Practical and inspiring, Decorating Your Garden is filled with ideas for furnishing a garden to transform outdoor rooms large or small into stylish and welcoming places to enjoy the natural world.

In his anecdotal text, Jeff Cox explores all non-plant elements that may be found in a garden, among them fountains, pools, and waterfalls; walls, fences, and gates; paths and walkways; furniture; gazebos and arbors; garden art; birdhouses; treehouses and play equipment for youngsters; and grottoes, groves, and hideaways. He suggests creative ways to incorporate these additions to a garden, provides useful building guidelines and tips, and cautions against pitfalls that can occur, while noting that the best designs reflect the gardener’s personal taste. And though the emphasis is on decorating, Cox names the best choices for plants when they are an integral part of a man-made structure–for example, vines for arbors, tropical blossoms for ponds, and flowers for stone walls.

An appendix describes more than twenty simple construction projects, and a source list for garden decorations rounds out the coverage.

Illustrating the book are 160 specially commissioned color photographs by Jerry Pavia of private and public gardens in the U.S., Canada, England, and France. His striking overviews and garden close-ups will prompt gardeners to pay attention to landscapes as well as to the structures, plants, and other details that constitute a memorable garden. This is an irresistible picture book as well as an important reference guide for enthusiastic gardeners.

About the Author and Photographer

Jeff Cox has been a gardener and garden writer for some 30 years. His previous books include Abbeville’s acclaimed Creating a Garden for the Senses, as well as Perennial All-Stars, Landscaping with Nature, and The Perennial Garden. He lives in Northern California and hosts a series called Grow It! on the Home and Garden television network.

Jerry Pavia’s photographs appear in Creating a Garden for the Senses, Beds and Borders, Original Garden Designs, and many other garden books and publications. He lives in Idaho.