Book of Container Gardening

by Malcolm Hillier

Discusses how to arrange and plant a wide variety of flowers and foliage in window boxes, barrels and tubs, pots, urns, and hanging baskets, with tips on making and decorating containers and caring for plants

Genres: Gardening, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the local public library after learning about it from an online website.

Now, while I can't disagree that the author did a great job of giving tips and ideas of how to put together a really beautiful and organic-looking container garden, I must say this probably wouldn't be a really good book for beginners who want to learn the basics about container gardening in general.

For one thing, he uses a lot of terms and procedures that he doesn't define or really describe. While the step-by-step instructions on some of the planting guides are illustrated with colorful photos, he doesn't provide the beginning reader with a glossary of terms he uses (such as "deadheading").

In other cases, he makes recommendations for procedures without explaining why. For example, on the section called "Plant Care," he has a little inset that recommends conditioning plants, but he doesn't explain what benefits that provides.

I still think this is a really great book and will eventually become a great reference once I learn the basics of gardening in general, but overall, I thought the author talked about things that were a little over my inexperienced head.

[Cws]

635.97 Hil

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well presented and illustrated. Loads of ideas for creating container displays