When scientists examine home gardens and landscapes, one fact stands out: The leading cause of landscape failure is not disease and it’s not pests—it’s our own gardening practices. The Science of Gardening will help you create a beautiful and sustainable home garden guided by the newest information from applied plant physiology, biology, soils science, climatology, hydrology, chemistry, and ecology. From choosing and purchasing your trees and shrubs, to giving them the best start in your garden, to healthy maintenance and pest control, award-winning horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University shows why science-based decisions are always best for your home garden, and also the most ecologically sound for the greater environment. Professor Chalker-Scott describes today’s gardening world as a “Wild West” of products and practices that exist in an almost regulation-free environment. Consequently, we need to look for supporting scientific evidence before making decisions with far-ranging effects. As you learn more about science-based gardening, you’ll understand the need to bust some long-term gardening myths. Although many of us have believed these myths and based our purchases and gardening practices on this advice, we’ve also become frustrated and disillusioned as we’ve watched much of the beautiful landscape we dreamed of, and paid for, wither away. But not any longer. The Science of Gardening shows you how to make the best possible decisions on plant selection, planting, and maintenance. From now on, you won’t need a green thumb to get your garden to grow; you’ll have science on your side!.