Perfect Plant, Perfect Place

by Roy Lancaster

One of the most creative gardening guides on the market! Years of experience answering questions on what to grow in problem sites -- plus an impressive career at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum and plenty of practice in his own garden -- make Roy Lancaster one of the best-qualified writers to advise on which plants to grow where. Perfect Plant Perfect Place is an invaluable, updated compilation of Roy's best-selling titles What Plant Where, What Perennial Where, and What Houseplant Where. It recommends plants for every situation, both in the garden and in the home. In each section, such as "Soil & Exposure," "Location," "Shrubs," and "Perennials," he takes different sites or conditions and offers an inspired selection of suitable plants. He also considers desired effects -- perhaps planting to attract butterflies, or for autumn colors -- and lists his choice for achieving these. Plant suggestions are illustrated with magnificent color photographs, supported by notes on the plant's special features and size, hardiness, and light and soil requirements -- in short, all the facts you need to guarantee the perfect choice.

Genres: Gardening, Horticulture, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2002

Reviews

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reference book for people just starting out with gardening and old timers who are looking to planting something different from their norm.

[Science and Fiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking over my bookcase of gardening books today and counted 64 that I’ve read over the years. There’s no way I’m going to rate and review all those, I’m not even going to search through Goodreads to mark them as “Read.” Many of the books are inspiring to look at with their profiles of famous gardens, some feature the inspirational words of a famous gardener, such as Monty Don’s The Complete Gardener, which I received as a birthday gift. But I decided to pick just one book that has helped me the most over the years, a book which I come back to time and again, loaded with post-its sticking out all over the place, and that’s Roy Lancaster’s Perfect Plant Perfect Place.

The book is super easy to use. It is divided into sections by flowers, shrubs, trees, etc. There is a section on specific garden conditions such as recommendations for rocky soil, or the best bulbs for moist soil, or perennials for arid sun-scorched areas. If you have a problem area in your garden chances are Roy has an appealing solution for you.

If you are a beginning or intermediate gardening enthusiast you should definitely get a copy. Then my advice would be to ‘specialize’ in one or two plants that you seem to have a synergistic bond with – plants that you not only admire but which also love you back! – and this deeper dive will then provide more depth to your knowledge as a gardener and give you a more vested interest in keeping your garden maintained beyond just a surface level that gets the oohs and aahs from guests. In my case it is springtime bulbs of which I have now have about a thousand planted, and roses of all types, of which I currently have 55 varieties.

I have many specialty books for those plants that I’m ‘irrationally’ enthusiastic about, but for everything else Roy’s PPPP is my Bible!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was book was recommended in Seed Savers' 2022 Seed Catalog as one of the best books for gardeners building their flower and plant gardens. i wish I had known about this book many years because it would have helped me avoid many mistakes i've made (although I did learn by the School of Hard Knocks:). I found an American edition of this book by this British author. It is technical if you want that and also easy to access for planting by zones in the US.

[Erin Penn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect Plant, Perfect Place is a reference book providing solutions for fixing hard-to-deal-with-places in your garden. Got a cold-wet place in need of ground cover - p. 52-53; been thinking about a wall filled with crevices, how about ferns for walls p. 149. Need a tree good in acid soils - well that is page 274.

The tree section is lovely and includes a small drawings of the tree both leafed out and winter barren.

While covering hundreds of plants, this books is does not go into deep care and feeding of the individual plants. It just doesn't have the room. The use is to tap this book for ideas - both outdoor landscaping and indoor plants - and then get more information from other sources if you need to.

This is not a gardening book and has only four pages dedicated to herb gardens and no pages dedicated to food gardening - this is a landscaping and decorating manuscript.

For what it is trying to be - finding the perfect plant for the perfect place - the manuscript is without equal.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book packs in a lot of information. Talks about outdoor perennials, shrubs, & trees. Info on zones, best placement, & colorful pictures of each species. Also, has info on types of houseplants for different parts of your home & care of them.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best gardening books.