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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2009

CONTACT

Leeann Lavin: 718-623-7289, leeannlavin@bbg.org
Kate Blumm: 718-623-7241, kateblumm@bbg.org

BBG Releases Newest All-Region Guide:
Fragrant Designs

Fragrant Designs

Brooklyn, New York—JULY 2, 2009—Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) announces the release of its newest All-Region Guide, Fragrant Designs.

In humans, the sense of smell is a powerful force that triggers memories and emotions in a flash. In the plant world, scent plays a crucial role as it facilitates interactions between flowers and their pollinators and protects plants against attacks from predators. Fragrant Designs captures the power of scent in the garden, showing how gardeners can harness fragrance to create a healthy, beautiful garden environment that's a sensory delight for human visitors and a great place for insect pollinators like butterflies and bees.

In Fragrant Designs, BBG's own horticulturists, along with other talented gardeners, show readers how to put together delicious-smelling gardens. Fragrance is the focus, but looks are also emphasized in each of seven detailed projects featured in the book. The types of projects address the needs of readers with various kinds of garden spaces, including a fragrant front yard, an aromatic container garden, a scented path, and a fragrant garden for children. Each project's author has selected an array of great-smelling plants that blend together into an inspiring design—rendered in a watercolor illustration in the book and supported by a downloadable planting plan to print and bring to your local nursery. (Find it at bbg.org/fragrantdesigns).

Fragrant Designs was edited by Beth Hanson, who has contributed to All-Region Guides on such diverse topics as growing and selecting apples, easy composting techniques, natural disease control, and more. According to Hanson, "Gardens have long been appreciated for their color, shape, and other visual delights. We are excited to present a comprehensive look at gardening using the powerful element of scent as a guiding principle—which can help make the difference between a pretty garden and an unforgettable one."

What's Inside

Compact, information-packed, and featuring superb color photos, Fragrant Designs inspires readers to adapt the suggestions of the authors or to create their own designs. Either way, they will welcome the tips for planting and maintaining these wonderfully fragrant plants in the garden.

Beth Hanson is a former managing editor of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's handbook series and is editor of ten BBG handbooks, including Buried Treasures: Tasty Tubers of the World, The Best Apples to Buy and Grow, Easy Compost, and Natural Disease Control. She also contributed to Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Gardener's Desk Reference (Henry Holt, 1998). She lives outside New York City, where she is a master gardener volunteer and writes about science and health for various publications.

The New York Times Book Review calls BBG's handbook series a "brilliant collection of little gardening handbooks.... Each one takes a small bite of subject matter and chews it thoroughly...the mix of common sense, practical advice and, on occasion, pointed debunking...makes these slender volumes do the work of books twice their size and three times their price. And what the handbooks...lack in acreage they make up for in authority."

Ordering Information

Fragrant Designs (ISBN: 978-1-889538-47-1) is available at a discount directly from Brooklyn Botanic Garden at shop.bbg.org, or by calling 718-623-7286. It is also available in bookstores and at garden centers for $9.95 in the U.S./$12.95 in Canada. To see the entire series, visit bbg.org/handbooks, or call 718-623-7241 to request an All-Region Guide brochure.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks have been published continuously since 1945. They are the only series of popular gardening books published by a botanic garden in North America. Written by top gardening experts and packed with spectacular color photos, All-Region Guides offer 120 pages full of ideas on how to make your garden beautiful, bountiful, and ecologically sensible. All-Region Guides are printed with soy-based ink on 100% postconsumer recycled paper.

Founded in 1910, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is an independent nonprofit institution committed to education, research, and the display of horticulture. BBG serves communities in New York City and internationally through its world-class gardens, extensive research collections, and numerous educational and community programs. Situated on 52 acres in the heart of Brooklyn, the Garden is home to over 12,000 types of plants and hosts more than 725,000 visitors annually.