Southern Gardening All Year Long

Book excerpt: Southern Gardening All Year Long approaches southern landscapes from a different perspective. Instead of encyclopedic lists and articles focused on botanical gardens or someone else’s landscape, author and host of Southern Gardening Gary R. Bachman connects with his audience through personal stories that share his expertise gained over decades of planting, all told in an easily digestible format. Most stories in Southern Gardening All Year Long focus on Bachman’s hands-on experience with gardening. He recounts tales about his own personal gardens—plants that have thrived and failed—and presents his advice in a common-sense style. Bachman's personal, conversational writing makes Southern Gardening All Year Long an old-fashioned, over-the-fence chat with a knowledgeable and helpful neighbor. Just as he has done in newspapers, and on television and radio, with Southern Gardening All Year Long, Bachman hopes to help gardeners be successful in their own landscapes, alleviate some of the apprehension new gardeners feel, and inspire experienced gardeners to try new plants instead of the same old plantings every year. Gardening success doesn’t always follow steps 1-2-3, but Bachman encourages readers not to worry about plants that don’t survive. Failures happen in gardens every season. Offering a variety of tips and tricks and over 170 color images, Southern Gardening All Year Long will become a gardener’s best friend.