A Garden Makes a House a Home

A Garden Makes a House a Home features twenty-five residential gardens from every region across the United States, presented by veteran shelter magazine garden editor Elvin McDonald in a lavishly illustrated format.

Lush, well-tended gardens - whether they adorn humble cottages or sprawling estates - add beauty and personality to any property and truly make a house into a home. In this volume, gardens from simple to grand respond to the needs of their sites and reveal the unique personalities of the owners that care for them: on a tight urban lot in Houston, a thoughtful selection of water-loving plants and an innovative fountain that mediates rainfall from the city’s frequent deluges block out noise from the surrounding streets; elaborate terraces on a steep hillside in Portland, Oregon, create a variety of outdoor living spaces nestled directly among a rich tapestry of perennials, tall grasses, and Japanese maples; and on forty verdant New Hampshire acres, a series of garden “rooms” and meandering paths create an Edwardian-inspired escape.

The diverse array of gardens inspire with glorious, full-color images of plants thriving in all climates - berries, lettuces, and herbs burst from the rich soils of Berkeley, California, in an edible garden the whole neighborhood is invited to enjoy; succulents of all sizes and shapes add color and texture to a lakeside home in Dallas and an arid Tucson yard equally well; dozens of bonsai and plants native to Asia create an authentic Eastern atmosphere in Indianola, Iowa; the rambling cottage-style plantings of England are reinterpreted in a river valley in Knoxville, Tennessee; and closely clipped boxwood in Greenwich, Connecticut, forms a parterre that rivals the beauty of its elaborate French predecessors across the ocean.