Gardening in Containers: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners [Paperback]

Taunton Press (Creator), Fine Gardening (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Fine Gardening Design Guides | Publication Date: January 9, 2002

America's best gardeners share their secrets for designing beautiful container gardens. Gardening in Containers is filled with clever and inspiring ideas for creating dynamic plant combinations, designing containers for year-round interest, selecting the best plants, and using containers throughout the garden.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Part of the "Fine Gardening Design Guides" series, Gardening in Containers is a compilation of articles that originally appeared in Fine Gardening magazine. Illustrated with beautiful color photographs, the articles range in topic from designing container gardens and selecting containers to container garden culture. Packed with ideas and information, this title is suitable for both beginning and experienced gardeners. Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces (a sequel to Lasagna Gardening, Rodale, 1999) presents Lanza's system for growing gardens in small spaces and containers using raised beds but no digging, tilling, or weeding. She briefly explains how to create these beds and then discusses ways to make the most of a small garden area, including using containers. She also provides cultural information on various flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruits, berries, and rock garden plants and suggests specific varieties suitable for growing in small spaces and in containers. Clear, detailed information and an engaging style make this book a pleasure to read. While most container gardening books highlight annuals and perennials used as annuals in plantings, the Wheelers suggest growing dwarf hardy plants. They cover choosing and grouping containers as well as plant selection and design. They also give instructions for making hypertufa containers and for maintaining general container gardens. Their book concludes with ten detailed plans for planted containers and plant descriptions. This British import contains lovely photographs, but the plant descriptions do not include USDA hardiness zones and make virtually no mention of how to overwinter your creations in cold climates. Gardening in Containers and Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces are recommended for all libraries, while the Wheelers' book is recommended for experienced gardeners who don't mind searching out hardiness ratings and overwintering information. Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove P.L., IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A host of articles culled from Fine Gardening magazine comprise varying perspectives on the art of container gardening. Rob Proctor, Gordon Hayward, and Sydney Eddison are among well-known garden writers and designers who share their expertise and suggest creative ways to pair eye-catching plant combinations with pots of all kinds. You can expect authoritative advice on all aspects of container culture, along with ideas spanning a diverse range of plant material. From foliage and flowers to bonsai, succulents, bulbs, herbs, and specimens for small water gardens, there are displays subtle enough to inspire small-space gardeners, and extravagant arrangements more likely aimed at ambitious mavens yearning to produce opulent effects. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (January 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561585572
• ISBN-13: 978-1561585571
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,032,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful photos, useful text...., January 21, 2006

By 

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

This review is from: Gardening in Containers: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners (Paperback)

Now this is a nice book. FINE GARDENING DESIGN GUIDES are nifty because the editors have compiled several of the better articles (sans advertisements) about container gardening found in back issues of FG into "creative ideas from America's best gardeners." GARDENING IN CONTAINERS, for example, includes several pieces by Sydney Eddison, who just published a book on container gardening,that I enjoyed very much, in which her ideas from her various articles were combined (along with many of the same photos), thus, for me at least, these articles are complementary if not redundant. Okay, it never hurts to read something more than once, and the book saves me going through all those back issues of FG, which is why I bought it to begin with, but GARDENING IN CONTAINERS also reminds me of other points of view.

As advertised, the book includes many creative ideas, some of which I noted in passing when I read the original article in my FG magazines, thinking to myself "I'll get back to that." What I would like to get back to is building planting boxes, making willow trellises, and installing a small water garden in a continer (Better Homes and Gardens CONTINER GARDEN has many more ideas for this type of garden). Ideas for all three are included along with photos of topiary and penthouse roof gardens if you are so inclined.

Some but not all of the projects in this book are a bit pricey, but most can be adapted to the smaller purse. They can definitely be used in the smaller spaces.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the beginner, June 8, 2010

By 

amdimini (charleston, sc) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gardening in Containers: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners (Paperback)

This is not a book for the beginner. I was hoping to find more direction on what type of plants to use together and during which season. Perhaps if I knew more about gardening it would be more useful. I continue to buy and research and learn, and hope this book will come in handy in the future. The pictures are beautiful and the book itself is easy to read, just definitely not for the beginner.

5.0 out of 5 stars great creative ideas, May 27, 2010

By 

Margaret B. Brady (Point Pleasant, NJ, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gardening in Containers: Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners (Paperback)

I purchased this book for a gift and was told that it was enjoyable, and got the creative juices flowing. Very easy to follow instructions and illustrations.