How to apply, combine, and balance the principles can be the subject of lifelong study (or, in my case, constant trial and error!), but what the principles are can be fairly easily be divined. I've posted the link below a few times as it is succinct and fairly clear. One book I enjoyed was by Joe Eck, where he makes it clear - if you can get through the fawning introduction written by his partner - that the first thing to do is establish an objective. "What are you trying to accomplish?" I think is his question. It is quite legitimate to have an objective like "create a place to grow lots of plants" or "house my fuschia collection" but it helps to name it. The most important thing for making the change in style you are trying to make is that landscape design is not all about the plants. What plant combinations to use is the last question, after you have laid out paths and sight lines and beds. And you design with plant shapes, not plant names, when you do get to that point. Remember it is LANDscaping, where what you are doing now (and I've been there, done that) is mostly PLANTscaping. Read a bit of Melle Sacto's recent threads (the cottage garden one) to get a flavour of someone else's journey in the same direction. Karin L Here is a link that might be useful: principles

Hydro-Gardens 800 634 6362 sells to professional greenhouse growers, and sells seed bred especially for greenhouse growing. I do believe they will sell small quantities, but expect to pay. The seed is very expensive, but professional growers pay the price, because it is dependable and consistent. Many of the seeds are produced by the Dutch that grow in low light situations, and are the masters of greenhouse production. These seeds are sold per seed, if that gives you some idea of the cost. I would try a few against standard seed for comparison. I have had great luck with the seedless cucumbers. Starting out I would suggest using your house to push the season 4 to 6 weeks paste normal growing outside in the fall, and 4 to 6 weeks earlier in the spring to reduce heating cost. There should be plenty of cool weather crops to try through the winter with minimal heating. Trying to grow tomatoes or beans in the middle of winter can be done, but is not economical. I do not know the size of your house, but a small area could be divided from the rest of the house and heated to a higher level to try warmer crops without heating the whole space.

I'm almost done with Midwest Cottage Gardening. It's really cool - my biggest beef is that she'll wax enthusiastic about some obscure plant I've never heard of - but not have a picture of it!!! I feel like I should've been reading it next to a computer, just so I could google all the different stuff! I may request a copy of the book, to keep it around as a reference tool. Btw, the author references gardenweb frequently in the book. But, it sounds like she mainly does plant swaps - she doesn't reference this forum at all. And Jenny, when I was talking about color schemes, I have to admit, I think a lot about color even before I decide where I want to put things! I've been wanting to do a lot of reds, purples and blues this time around, with just a little bit of pinks and whites. But, now I have to figure out a place to put my yellows without it getting too crazy. In my current house, I have one color scheme in front, and another in back. But, in the new house, I will have very little garden in front, and mainly in back, so I'm not sure how I want to transition color schemes...

If you want to read about the history of the fruits, David Fairchild's books are great. "The World Was My Garden" is my favorite of his books. His others are still quite good. Pineapple Culture by Gary Okihiro. The book that I probably reference the most when it comes to growing fruits and finding out information is Julia Morton's Fruits of Warm Climates. It is by far the best book on tropical and subtropical fruit in existence. Luckily it is available for free online at :http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html You can find the soft and hardcover copies for sale on Amazon and other retailers online. PROSEA - Edible Fruits and Nuts. A very detailed book about tropical fruits. Whitman's Five Decades with Tropical Fruit - Lots of info and history about growing many tropicals in Florida. Wilson Popenoe by Rosengarten - Good history. All of the CABI books on specific fruits are pretty good. Lots of very detailed information. They are compilations of articles written by different scientists from around the world for each specific fruit. I'm sure there's a bunch more that I'm forgetting but these are the main ones that stick out in my memory. If I think of anymore i'll post.