Creating and Planting Garden Troughs [Hardcover]

Rex Murfitt (Author), Joyce Fingerut (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 1999

Now available in paperback, here is the authoritative guide to creating and planting wonderful garden troughs. Troughs, those elegant antique stone containers so treasured by rock and alpine gardeners, can now be made at home with hypertufa, a relatively lightweight concrete-based mixture, formed in simple molds. Like original stone, hypertufa troughs are weatherproof, last for decades if not longer, combine well with other landscape materials, and make the perfect environment for evocative miniature gardens. Each trough can have its own micro-environment with the perfect size, soil type, rocks, mulch, and siting for the deand dwarf evergreens are some of the plants that can be showcased in trough gardens. Authors Joyce Fingerut, much in demand for her trough-building workshops, and Rex Murfitt, alpine gardening authority, present specialized information on making and planting successful troughs in a most readable yet thorough manner. This book includes hundreds of photographs, clear drawings, a well-tested hypertufa method and recipe, trough-planting technique, a guide to plants, illustrated sample planting plans, and a checklist for hypertufa ingredients and supplies. The updated bibliography, plant and subject indexes, and the resource list add to the value of this classic book. Acclaimed in reviews. Recipient of the American Horticultural Society Book Award. *** Reviews Creating and Planting Garden Troughs, by Joyce Fingerut & Rex Murfitt Named a Book of the Year 2000 by the American Horticultural Society. AMERICAN GARDENING (Magazine of the American Horticultural Society): Selected as one of five Books of the Year 2000. "'This is a much needed practical guide to the construction, planting, and maintenance of hypertufa troughs,' says Marco Polo Stufano. Written in a down-to-earth style, the book also details the history of gardening in troughs and describes a wide variety of plants that can be combined creatively in them." ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY (Magazine of the North American Rock Garden Society), Loren Russell: "The strength of this book is Joyce Fingerut's clear and patient exposition of trough construction, greatly enhanced by the generous use of Jane Grushow's photographs of critical steps in the process. PACIFIC HORTICULTURE (Magazine of the California Horticultural Society), Richard G. Turner, Jr., Editor: "Much has been written ... on the fine art of making a garden trough. None, however, have come close to the thoroughness with which authors Fingerut and Murfitt have assembled this book on the fine art of crafting simulated stone troughs. ...The authors devote one-third of their book to a lengthy and detailed discussion of only about thirty genera of plants. But what a wonderful discourse it is, covering the natural origin of the genera, key species of interest, and specific needs for successful cultivation. ... In addition to the fabrication of troughs and the plants to fill them, the authors discuss the placement of troughs in a garden, appropriate soil mixes for different ecological groupings of plants, and care of the troughs once planted." ALPINE GARDENING ON THE NET (Alan Grainger, UK): "This work is, as the title implies, about garden troughs and NOT trough gardens. It has a most comprehensive chapter (42 pages) on the construction of hypertufa troughs covering everything from what materials to purchase, what tools to use, how to make the moulds, and how to give your trough an 'authentic' look. From my experience of trough making nothing appears to have been missed. Joyce Fingerut has excelled in her meticulous attention to detail." THE BOOKWATCH: %2

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Moderately priced at $21, this well-illustrated book is an excellent value for anyone, experienced or not, who is interested in trough building." -- Lren Russel, "Rock Garden Quarterly" (the Bulletin of the North American Rock Garden Society), Spring, 1999

About the Author

Joyce Fingerut, President-elect of the North American Rock Garden Society and a well-known lecturer on making hypertufa garden troughs. Many of her award-winning troughs have been seen at the Philadelphia flower show and other horticultural exhibitions.

Rex Murfitt, trained in England at the famous W. E. Th. Ingwersen, Birch Farm Hardy Plant Nursery with Walter Ingwersen VMH and his son Will Ingwersen VMH, building rock gardens and traveling widely. There he learned the romance and lore of alpine plants. He later served as head gardener to Constance Spry. He eventually moved to New York and started Stonecrop Nurseries with Frank and Anne Cabot. He now lives in British Columbia where he writes and lectures on rock gardening, troughs, and alpine plants.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: B B Mackey Books; First edition (May 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893443000
• ISBN-13: 978-1893443006
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #893,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical workbook...., January 31, 2001

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Creating and Planting Garden Troughs (Hardcover)

CREATING AND PLANTING GARDEN TROUGHS by Joyce Fingerut and Rex Murfitt is a pragmatic and down-to-earth (or hypertufa) work book with 164 jam-packed detailed pages printed on non-gloss heavy paper. The book contains about 10 pages of color photos, so if you're looking for a "look-book" as opposed to a "work-book" don't stop here. TROUGHS won an American Horticultural Society Book Award, and like AHS publications and U.S.D.A. government publications this publication is filled with good, solid information. (Reminds me of the Girl Scout Handbook.)

Fingerut and Martin begin with an overview of the history and background of troughs (originally carved from solid stone and used to hold water for livestock). Even though most of the photos are in black and white, you obtain a clear idea of the beauty various shapes and sizes can add to your garden. The older troughs covered with moss are to die for.

A section on "Hypertufa" explains what it is and why it is useful for making incredibly lightweight and strong facsimiles of real stone troughs. Next, the reader is supplied a shopping list of ingredients, utensils and other supplies (rubber gloves, polystyrene foam, duct tape, etc.) needed for the trough-making project. Exact quantities and amounts are not provided, but ratios are given instead. This lack of exactness might prove frustrating to the new trough maker.

A good part of the book is devoted to the design and installation of plants in troughs. There are many excellent photos and an informative text describing plant choices, plant care, recommendations, etc.). If you aren't inclined to take on the obviously dirty and labor-intensive work of making your own troughs, you can check to see if your local garden supply store or nursery sells ready-made troughs and then use this book as a guide to filling them with plants.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Comprehensive Resource in Print!, April 4, 2000

By 

Sherba Nelson (Lexington, Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating and Planting Garden Troughs (Hardcover)

For the novice or experienced trough maker or trough gardener, this book is a MUST HAVE. I could have been spared months of research and many lost hours in trough construction had this book been available when I began making troughs! A very organized presentation of material with breath taking color photographs, detailed resources, extensive plant index, and easy to assimilate instructions. I recommend this to all my "trough students"! A worthy investment!

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too focused on plants instead of troughs, September 3, 2005

By 

AlwaysLearning "Happy2Be" (ALPHARETTA, GA, United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creating and Planting Garden Troughs (Hardcover)

I was disappointed in this book for many reasons. I was looking for a resource on how to create different shapes, depths and sizes of hypertufa troughs. This book focused on fairly shallow, square troughs. Because most of the trough photographs were in black and white, it was difficult for a beginner to visualize how a finished product should look. Too much of the book was focused on the type of plants you can grow in troughs. I feel a trough is just a container with unique characteristics and was hoping for information on the kinds of problems trough gardners face and how to deal with those problems. I gave the book a 3 rating because chapter 2 - 'Constructing A Hypertufa Trough' was well done. Even with the lack of color photographs in this chapter, you will know how to create a small, square trough. If you are looking for creative trough ideas this is not the book.