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

C. Colston Burrell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0875968066 | ISBN-13: 978-0875968063 | Publication Date: January 15, 1999 | Edition: First Edition

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"People like me, who roam their gardens with a trowel in one hand and a plant in the other, looking for any empty dirt in which to plant need this book. Ideas for color combinations as well as combinations of form, texture, and habit can help even us color-challenged gardeners have great-looking gardens. Different seasons, different environments, and different plant mixes are blended sensibly and artistically under Colston Burrell's artistry. A terrific read!"--Allan Armitage, professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia and author of Herbaceous Perennial Plants and Specialty Cut Flowers

"Talk about a great combination! Cole Burrell's brilliant design talent blends with his extensive experience as a gardener and a plantsman to make this book both visually dynamic and enormously informative. Not only are there numerous ideas for inspiring design combinations, but practical tips on soil, light, and maintenance requirements for the plants abound. This book should help every gardener-- from the beginner to the professional-- design gardens that look as good in the landscape as they do on paper."--Tracy DiSabato-Aust, author of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden

From the Inside Flap

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.

About the Author

C. Colston Burrell is the author of A Gardener's Encyclopedia of Wildflowers, which won the American Horticultural Society notable books of the year award for 1998. He is also the co-author of Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials, Successful Organic Gardening: Perennials, and Successful Organic Gardening: Landscaping with Perennials. He is a garden designer, writer, photographer, and the owner of Native Landscape Design and Restoration, which is located near Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books; First Edition edition (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875968066
• ISBN-13: 978-0875968063
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I wear many hats, all of which revolve around plants and gardens. I am a certified chlorophyll addict, an avid and lifelong plantsman, gardener and naturalist. I work as a lecturer and garden designer, and am an award winning author and photographer. I lecture internationally on topics of design , plants and ecology, and have shared my love of plants and my abiding respect for regional landscapes with professional and amateur audiences for 35 years.

In addition to my books, I am a contributing editor for Horticulture, and write regularly for Landscape Architecture, American Gardener and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. My writing reflects a love of plants, and he champions their use in artistically designed, environmentally friendly gardens.

I worked as curator at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and have devoted a lifetime to studying native plants in the wild and in gardens which lead to undergraduate degrees in Botany and Horticulture. I earned my M.S. in Horticulture and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota. I am a lecturer in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia, where he teaches about plants and their ecological connections to natural systems and cultural landscapes.

After tending a city lot alive with birds and butterflies in Minneapolis, MN, I now garden on 10 wild acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he grows natives and the best plants of the global garden. The garden at Bird Hill was featured in The New York Times and frequently appears in national and regional publications. The garden is a popular destination for national tours. Visitors discover a collector's paradise set among a pastiche of woodland, meadow, and gardens inspired by the beauty of the regional landscape.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

177 of 178 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars De-mystifying Plant Combinations, December 10, 1999

By 

Lucy Hardiman (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start (Hardcover)

Author Cole Burrell has written a book that is beautiful, thoughtful and practical. Even the best of gardeners has had their share of poorly orchestrated vignettes and disasters but Cole inspires us to try yet again. Perennial Combinations is broken down into categories based on available light and varying cultural conditions making is easy to use and understand. The lush photographs clearly illustrate the points he shares about texture, form and color. Cole's lifetime of experience as a gardener, designer and hort head come to the fore as he encourages us to create tapestries and tell stories with plants. As a a fellow designer I have found this to be an invaluable resource when working with clients. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words and this marvelous book is a great visual aid helping me help clients articulate their likes and dislikes about plants and let them see how plants work in combination. After the introduction of each new combination Cole shares bits of wisdom about the cultural requirements of the various plants, points of fact that are missing in most books on perennials. This is a must have addition to the library for the new gardener as well as the consumate professional.

98 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST!, September 6, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start (Hardcover)

As a serious new garderner I have been buying tons of gardening books to help me get started and to educate myself. I had no idea, when I purchased this book, that it would become my favorite! I took it on vacation and read it cover to cover, twice. It provides expert information on perennials, and nudges individual creativity with its stunning photos and drawings of beautiful combinations. I have already put in three of Mr. Burrell's garden plans - with some adjustment for personal favorites and have been extremely pleased with the results! I am giving this book as a Christmas gift this year to several gardening friends and would highly recommend it for all gardeners, beginners to master!

88 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illustrated garden design book - great!, July 19, 2002

By 

Tom Krischan (Big Bend, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start (Hardcover)

Book contains about 344 pages divided into three main sections. The sections are Basic Design (14 pages), Combinations (306 pages), and Mail Order Sources & Index (24 pages).

Each combination discussion (there are over 200) shows a garden photograph, a photo key, and several paragraphs of discussion. Each plant in the photograph is identified to species and variety. Great job!

The discussions reveal growing tricks and tips. The book is full of solid and easy to follow instructions.

This is an excellent book for generating garden design ideas for your own yard. Photographs are awesome (although some images appear to have the flower colors oversaturated - that's not the color they are in my yard :-)

It's my favorite garden design book so far. Very creative!