Paradise by Design

by Kathryn Phillips

Janecki rejects the expansive lawns and tightly clipped shrubs that have become the standards of America's created landscape. Instead, she tries to introduce the natural world to her clients by landscaping their homes, parks, and businesses with the native plants that the larger gardening culture often ignores. Kathryn Phillips follows Janecki as she struggles against nursery fads, anxious clients, pest plants, pesky budgets, and self-doubts to design paradise. The result is an engrossing narrative which illuminates the complex forces that shape so much of the natural world we see each day. She introduces us to plant promoters, who want to carpet the world in roses, and nursery retailers who have to adapt to ever-changing fads.