Creating Beauty at Home in the Garden
C.W. Post Arboretum Coordinator Writes Book

June 29, 2005 – Brookville, NY – Both novice and professional gardeners will benefit from a new book written by Vincent A. Simeone, director of Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay and coordinator of the C.W. Post Community Arboretum at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. “Great Flowering Landscape Shrubs” (Ball Publishing, 2005, $24.95), offers expert advice on choosing practical and beautiful shrubs for every location.

With stunning color photos throughout, this gardening guide describes more than 50 types of the best flowering shrubs for the home garden and details their use in the landscape. The shrubs, separated into groups of deciduous flowering and notable evergreens, are listed with both scientific and common names. Specific information such as size and shape, foliage texture and color, and cultural requirements is highlighted. Important details of specific species, cultivars and varieties such as improved aesthetics and hardiness are offered. Helpful gardening hints on soil types, watering, pest control and pruning are also presented. Readers will discover useful information on how to select the right plant for the appropriate location; proper planting procedures and aftercare to ensure their prized shrubs thrive in the garden. The appendix includes helpful lists of nurseries and Web sites so that the reader can find valuable information and up-to-date availability of new shrub varieties.

“The book is designed to educate homeowners and landscape designers on the virtues of superior flowering shrubs for gardens,” Simeone said. “There is advice for both professionals and novices.”

The book highlights dozens of old-fashioned shrub species and their new and exciting varieties that have recently been rediscovered in the American landscape.

Simeone, who graduated from C.W. Post in 2002 with a Master of Public Administration, has served as the Arboretum Coordinator on the Campus since 2002. Recognized as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the nation, C.W. Post is famous for its magnificent formal gardens, rolling green lawns and 4,000 trees -- some among the largest on Long Island. A 20-acre portion of the campus is designated as the arboretum, which features more than 115 trees (some very rare).

The book includes stunning photographs by award-winning photographer Bruce Curtis; an introduction by Michael A. Dir, professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia and author of 11 books; and foreword by Michael D. Coe, professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale University and chairman of the Planting Fields Arboretum.

For more information, contact the C.W. Post Office of Community Relations at (516) 299-3500. To learn more about the arboretum, visit www.liu.edu/arboretum.