Creating and maintaining the perfect yard in the chinook zone isn’t as hard as you might think, but the short growing season doesn’t give you much time to transform your winter-weary yard into a glorious garden. To help Calgary-area homeowners get the jump on the short season, popular gardening expert Lyndon Penner has created the essential guide to a quick and beautiful yard in the chinook zone.

With gardening smarts, style and wit, Lyndon covers everything both novice and expert gardeners need to know, along with tips you won’t find anywhere else. Contains more than 200 beautiful, colour photos.

• Quickly find what you need to know about climate zones, soil, colour, texture and shade.
• Understand your yard’s potential.
• Pick the best bulbs, perennials, trees and shrubs for your yard.
• Deal with insects and plant diseases in environmentally friendly ways.
• Shop smarter at garden centres.
• Attract animals you want to your garden, and keep away the ones you don’t.