Even beginner gardeners can select plants to create a stunning garden as unique as the mid-Atlantic region - with expert help to ensure success! Mid-Atlantic Getting Started Garden Guide is a plant selection guide, perfect for when you're choosing plants and starting a garden in a climate that can be as challenging as it is beautiful. Choose the right plants and care for them properly with help from two of the area's most highly respected and experienced plantsmen, Andre and Mark Viette, and horticulture writer Jacqui Heriteau. The authors' top picks for plants that will thrive in (or in spite of) the regions's heat, humidity, winter cold, soil, coastal climate, and other unique growing conditions guarantee success for the area gardeners and home landscapers. Plants are divided into easy-to-browse chapters, including Annuals, Bulbs, Groundcovers, Ornamental Grasses, Perennials, Shrubs, Trees, Lawns, and Vines. Each plant is highlighted in its respective chapter with a large full-color photograph and tips on how, when, and where to plant. Mid-Atlantic Getting Started Garden Guide doesn't stop at plant selection. Methods for preparing soil, watering, fertilizer application, and pest management are also covered in detail. Along with the "nitty-gritty" of tending your garden, the authors share their inspiration for garden design, offer ways to incorporate your plants into the landscape, and name some favorite cultivars or species. Their sound, practical advice is clothed in beautiful descriptions of each plant that will inspire you to get your hands dirty!

Author Biography

ANDRE VIETTE is a plantsman extraordinaire. As owner of Viette Farm and Nursery in Fisherville, Virginia, Viette educates the public about all kinds of plants and he is a noted daylily breeder. Viette hosts a weekly three-hour, live call-in radio program In the Garden and is a frequent lecturer, author, and distinguished horticulturalist. Among his honors include the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Award of Merit for contributions to the perennial plant industry and the Garden Club of America Medal of Honor for outstanding contributions to horticulture. Viette serves on the board of numerous botanical institutions, including the National Arboretum, the American Horticulture Association, and the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. MARK VIETTE is a noted plantsman and runs the Viette Farm and Nursery with his father, Andre. In addition to running the family business, Mark Viette operates Viette Communiations, which produces the In the Garden radio program. A trained horticulturalist who graduated from Virginia Tech, Mark Viette has frequently gone on plant-finding missions around the world. JACQUI HERITEAU is the author of many books on gardening and cooking. She served as editor of the noted horticuture book Good Housekeeping Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening and had a Book-of-the-Month club selection with her book National Arboretum Book of Outstanding Garden Plants. She has been honored as the American Nursery and Landscape Association's (ANLA) Communicator of the Year award and is a Fellow of the Garden Writers Association.