Shortcuts to Great Gardens [Paperback]

Nigel Colborn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 1993

A realistic how-to book on achieving an integrated, well-established garden look almost instantly--with a minimum of effort and maintenance. Colborn's lively book is accompanied by photographs and specially commisioned illustrations featuring designs. Perfect for defining gardening objectives before getting your hands dirty. Over 100 photographs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (April 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316150525
• ISBN-13: 978-0316150521
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,232,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book - even if you don't want to take shortcuts, April 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Shortcuts to Great Gardens (Paperback)

This book is a great book for planning your landscape garden (even if it's already well established). We bought the hardback version when we lived in England, when it was first published.

As a rule, the English prefer a garden that looks as though it has been there for years, and Nigel tells how to achieve that very quickly, giving it that established, comfortable, lush feel, as opposed to the stark bareness of most new landscape designs. But beyond just the first year or two, he tells how to plan succession plantings so your garden develops and matures through the years.

The photos and drawings provide LOTS of inspiration, food for thought, concepts that you can 'steal' for your plot. They are classically English but adaptable almost anywhere. Most of them are designed for the average householder, not the grand formal gardens that require acres of land. If you can't visit England, photos are the next best thing. Maybe I'm predjudiced after living there, but the English do know how to garden, and this book shares a lot of their knowledge.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is both visually and textually wonderful., March 28, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shortcuts to Great Gardens (Paperback)

In this book, Mr. Colborn has certainly given me my money's worth. I am fond of the fact that he has backed up his text with beautifully done photos, and many of them too! It is wonderfully inspiring and I have taken some of his ideas and implemented them into my garden and they look great!