Professional garden designer Gordon Hayward provides the tools to help homeowners tackle new garden designs and fix old ones with the confidence and know-how to succeed. He demonstrates the guiding principles behind his own designs: taking clues from the style, materials and proportions of existing features, particularly the house, but also garages and outbuildings, property lines, streets, wall and walkways. Look closely at these features and they will suggest good design. Over 60 colour photographs and over 100 detailed watercolour sketches of Hayward's plans for his clients show how to read the clues and then design gardens that relate to their surroundings and unify entire properties. Many tricks of the trade are given, including how to make inviting, sheltering entry gardens; screen unsightly features and utilities; and reclaim narrow, shay side yards. Methods for designing front, side and backyard gardens are explained.