Stephen Orr, Martha Stewart’s garden guru, looks for beauties with brains in ‘Tomorrow’s Garden’

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In Stephen Orr’s new book, “Tomorrow’s Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening,” the key word for many readers will be ‘design.’ The book is proof that gardeners can take so many different paths in making thoughtful choices about plants, hardscape materials and water use.

“I want to do the right thing for the environment within the realm of our economic circumstances,” said Orr, editorial director for gardening at Martha Stewart Living. “But at the same time, I want things to be beautiful.”

Debra Prinzing interviewed Orr and produced two features:

-- A Q&A with Orr centered on the merits of, and concerns over, using gravel in the garden.

-- A photo gallery with glimpses of projects that Orr selected for his book.

In the project pictured above, designer Emmanuel Donval’s vertical pocket garden is made out of metal roof jacks. In the garden below, landscape architect Mark Tessier combined permeable rock, concrete pavers and some lawn for parents with a young child. After reading Prinzing’s features, check out Orr’s blog.

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