If you love to garden but don't have much time to spend weeding, watering, and fussing over your plants, perennials are the perfect flowers for you. Most perennials self-propagate and multiply on their own, increasing in beauty and size each year. They are also less expensive and time-consuming than annuals over the long term, because you don't have to buy new plants each year. But choosing the best plants from today's selection of literally thousands of perennials is enough to stump any f...

Create a tranquil nighttime retreat with a moon garden.Transform your garden into a serene haven that comes alive under the moonlight. This beginner-friendly booklet offers simple steps to design a night-blooming garden that enchants with luminous flowers and soothing fragrances after dusk.Inside, you'll learn how to:Select pale-colored and fragrant plants that thrive in low lightDesign layouts that maximize moonlight re...

"Bonsai art is the display of a landscape - without the landscape."?--NobuKajiwara ?This quote couldn't be truer. Growing and sculpting bonsai trees can be quite a satisfying hobby. It is a hobby however, that requires a tremendous amount of patience. When you take a simple sapling and mould it to your desire, you'll be rewarded with a beautiful piece of art you can truly be proud of!?The term bonsai literally means plant in a pot or tray planting. Bonsai however is much more than simply a...

Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.

Learn to create amazing paintings with this complete acrylic painting course featuring expert tips, step-by-step exercises, and clear demonstrationsThis guide is packed with the best of Lee Hammond's lessons and tips on working with acrylics, including more than 80 step-by-step exercises and demonstrations that will have you creating amazing paintings in no time flat.With just seven to nine pigments, you can paint anything. You'll learn how to add layers an...

Take your watercolor paintings to the next level with these great techniques. Build a foundation with basic techniques like using wet-into-wet washes and glazing and layering before moving right along to using blooms, backruns, salt and wax to create great effects. Not only will you create gorgeous paintings, but you'll have fun doing them.

Learn how to paint in four different media! Taking the first steps to learn how to paint can be a challenge, especially when beginning artists are unsure which medium best suits them. With this book, aspiring artists will discover the qualities and benefits of four painting media-acrylic, oil, pastel, and watercolor-making it easier for them to begin their artistic journey. After an in-depth introduction to the tools and materials needed for each medium, five accomplished artists guide rea...

Let Jerry teach you how to Master LandscapesYou can master landscape painting with the help of popular painter Jerry Yarnell. In Landscape Painting Secrets, Jerry explores the different areas of landscape painting that often create problems for beginning and intermediate artists. All of the major landscape elements are covered-from rocks, dirt roads and grass to still and moving water to atmospheric conditions like rainbows, falling snow, ...

A must-have reference for every watercolorist!This is your complete guide to watercolor-from basic art concepts and techniques to fun special effects and pointers for painting popular subjects. Secrets of Watercolor, From Basics to Special Effects is a handy reference that beginners and experienced artists simply can't be without.Learn how to:• Work with the right materials• Master all essential techniques• Choose, mix and app...

Artist Craig Nelson shares secrets to drawing faces. From basics like materials, proportion and tone to finer details such as rendering noses from various angles, you will have all the essentials you need to get started drawing portraits immediately. Clear instruction and two step-by-step portrait demonstrations help you to create realistic faces with accuracy and ease.

Help your artistic talent bloom by capturing the beauty of flowers with your brushstrokes from realistic close-ups to impressionistic landscapes.From Agapanthus to Water Lily, this unique artist's reference provides easy-to-follow, plant-specific information on how to paint fifty of today's most popular flowers.• Learn to draw each basic flower shape and then paint a single detailed bloom• Gain full, practical guidance for painting each flower through ...

If we garden, we have seen damage done by insects. Whether it is damage done to fruits and vegetables or to our prized ornamentals, it is frustrating to say the least. Often, seeing the damage provokes our indignation and we declare war on all the insects in the garden without considering the repercussions that our actions might bring. Instead of pulling a chemical pesticide off the shelf, an alternative method of insect pest control would be to attract the natural predators to our gardens...