Any backyard has the potential to refresh and inspire if you know what to do. Jan Johnsen’s new book, Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces, will delight all garden lovers with over 130 lushly illustrated landscape design and planting suggestions. Ms. Johnsen is an admired designer and popular speaker whose hands-on approach to “co-creating with nature” will have you saying, “I can do that!’This info-packed, sumptuous book offers individual tips for enhancing any size landscape using ‘real world’ solutions. The suggestions are grouped into five categories that include Garden Design and Artful Accents, Walls, Patios, and Steps and Plants and Planting, among others. Whether you are an experienced gardener or a landscaping novice, Gardentopia will inspire you with tips such as ‘Soften a Corner”, “Paint it Black”, and “Hide and Reveal”.

Why do some gardens make us feel so wonderful, relaxed and refreshed? Using ideas based on ancient and modern practices, this book shows how you can uplift yourself and others in a serene setting designed for “unplugging” and relaxing. Whether you are intending to create a lovely garden or just thinking about a future outdoor haven, Heaven is a Garden will help you see your backyard in a whole new light and reawaken an awareness of the wonders of Nature. “Simplicity, Sanctuary and Delight” is the guideline that noted landscape designer Jan Johnsen recommends in this elegantly written book. She draws on her 40 years in the profession and offers stunning visuals and specific ways to make a garden look glorious and feel harmonious at the same time. She reveals how to highlight a power spot, explores the lure of the sheltered corner, explains why a gate facing East is considered auspicious and suggests which trees you can use to impart a special atmosphere. Gardeners will also enjoy the chapters on the mysteries of color, a rock’s resonance and the magic of water. All in all, this gem of a book is a thoroughly enjoyable guide that you will refer to over and over. Jan Johnsen writes the popular ‘Serenity in the Garden’ blog and Facebook page. Her firm’s website is www.johnsenlandscapes.com www.serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com

Heaven Is a Garden is about creating havens for the senses. Drawing on ancient traditions of “sacred space,” Jan Johnsen identifies the key natural elements of a garden that can give us feelings of renewal and inspiration. She shows us how we can introduce these calming, inspiring elements into our own gardens. The chapters explore “the power of place” and the surprising role that water, trees, shapes, color and sound play in transforming our state of mind. This richly illustrated guide invites us to bring more serenity into our lives.

In The Spirit of Stone, award-winning designer Jan Johnsen presents a richly photographed, authoritative guide to creative and practical uses for stone in the landscape: steps, paths, garden walls, dry streams, benches, rock gardens, driveways and more. The Spirit of Stone is an essential idea book and how-to for designers, stonemasons, builders, homeowners and DIYers.

Any backyard has the potential to refresh and inspire if you know what to do. Jan Johnsen’s new book, Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces, will delight all garden lovers with over 130 lushly illustrated landscape design and planting suggestions. Ms. Johnsen is an admired designer and popular speaker whose hands-on approach to “co-creating with nature” will have you saying, “I can do that!’This info-packed, sumptuous book offers individual tips for enhancing any size landscape using ‘real world’ solutions. The suggestions are grouped into five categories that include Garden Design and Artful Accents, Walls, Patios, and Steps and Plants and Planting, among others. Whether you are an experienced gardener or a landscaping novice, Gardentopia will inspire you with tips such as ‘Soften a Corner”, “Paint it Black”, and “Hide and Reveal”.

Why do some gardens make us feel so wonderful, relaxed and refreshed? Using ideas based on ancient and modern practices, this book shows how you can uplift yourself and others in a serene setting designed for “unplugging” and relaxing. Whether you are intending to create a lovely garden or just thinking about a future outdoor haven, Heaven is a Garden will help you see your backyard in a whole new light and reawaken an awareness of the wonders of Nature. “Simplicity, Sanctuary and Delight” is the guideline that noted landscape designer Jan Johnsen recommends in this elegantly written book. She draws on her 40 years in the profession and offers stunning visuals and specific ways to make a garden look glorious and feel harmonious at the same time. She reveals how to highlight a power spot, explores the lure of the sheltered corner, explains why a gate facing East is considered auspicious and suggests which trees you can use to impart a special atmosphere. Gardeners will also enjoy the chapters on the mysteries of color, a rock’s resonance and the magic of water. All in all, this gem of a book is a thoroughly enjoyable guide that you will refer to over and over. Jan Johnsen writes the popular ‘Serenity in the Garden’ blog and Facebook page. Her firm’s website is www.johnsenlandscapes.com www.serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com

Heaven Is a Garden is about creating havens for the senses. Drawing on ancient traditions of “sacred space,” Jan Johnsen identifies the key natural elements of a garden that can give us feelings of renewal and inspiration. She shows us how we can introduce these calming, inspiring elements into our own gardens. The chapters explore “the power of place” and the surprising role that water, trees, shapes, color and sound play in transforming our state of mind. This richly illustrated guide invites us to bring more serenity into our lives.

In The Spirit of Stone, award-winning designer Jan Johnsen presents a richly photographed, authoritative guide to creative and practical uses for stone in the landscape: steps, paths, garden walls, dry streams, benches, rock gardens, driveways and more. The Spirit of Stone is an essential idea book and how-to for designers, stonemasons, builders, homeowners and DIYers.