Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start

by C. Colston Burrell

Perennial combinations are the building blocks of beautiful, successful gardens. Choosing perennials that look great and grow well together is a skill that can take years to develop, but with this book, you're guaranteed to make perfect plant choices right from the start. In Perennial Combinations , expert plantsman, C. Colston Burrell hand-selects 120 of the best perennial combinations for homeowners, then offers his expert advice on how to grow and use the combinations to create great gardens.

Each combination is featured in a stunning color photograph accompanied by a numbered photo key and plant list, so it's easy to find and buy exactly the right plants to re-create the combination in your own garden. Each combination features just two to six plants, so they're perfect for even the smallest garden space. You can plant each combination just as it appears in the book, or for a bigger color splash, just repeat the combination or mix it with others that are suited to the same conditions. You'll find combinations for stunning bloom from spring through fall; combinations especially suited to challenging sites like heavy clay soil or seaside gardens; and combinations just for fun, like fragrant combinations and combinations that attract butterflies.

C. Colston Burrell has lived and gardened in different climates across America, so he's made sure this book is useful to gardeners from California to Maine. He's also a professional garden designer, and he's applied his talents to create 22 original garden designs that feature the book's individual combinations. Plus every page includes his personal gardening wisdom, so you'll not only know which perennials to plant together, you'll know how to maintain those perennials so your garden will look beautiful year after year.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Horticulture

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

C. Colston Burrell is a garden designer, photographer, naturalist and award winning writer. He is author of several books, including Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide (winner of the 2007 AHS Book Award), Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants, Rodales Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials, revised in 2004, Perennials for Todays Gardens, Perennial Combinations, (a Garden Book Club best selling title) and A Gardeners Encyclopedia of Wildflowers (winner of the 1997 AHS Book Award). Cole serves as contributing editor to Horticulture magazine. He lectures internationally on topics of design, plants and ecology. He has undergraduate degrees in Botany and Horticulture, an M.S. in Horticulture and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota. He is a lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia."

Reviews

[Lorilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many hyper focused suggestions for mostly high contrast plant combinations. I like the plant keys on every page layout that list the plants and their hardiness zones. The color combinations feel a bit dated to me, but this might be a good book for beginners.

[Kiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is everything I’ve been asking for in a garden book. It has it all: full-page colors, combinations of various scales & purposes, and *planting plans* (which I think are my favorite thing ever?). Easy to read and a great quick reference.

[Jane Dugger · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK for a beginner

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful asset to any gardening book collection. With excellent text to accompany the photographs, this book will guide and teach you how to combine and place all sorts of perennials in any type and any sort of garden location. Plant lists and instructions are included. Gardens from heavy clay to seaside gardens, city gardens, sunny and shady possibilities are included and offer helpful suggestions. This book will make you itch to get outside and dig!

[Lily C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covered a lot of ground. Suggesting planting for a number of different situations. I liked that although some combinations had plants allocated to higher zones the author made an attempt to suggest alternatives for colder climates. This is a book to dip into when looking for a solution for a specific location.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great ideas. This book really does cover just about any type of garden and conditions you can imagine. It also includes diagrams for each combination they talk about which I think will be very useful.

[Carl Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great planning guide for perennial color

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for gardeners!

[Becky Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information and ideas for container planting. Beautiful!

[Kami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic color theory with mixing textures. Good ideas.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource. Shows diagrams of plant combinations for different seasons, growing situations and color choices. Photos everywhere! Will be using some of their planting guides.

[Christine Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: "Winner of the American Horticultural Society Book Award"

Perennial Combinations by C. Colston Burrell features plant medleys that bring color, texture, and excitement to the garden in every season. The book features 130 of the best perennial combinations with photographs of each grouping, along with a numbered photo key and plant list. Each grouping features just two to six plants; gardeners can plant the combinations as they appear for small garden spaces or they can repeat or mix the combinations for large beds and landscapes. Available for the first time in paperback, with a new chapter of plant combinations featuring today's big, dramatic perennials, backyard gardeners will find the best choices to accent wide open spaces, marry slopes and high foundations, and make an impact on the landscape with impressive and showy plants. From tall plumes to bold foliage, many of these plant combinations create a living privacy screen and offer a bounty of bloom for those looking to make an "architectural" statement in their perennial beds. Plant cultivar names have been updated throughout the book so gardeners can choose perennials that are readily available at local nurseries.

HCPL Nonfic 635.932 Bur

I really like the way this book is organized and the information that it provides. I might need to buy this one.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photgraphs are pretty good in this one but I've seen better. I love having a garden that blooms in every season, and this book gives great tips for that. I was able to learn about several perennials that I had never seen before. I also learned that some of the more popular flowers labeled as annuals, (e.g. allysum) function more like perennials. I have many in my garden that return every year from reseeding.

[Jeanne Tepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could sit around and just page through this book. The pictures are beautiful and I have gotten a lot of ideas for my own garden as well as a friend's that I am rehabilitating. My own garden runs from very sunny & almost desert like to deep dry shade - the bane of all gardeners! The natural soil is clay. So even if I don' t use his combinations, I can get some great plant ideas. The only issue I have so far is that I can't find an electronic version for my e-reader for portability's sake.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right From the Start by C. Colston Burrell (Rodale Press 1989)(635.9312+/-). The author creates and writes about 120 plant combinations that he thinks should be included in a book about perennial combinations. Nothing new here. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 2003.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book! C. Colston Burrell does a wonderful job both of proposing combinations of perennials but also of teaching you how to think about color and texture to design your own combinations. It is a book worthy of being in every gardener's book collection. While the photos and layout illustrations show this book's age, the information in it is timeless.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information on color combination, techniques, tips, garden design, and combinations for each season. I really loved the chapter on combination of plants for sunny, shaded, and different soil combinations.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to my friend Laura for recommending this book. Turns out, there is nothing like the hope and promise that garden planning will do for a girl during these dark February days.

Thanks to this book, I have an ambitious, but do-able, plan to rescue my front garden. Spring: I'm ready!!!!!

[Renee Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, basic plant combinations and nice photographs/illustrations. Included recommendations for challenging sites. Probably more intended for the home gardener rather than the design professional.

[Kathy Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite of mine when planning my garden beds!