Stacy Tornio - Plants You Can’t Kill: 101 Easy-to-Grow Species for Beginning Gardeners

PRAISE FOR

PLANTS YOU CANT KILL

Stacy helps take the intimidation out of gardening. She uses her years of experience as a gardener and the editor of Birds & Blooms to help black-thumb gardeners discover the joy and satisfaction of successfully growing plants.

Melinda Myers, horticulture expert and author of Small Space Gardening

Knowledgeable? Check! Enthusiastic? Check! Practical? Check! Stacy Tornio is a passionate garden coach, teaching both new and experienced gardeners which plants to grow to ensure garden success. With Stacys guidance, novice gardeners can no longer plead black thumbs! Shell have you creating beautiful, successful gardens in no time at all!

Niki Jabbour, author of Groundbreaking Food Gardens and The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener

This great new book lays out some of the most dependable plants available for our gardens, in an clear, organized way. It takes the guess work out of gardening and will certainly help people be more successful in choosing what to grow!

Jessi Bloom, author of Free-Range Chicken Gardens and Practical PermaCulture

No green thumb? No worries! Author and former editor of Birds & Blooms magazine Stacy Tornio guides you through the garden center like a good friend, pointing out the best of the bunch. With more than 100 easy, rewarding flowers, herbs, trees, shrubs, veggies, and even houseplants to choose from, youll soon be on your way to filling your yard with beauty, your home with greenery, and your table with homegrown goodness. Stacys lively, down-to-earth writing will keep you going back for more as you grow into a confident gardener with Plants You Cant Kill .

Sally Roth, author of The Backyard Bird Feeders Bible

Stacys many years of gardening experience translates into a book that makes it super easy to learn about great hard-to-kill plants. Each plant entry has beautiful photography, easy-to-follow tips and insider information that progresses from annuals through perennials all the way to herbs and vegetables. Its like having a knowledgeable garden center employee at your fingertips 24/7. This is a great gardening book for beginners or anyone afraid of failure. Remember, its okay to fail, just try again!

Diane Blazek, executive director, All-America Selections and National Garden Bureau

In her many years of talking with readers of Birds & Blooms magazine, Stacy learned that fear of failure is one of the biggest obstacles to getting more people to garden. Her book addresses that head on by presenting beautiful, reliable plants in a simple-yet-effective way that anyone can understand, regardless of their experience level. It would make a great gift for any beginner gardener in your life.

Susan Martin, perennial plant expert

Copyright 2017 by Stacy Tornio

Photos on pages used with permission from Donna Krischan.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Jennifer Ruetz, Jennifer Ruetz Graphic Design

Interior design by Jennifer Ruetz, Jennifer Ruetz Graphic Design

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0963-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0969-0

Printed in China

This book is dedicated to the talented Bingham womenLinda, Cherry, Wanda, Peggy, Iva, and Amandafor their love of plants and gardening.

DISCLAIMER

T his book is not meant to challenge you to be a plant killer in any way. Yes, as the author of this book, I am quite aware that a title like Plants You Cant Kill is begging for you to say, I bet I can kill it. (Believe me, Ive had many, many friends tell me this already.) Even though I am quite confident in my plant selections as being hardy, resilient, tough, and hard to kill, this is where I tell you I am not responsible for your garden or plants. So if you do in fact kill some of the plants I suggest in the book, you have my deepest condolences, but I will not replace your plant or refund the money you spent on this book. Those are the breaks people. But seriously, I hope this book does help you be less of a plant killer and more of a plant thriller. Ooooonow were talking!

SPECIAL THANKS

T his book wouldnt have been possible without the wonderful plant committee I put together. Instead of just picking all the plants myself, I went to bona fide experts, which included legit horticulturalists, master gardeners, backyard gardeners, garden center workers, authors, and my mom. They gave me their top picks for easy-to-grow plant species, which got me to the final 101 list. In no particular order, Id like to thank the following gardening experts and plant enthusiasts:

Melinda Myers

Vicki Schilleman

Jessi Bloom

Linda Lancaster

Susan Martin

Sally Roth

David Mizejewski

Amanda Shirey

Diane Blazek

Stephen Scott

Niki Jabbour

I would also like to give an extra special thanks to Susan Martin. Susan is a plant expert based in Holland, Michigan. She is a lifelong gardener and has worked in the green industry for years. She reviewed the material in this book and offered valuable feedback to make it even better for the home gardener.

Finally, I want to give another special thanks to Donna Krischan. She is a garden photographer who supplied nearly half the images for this book. Not only is she talented, but shes also an excellent gardener and person. Thank you, Donna, for your kindness and photos!

CONTENTS

START HERE!

G ardening is not hard! Its notseriously. Ive been gardening since I was old enough to eat dirt, and if you follow a few basic rulesadd sunshine, water, and dont let weeds take overthen youre pretty much guaranteed to have success.

Ive heard so many excuses: I kill everything I dont really know what Im doing I dont know what to grow I dont have a green thumb. But I promise, if you have the will, then you can definitely find a way.

My gardening experience goes way, way back. I remember both of my grandmas growing the most beautiful flowers. And my family pretty much grew and harvested every vegetable imaginable. I even had my own farmers market stand as a kid.

Over the past decade, Ive developed a new love of gardening. As the former editor of Birds & Blooms magazine (a fantastic magazine with more than one million subscribers), I spent ten years helping readers find plants that are good for birds, butterflies, bees, and more. I also became a master gardener during this time and got really involved in educating kids about the joys and benefits of gardening.