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For every gardener who has hesitated over plant pairings or wondered if an array of favorite plants will work well together in the garden, Designer Plant Combinations inspires and delights with professionally designed combinations using just two to six plants. Here are the secrets to combining French lavender with California fuchsia; prairie coneflower with hummingbird mint; and tall purple moor grass with dwarf Korean lilac in a small garden bed. The dramatic effects are marvelous.
Author Scott Calhoun traveled the country searching for the freshest, most exciting plant groupings. He visited the gardens of top designers from coast to coast and chose more than 100 combinations to include in his photographic celebration. Riots of complementary colors, masses of grasses, foliage spectacles in extraordinary shades of green and purple, and height variations as arresting as city skylines are all featured in these exciting gardens, each one an intimate self-contained glimpse of a larger garden.
Rather than complete garden designs, these combinations are small, understandable pieces that demystify the design process for home gardeners. The innovative ensembles are invitations to try plants together in fresh, inventive ways. The combinations are perfect as embellishments to or reinventions of existing gardens. A favorite pairing can be the beginning of a larger garden design, or a five-plant grouping might be all that is necessary to fill in a small urban garden. The possibilities are as varied as the gardener’s imagination.
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Inspiring handbook for perennial addicts First of all the pictures–by the best garden photographers around. I doubt you will ever find such high quality reproduction or gorgeous pictures in such a convenient and incredibly inexpensive format. Second: diversity–what an extraordinary range of gardens, from cactus and desert stark to lush woodlands and of course classic English style herbaceous extravaganzas. By carving a manageable vignette out of what are often extremely complicated gardens, Scott makes it possible for the reader to duplicate the scene. More importantly, he shows how combos work: groundcovers melding together, focal point plants, see through designs–some nuts and bolts beautifully demonstrated. As well as being a very handy handbook, this is a valuable benchmark of garden design as practiced in America today: he’s picked gardens from California to the east coast and everywhere in between to sample the range of outstanding garden design comprising the American perennial garden. The world is awash with mercurial computer images that constantly disappear and flicker away: books like this are monuments that capture the moment. They will never be replaced by websites or digitization.Scott has produced four stunning and very different books in as many years. He is a force to be reckoned with: I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be beguiled by the pictures and enlightened by the text. You will be delighted to own this one!
Useful Inspiration in a great package As anyone interested in gardening knows, there are thousands of books to choose from to help with garden design ideas. What sets this new book by Scott Calhoun apart is the absolutely perfect packaging for people like me who can’t devote their whole lives to their gardens, yet want them to look as if we did. I love the organization of the book (perennials, grasses, annuals, accent plants, groundcovers and woodies) but most of all I love the way the vignettes are presented. Each combination has a full shot of the plants together, then there are separate “pull-outs” of the individual plants which include the botanic name, cultural conditions, maintenance tips and propagation methods. Various “Designer tips” are also scattered throughout the book highlighting tricks and tips that will help the reader become a real pro. This book will appeal to gardeners of all levels, from the energetic novice to the professional looking for that inspirational “fix.” It’s a huge resource in a small package to keep alongside your garden gloves- make sure to pick it up every time you get ready to go out and “edit” your own garden.
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