Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Barbara W. Ellis.
Covering Ground: Unexpected Ideas for Landscaping with Colorful, Low–Maintenance Ground Covers.
North Adams, Mass.: Storey, 2007.
paper, 224 pp., ISBN 978–1–580–17665–1, $19.95.

To reduce maintenance tasks and to add interest to the landscape, author Barbara Ellis recommends that designers become more creative in the selection of plantings and hardscape that cover the ground. Whether addressing a small problem area or a vast landscape, gardeners should take care that plantings should be well matched to the site and that they not become invasive, but suitably spreading. Nicely illustrated with color photographs, the text is divided into three sections: careful groundcover selection, different types of plants for special situations, and methods of plant culture. This book will likely stir the imaginations of all gardeners with new possibilities for ground covers that will add color and interest to the landscape.

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.