbook covers every essential consideration of tree and shrub gardening. After an introduction to the principles of garden design, O’Sullivan guides readers through tree and shrub selection, with special considerations for owner expectations and growing conditions.
The heart of the book is the extensive encyclopedia of hundreds of tree and shrub portraits. Each profile covers ease of cultivation, availability, history, hardiness, size, growth rate, and special characteristics. O’Sullivan also includes warnings about plants not to grow, such as invasive exotics and disease-prone trees and shrubs.
The final section covers care and maintenance, with thorough advice on buying and planting; siting; pruning; fertilizing; and coping with diseases, pests, and environmental problems.
Adding trees and shrubs to a home landscape can be an expensive proposition. To make their purchases and protect their investment, homeowners will constantly refer to this book for O'Sullivan’s wise advice.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Super Handy Guide April 27, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I love this book! From design to description, this book will guide you to make good decisions on the trees and shrubs that you purchase.
Wonderful Reference Book April 17, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I checked The Homeowner's Complete Tree and Shrub Handbook out of the library and fifteen minutes into reading it, purchased a copy online. I am a moderately experienced gardener, but have been looking for a guide like this.
The book is huge and is filled with gorgeous photographs by Karen Bussolini.
The author, Penelope O'Sullivan, writes with authority and a passion for trees and shrubs. For example, in "All about Magnolia" she writes: "Beauty and decay dance an endless tango in the garden. What's more poignant than watching magnolia petals unfold soft, smooth, and pure as a baby's cheek, then rot in a late spring frost? I love everything about these trees..."
Part I is about design and was very well done. For example, a photograph depicting form is shown and is further illustrated with lines over the trees and shrubs to make the discussion crystal clear.
The next section is a guide to help choose the best plants for specific landscape conditions. Shrubs and trees are listed for the different conditions.
Next, how to buy plants, how to plant them and care for them properly. Each of these steps is illustrated with clear photographs.
The following chapter discusses how to care for landscape plants. It includes diseases and insect pests.
Finally, 348 trees and shrubs are described and O'Sullivan recommends her favorite cultivars.
This is a book to read though to learn everything about trees and shrubs and a guide to pick the best plants. I plan to bring my book to the nursery to help me select the perfect cultivars for my property.
By the author of the award winning book, Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet.
 The Homeowner Complete Tree & Shrub April 7, 2008
This book gives examples of design principles used by landscape architects and not the intuitive-creative approach common with gardeners. In the plant section the pictures of trees and shrubs are very partial not showing the shape of the whole plant but more like a reminder of the plant - for people who already know it. The rest of the book is about garden techniques such as planting pruning and the like. Its an OK general book if you need one.
An encyclopedia of hundreds of tree and shrub options offers a host of fine images March 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are plenty of books on lawns and flowers but trees and shrubs are equally important, and the author is passionate about them. Three in-depth sections cover the design, care and plant profiles of gardens with a focus on trees and shrubs, moving from the basics of incorporating them into an overall garden design to considering expectations of results and growing conditions. An encyclopedia of hundreds of tree and shrub options offers a host of fine images by Karen Bussolini while plant profiles cover ease of maintenance, cultivation, availability, growth rare and more. Libraries strong in homeowner's garden guides need this.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
A must-have book for all gardeners December 6, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Unlike the previous reviewer, I am not an experienced gardener. More the reason to own Penelope O'Sullivan's book, The Homeownwer's Complete Tree and Shrub Handbook. It is very clearly written, demystifying topics such as garden design, plant care and plant selection. An encyclopedic listing of plants, augmented by the beautiful photograghy of Karen Bussolini, is extremely helpful identifying the exisiting plants on my property and will undoubtedly be indispensible selecting plants for future projects. This is a must have book for anyone interested in gardening.
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