The Prairie Gardener's Go-To Guide for Trees and Shrubs - (Guides for the Prairie Gardener) by Janet Melrose & Sheryl Normandeau (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Book six in the Guides for the Prairie Gardeners series demystifies planting and caring for trees and shrubs on the prairies, with tips on stock size, fruit production, pests, and winter protection.

Trees and shrubs together make up the bulk of Earth's biomass. They are responsible for carbon dioxide storage, oxygen production, movement of water, and a host of other functions. In our gardens, trees and shrubs provide numerous benefits, including reducing air, light, and noise pollution, protecting our homes from wind, cold, and heat, and providing habitat for birds, insects, and other animals.

In the sixth book in the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series, lifelong gardeners Janet and Sheryl offer advice and recommendations to help you successfully grow trees and shrubs from the ground up. They answer your questions on

• Whether to choose small or large trees and shrubs to match your needs
• The fine art of digging holes
• Care and feeding (and mulching and watering and fertilizing)
• When and how to train and prune for your plant's health and appearance
• How to protect young trees and shrubs through a bitter winter
• When to call your local arborist

Janet and Sheryl help you trouble shoot on common issues like a tree's failure to produce fruit, girdling, and weather-related challenges, as well as an introduction to pests and diseases like leaf miners, leaf rollers, leafhoppers, and their friends. They also provide prairie-specific lists of recommended trees and shrubs for flower displays, autumn colour, beautiful bark, smaller yards, hedges, and shade.

Review Quotes

Praise for the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series

"This guide to a very Prairie topic is a great resource for gardeners everywhere." --Quill & Quire

"Herbs offers highly local advice on how to grow herbs for your kitchen in our climate." --Savour Calgary

"This go-to paperback addresses many issues of perennial plants that will prove extremely useful to gardeners." --Calgary Horticultural Society

"Helping gardeners across the prairies succeed in growing food, flowers and everything in between." --Medicine Hat News

"Melrose and Normandeau answer all the questions that the two experts could think of when it came to horticulture on the prairies." --Edify Edmonton

"The Prairie Gardener's series offers knowledgeable yet accessible answers to questions covering a broad range of topics to help you cultivate garden success. Get growing!" --Lorene Edwards Forkner, gardener and author of Color In and Out of the Garden

"This is a beautiful and incredibly well-written series of books on earth-friendly gardening. Lavishly illustrated, with photos in every segment, the books are a pleasure just to leaf through, but the accessible writing and level of expertise makes them essential to any gardener's library. Although they're geared to prairie gardeners, I found great information that transfers anywhere, including where I live, in the Sierra Foothills, and will enjoy them for years to come. Well-indexed, to help you find solutions to elusive problems. Highly recommended!" --Diane Miessler, certified permaculture designer and author of Grow Your Soil!

"All your gardening questions answered! Reading the Prairie Gardener's series is like sitting down with your friendly local master gardener. Delivers practical guidance that will leave you feeling confident and inspired." --Andrea Bellamy, author of Small-Space Vegetable Gardens