Customer Reviews

Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants

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"Succulent Container Gardens" is a must have. Every home gardener, succulent admirer and professional designer should rush to buy this beautifully constructed and organized work. With the trend toward water wise plants and water conservation in our gardens this book puts it's best foot forward in helping us develop strategies to conserve water. It proves that container plantings don't have to be short lived annuals requiring high maintenance to be striking and wonderfully designed. As Landscape Architects we are working more consistently with Clients who are requesting succulents, both for their gardens and container plantings. You will want to keep this great book close to you for reference.

Robert Dean, RLA #2322
Steve Wichmann, RLA #3777
Garner Wichmann Dean - Landscape Architects

I'm just getting into succulents. I have currently got no other house plants, and have always harbored an interest in these varied and unusual plants, so I finally took the plunge and got a small collection with a mind to making up some sort of container garden, but just as quickly realized I knew next to nothing about succulents other than that they are hardy and don't require much water. Now what? I asked myself. Off to my library site where I luckily happened upon this book by a very talented woman. Instead of regretting what I got myself into, or being intimidated by it all, her palpable passion for these plants combined with equal parts passion for art and design has me so fired up I can't wait to begin my own small first attempts at a succulent arrangement, plus I'm making up a gift plant of Echeveria for a friend, with an eye (newly learned) for contrast and repetition!

Baldwin has such an eye for form, movement and color that it's just plain fun to follow along through the book and see what she sees! Truly, she is an inspiration, and I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is so well organized, and covers just about everything. I'm so glad I found this delight.

As a garden designer, I've long known the benefit of adding colorful succulents to take a mundane garden to the next level. Adding a pot of succulents to the center of a table creates a semi-permanent floral arrangement; a colorful urn spilling over with succulents focuses attention at the end of long walkway. Debra Balwin's new book "Succulent Container Gardens" shows how to create magical combinations that can transform gardens of any size into living works of art. Besides showing individual pots, succulents, and design combinations there seems to an almost infinite array of ideas about how to display containers in the garden. The gorgeous photography is supplemented with Debra's usual wonderful text and captions...and for adjective-challenged people like me I now have "egg shaped" euphorbia and "turn upward, like eels" crassula rupestris to add to my succulent description vocabulary. I always take Debra's previous book "Designing with Succulents" on garden consultations and will now also include "Succulent Container Gardens".

Jim Bishop
Bishop Garden Design

I recieved my book and have only briefly looked over it but I was very pleased. I was able to quickly look up questions I had and the author had enough information for me to use. The author gives example that a beginner like myself can use or more advanced succulent gardener could appreciate. The photos are beautiful and generous throughout the whole book. I was really happy with this purchase and would recomend it. This book insn't so much of a "how too", so if your looking for step by step,look elsewhere. The title of this book doesnt suggest it's a how too, i just want to help any buyers to know what their getting. This would be a nice gift. The ideas in this book are creative and inspiring!! AAA's all around from me.

Succulents are taking over my life. Debra's new book is the equivalent of having your very own coach/gardener follow you around choosing plants and containers to enhance your property. Both inspirational and educational.

This wonderful plant book is a keeper.It has so many good ideas for growing beautiful xerophile flowering plants.Rather than having none,use native species that won't wither away.Many good ornamental container ideas.The various creations enhance the patio atmosphere and improve the richness of the surrounding environs.Smart ideas and practical solutions to common gardening situations.With the 'El Nino' effect ,many summers seemed quite dry.I hope the weather pattern returns to normal soon.This book is an excellent reference and will become a classic among serious gardeners.

I love this book! I don't have a big yard so I'm creating a yard on my patio with containers and my best-growing plants are succulents. This book has great ideas for creating succulent containers (natch.) The pictures are fabulous.

I'm fairly new to the succulent/ cacti world. I needed a great deal of easy to understand but comprehensive help fast. I converted my patio garden to be drought tolerant in both the containers and the in-ground plantings. Both of the Baldwin books were perfect for me. Aside from the straightforward explanations, the pictures were very helpful to me as a "newbie"

I was prompted to purchase this book after a beautiful photo accompanying a review in the paper caught my eye. I have been intrigued by succulents, and due to space considerations appreciated the special approach regarding containers.

The book itself is breathtaking in its beauty. You can see the author's expertise with photography as well as her plant and design knowledge throughout. My first use of the book was to learn more about the succulents I have been growing, and how to help them thrive (some can tolerate lower light conditions, for example). I repotted and arranged them, and then have moved forward to purchase some new plants for further experimentation.

While the book could serve as a coffee table item, please do use it to put together artful arrangements of these most stunning plants!

Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants offers a fine guide to combining, planting and nurturing succulents in containers ranging from hanging baskets to topiaries and miniature landscapes, floral arrangements and more. From overwintering to pot selection, this provides all the basics needed and pairs photos from top designers and florists in a presentation perfect for any general library strong in gardening guides.