Enhance your garden by welcoming beautiful butterflies and birds Create a perfectly balanced eco-system with very little effort at all Packed with design plans, plant lists and step-by-step techniques We've come a long way since the competitive gardening style of the early 20th century, when no effort was too great and no contrivance too elaborate provided the end result was a flawless rose that outshone the neighbours' attempts. Today's gardeners are not aiming for perfection, but are instead trying to achieve a balance with nature. Nibbled leaf margins or tattered petals are seen as a small price to pay for butterflies on the wing, the drowsy hum of bees on a summer afternoon or a family of small birds industriously pecking over the rose bushes for aphids. This book guides you through the basic steps toward encouraging wildlife into your garden, so that eventually there will be an efficient eco-system. It will help you encourage frogs and toads to keep the slug population under reasonable control, and to attract small birds into your garden so that they stay to keep summer insects in check. It will also show you how to attract beneficial insects that can take over the work of chemical sprays, cutting down the problem of pests.

Author Biography

Sharon Amos is a well-known gardening journalist who writes regularly on plants for 'Country Living' magazine. Her previously published books include 'Celebrating the Seasons' (184340043X) and 'Garden Wisdom' (185585953X). She lives near Maidstone, Kent. U.S. consultant Miranda Smith has been teaching gardening since 1971, and is the author and co-author of a dozen gardening books and numerous articles. Her experience includes growing in all areas of the U.S. as well as both the west and east coasts of Canada. She lives in Florida.