What Grows Together: Fail-Safe Plant Combinations for Every Garden

by Jamie Butterworth

Genres: Gardening

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 9, 2025

About the author

J.L. Butterworth is a full-time creative, part-time author, part-time game designer, and determined word gremlin who believes stories should reflect all the messy brilliance of being human - the good, the bad, and the excruciating (well, at least the bits most of us have). His debut novel, Superpowered, is a fun superhero romp that set the world on mild with a blistering 3.5 stars on Amazon. His second book, My Conversation with Claude, dives into a philosophical chat with an AI to explore what it means to be human - and to collaborate with machines. The Unknown Before Us is his latest work: a found-family sci-fi adventure packed with neurodivergent characters, alien wildlife, mood-enhancing mushroom trips, grief, trauma, and one very insistent ship cat. He lives with his wife, three kids, and a concerning love of cats.

Reviews

[Cindy Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great advice for gardening with flowers. However, not all plants are available except by mail order in the US. This author is from Britain.

[Alecsander · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stjerner // 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

For det boka er ment å være, så er det toppskår fra meg! Opplysende og jordnær tilnærming til det å formidle planteestetikk. Som landskapsarkitekt er det mye av jobben som går med til sammenstilling av planter. Men de praktiske erfaringene og muligheten i hverdagen til å få lekt meg med dette er ikke et privilegium jeg ofte har. I profesjonell sammenheng er det begrensa hvor mye jeg kan more meg med å utforske sammensetninger når oppdragsgiveres penger står på spill. Da er denne boka gull verdt!

Jeg var litt redd for at forfatterens britiske utgangspunkt ville bli for snevert for norske forhold, men det er ekstremt tydelig at de prinsippa som formidles har overføringsverdi til norsk kontekst. Jeg slukte denne boka! 😁

*****

For what this book sets out to do, it absolutely delivers! Insightful, approachable, and refreshingly down-to-earth in its way of presenting plant aesthetics. As a landscape architect, a big part of my work is all about plant combinations. But I rarely get the chance in daily life to actually experiment freely with this; in a professional setting, when money is on the line, there’s only so much room for playful exploration. That’s why this book feels like pure gold.

I’ll admit, I was a bit worried the author’s British perspective would feel too narrow for Norwegian conditions, but the principles translate beautifully. Honestly, I devoured this book! 😁

[Peta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really useful book and absolutely full of brilliant and readily available plant combinations for a small or large garden. I’ve taken so much inspiration from my first read through and know it’s going to be a great reference book.

[Nick Prebelski · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5-lots of great knowledge, but with the author being from the UK and plants from UK-not all plants are available in US.

[Anastasiia Smirnova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, just great work in general: absolutely stunning combinations, easy to read, beautiful pictures.

[Tyanna Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

First page in, the font is really small, I’m in my early twenties and it’s incredibly small to follow and read comfortably.