Herbs in Pots: A Practical Guide to Container Gardening Indoors and Out [Hardcover]

Rob Proctor (Author), David Macke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

Tells gardeners how to find or make containers, plant the herbs, and artfully integrate pots into an existing garden. Beautiful color photographs and helpful charts appear throughout.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press; First edition. edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883010527
• ISBN-13: 978-1883010522
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lauren Springer Ogden worked in public gardens on both sides of the Atlantic before receiving her master's degree in horticulture from Penn State. At Denver Botanic Gardens, she designed the Watersmart and Romantic Gardens. An award-winning writer and photographer, she is a contributing editor for Horticulture magazine and author of The Undaunted Garden, named one of the 75 best American gardening books of the last century by the American Horticultural Society, and coauthor of Passionate Gardening: Good Advice for Challenging Climates, which received the 2001 AHS Book Award. Lauren's gardens have been featured on television and in many publications, including The New York Times, Sunset Western Landscaping book, and The Collector's Garden. She is a popular speaker in the United States and Canada. Lauren and her husband Scott Ogden, also a horticulturist and writer, design and consult around the country. They garden together in Fort Collins, Colorado and Austin, Texas. Please visit their website at www.plantdrivendesign.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet little book..., January 31, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: Herbs in Pots: A Practical Guide to Container Gardening Indoors and Out (Hardcover)

HERBS IN POTS by Rob Proctor and David Macke is a sweet little book filled with all sorts of "neat" ideas. If you don't have much experience growing plants in containers or otherwise, pots of herbs are a good place to begin. Even if you have limited space, as long as you have plenty of sunlight (a balcony in the blazing sun?) you can grow herbs in pots. If you end up buying your herbs at Whole Foods, you can use the recipes the authors share and put your herbs in the cooking pot.

This is a beautiful glossy book with lots of color photos. The authors are folksy and fun to read and they provide text and pictures that explain how you too can grow beautiful pots of herbs and use them in tasty dishes.

Chapter one discusses 'Herbal Care' where practical hints are provided for the new herb grower. Take watering for example. Even drought tolerent herbs require watering. On the other hand, depending on the pot of choice, overwatering can cause problems. The authors note the most likely cause of death is not Mother Nature, but Mother Hen overwatering her pots.

The second chapter is entitled 'The Cook's Patio' and contains photos of handome lettuces, lacy kale, and Italian parsley, as well as many interesting recipes. One can grow herbs singly or in groups in a single pot. Herbs provide accents for the cooking pot as well as the patio. Gazpacho or Pesto anyone?

The later half of the book provides the reader with examples of pot containers, planting designs, and eclectic notions. For example, one might plant herbs in used Twining tea tins or enhance plant containers with odd paraphanalia such as shells and small rocks. The book is visually appealing, and contains some of the most original ideas I've come across in a while. This is a nice gift item for a new homemaker.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Outside pots, March 19, 2011

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Herbs in Pots: A Practical Guide to Container Gardening Indoors and Out (Hardcover)

Do not imagine that this book is about growing herbs inside in a window garden. The chapters are almost exclusively about pots outside. Even the chapter on the indoors is about propagation. The subjects of topiary, kitchen herbs, and some basics on planting and dry land herbs are included.

There is a section on making hypertufa containers, but no diagrams are given and we only see the finished containers from above - and then only the top ½ edge. Most pictures are taken from above, so it is hard to see the containers. Pests and diseases are covered in a short section, but there are not pictures or diagrams to help you with these either. For some herbs they tell you what the herb is but not how to grow it.

More practical information is needed. There are lots of pictures, but in many pictures the herbs are not identified. It's a nice little book to look at and give you ideas on arranging your container grown herbs or other plants, but an instruction-helpful resource, it is not.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just have to have it..., March 19, 2009

By 

Keri "as we lie beneath the stars we realize ... (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Herbs in Pots: A Practical Guide to Container Gardening Indoors and Out (Hardcover)

These guys are random (in a good way) and give a great read. A plethora of information & Beautiful pictures inspires Lots of ideas!