Field Guide to Outside Style

Author Ryan McEnaney is here to say, "You do!" His inspired and easy-to-follow guide helps you create the outdoor living space of your dreams, even if gardening isn't your thing. You'll learn how to personalize your landscape using plants, furnishings, and other items to create the perfect outdoor Eden for you and your family, no matter how large or small your space is. Ryan's simple yet effective plan: 1. Start with what you already love-your clothes, your favorite colors, your taste in furniture or art-and learn how to translate those choices into an outdoor design that reflects you perfectly, even if you've never sunk a shovel into the soil before. 2. Next, go on a few "dates" with your yard (cocktails, anyone?) to get to know the conditions there and how they'll dictate what you should plant and what you should avoid. 3. Then, using one of three primary outdoor design styles-the classic, the modernist, and the naturalist-you'll use mix-and-match design suggestions to plan and plant the yard and garden you've always hoped for. 4. And finally, look to case studies in each of the three design styles, accompanied by before-and-after illustrations of outdoor rehab projects, to further illustrate all the gorgeous possibilities available to you. Whether you've just purchased your first home or have an existing, overgrown mess of shrubs and trees, Field Guide to Outside Style gives you the confidence to select plants and design concepts that work with your home, fit within your abilities, and ultimately match the rest of your life perfectly. With this book and its author as your guide, you DO have what it takes! Book jacket.