Let’s start the week off with a giveaway, shall we? I have one copy of Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love, by Julie Moir Messervy to give to a lucky reader.
In Home Outside, award-winning landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy demystifies the art and practice of landscape design. By introducing an easy, tangible yet intuitive process, she helps professionals and homeowners turn their property into a place of enjoyment – their own “home outside.”
“Ultimately, my goal with this book is to get people back outside onto their land by helping them realize the pleasure that’s involved in being out of doors,” explains Messervy. “I want to revive the home landscape as a place of importance in people’s lives. By teaching people what I know about landscape design, I’m hoping that they will learn how to create the spaces they love and go outdoors to enjoy them.”
This is a big, beautiful book that will be equally at home on the coffee table or next to the bed. Packed with inspiration, this is a user-friendly guide to creating a unique and personal landscape. Clear and concise writing, together with beautiful photographs, before and after images, diagrams, green tips and case studies, all illustrate that good landscape design is approachable, affordable and attainable.
You want? Just leave a comment on this post telling me why you need this book. A winner will be chosen randomly. Contest closes March 31, 2009, PST.
SallyGirl says
I need this book because I don’t have doors on my bedroom and my three sons are driving me insane and they never go outside for fear of wilting so I would like to turn my back yard of my first home into a special place that one of us can go for some peace & quiet!!!
Carol S says
Oh- I so need this book. I have a huge backyard that I haven’t had a clue of what to do with all the years I have lived here. So now it is just a weed patch with a few odd trees and bushes here and there. This book would be great. Thanks for the chance.
Emma says
I need this book because my garden/yard is crying out for help: bare patches, dying shrubs, mud pits, and moss everywhere. Can this book save my outdoor space?
Genevieve L. says
Hooray, another giveaway!
I’ve enjoyed your blog since I started a landscaping certification program where I work. My ultimate goal is to help people design edible/livable spaces in small residential settings, and now that I’m gaining a designer’s perspective, I realize the need for descriptive imagery. Having always been a visual learner, I rely on books and other examples that I can show to prospective clients. At this point, however, I have only beginner’s library. This garden book seems like a wonderful picture book for the adult, and I would love to have it on hand to provide inspiration for myself as well as anyone that I can help assist in creating their own small-scale paradise.
Thanks as always for your creative blogging, and happy Spring wishes!
Carol says
This book would really help me, it would inspire many ideas!
Kim V says
I need to start working on getting my yard together.
Thanks for the giveaway!
kimspam66(at)yahoo(dot)com
Jeanine says
I need it because I like to dream.
Lisa says
this book looks very inspiring…We have recently moved to a small town on North Vancouver Island and our house/yard are basically our universe…we are putting all our energy and resources into making it a safe and fun space for our family.
ashley morgan says
We are forever improving our yard and outdoor entertaining spaces, and I can never have enough inspiration.
Roxanne says
After ten years, we have finally gotten the inside of the house to almost where we’d like,now it’s time for our big old yard to get a facelift
Carolsue says
We just bought a new (to us) house and I am at a total loss what to do with the landscaping. This book looks like it’s “user-friendly” and would work well for a novice gardener like myself.
digicat{AT}sbcglobal{DOT}net
Andrea says
We just bought a small 4 acre farm!
The plan is to transform the 3 acre field into an organic market garden. But our priority is to create an interesting, inviting space which draws people from the entrance along the winding paths filled with butterfly and bee gardens, outdoor rooms, free-range hens, fruit and nut trees, etc.
The advice from this book would be inspirational!
Robin says
I think that I need this book the most, because I have a two-fold reason:
1. I live in an apartment in which the backyard / patio area is severly lacking and I need some cost-effective ways to make it look welcoming – so that we actually want to spend time there….
2. My parents just moved into a house that is absolutely boring landscape-wise. They need some help and I have offered, but I am plum out of ideas.
Pick me!!!!
Caoch Payne, Support your local Roller Derby, and of course urban gardens says
Great book!
I’ve a concrete terrace that is as gray as a Vancouver fog. I need help! The terrace needs colour, inspiration and some direction to get in tip top shape and producing veggies. I’ve the “man power” to build me some planter boxes, but need the design know-how to make it beautiful. So far it appears more like a landing pad for a mega testosterone bar-b-que and his constant companion the earth machine. I need to interject some yin to the yang and get the terrace blooming beautiful.
Love your blog and have enjoyed it for many years! Cheers.
annette says
I have a small corner unfinished area in my yard that needs some loving. It has sat there for the past 20 years with a neglected dirt pile and old pipes. I can use some inspiration to bring this corner back into the mix of things of the rest of the outdoor living we enjoy.
Rumpling corner of this comment, hoping you’ll pick me! Thanks!
Alexandrea M says
That would be a great win! My outdoor space consists of a lot of overgrowth, a broken concrete patio, and two patio tables, one with a broken off umbrella in it…wow that’s embarassing…
I would love this book, it would help me with my little – “design issue”
Kate from UK in UT says
Thanks for offering the ‘give away’! Sounds like a great book – if I don’t win, I might have to check it out and add it to my library anyway. Have spent the morning going through your posts that I have missed. Now I should go and plan my veggies for the year. My tomato seedlings are getting tall on the window ledge – just waiting for the snow to disappear :).
KM says
With a big yard, outdoor living is easy. Guess I took that for granted, having never lived in the city. Now I live in a small apartment that lacks light but has great little garden space where I’m planting veggies and perennials. I’d much rather put effort into making this outdoor space livable then reminiscing about what I used to have.
Gail says
i need this book because i live on the 7th floor of a high-rise apartment building and i need something to look forward to. i can’t move until the end of the year, but when i do, it will be a small house with a little funky backyard where i can grow a small patch of veggies and hang lights from the trees and watch my kitties nap in the sun. i need this book for ideas on how to make that happen!
love your blog, just discovered it today…
many thanks, gail
Leslie D. says
I need this book because it is: pretty; I must have it; and our yard is a nightmare and needs all the help that can be thrown at it. Thank you for the nice giveaway.
chanti says
My neighbors think I’m nuts and I’m devaluing their properties with MY garden “design” ideas…I need help from the experts. This book will not only help me have a dream garden that I can be proud of, but also help me get back in the neighbors’ good books….help!
Leslie says
Wow, I love that cover. I wish my TINY yard could fit a lovely shed in it. I would love this book as I am always open to new ideas in my garden, though I have it pretty jammed packed with plants I am always fiddling with it and changing things around. I also share my books with friends and family so we can all enjoy them.
sherri s. says
i’ve turned 90% of my small front yard into garden beds and now have issues -either with the design/scale or performance – of about half the stuff i’ve planted! this book could save my yard! thanks for doing the giveaway.
jen says
I would love this book so I could learn to make my apartment sized yarn more than a collection of containers and pots.
la marquise des anges says
seems to be a great source of inspiration… And I am always open to new source of inspiration …
I just moved into a new home. and there is a lot to do. this is so exciting. there is a lot to do but this is so full of possibilities :)
thanks for sharing . and keep up with this great blog you had. just discovered it and already love it :)
alex says
i am a day late for the deadline – this book would go a long way to inspiring me to be more on top of things like planting and harvesting on time! and that would go a long way to making my view from the porch a whole lot nicer. land-e-scape!