BOOK REVIEWS

The Ornamental
Herb Garden

Catherine Mason
Distributed by Reed
$NZ29.95

IN The Ornamental Herb Garden, Catherine Mason provides a wealth of imaginative ideas for creating beautiful herb gardens of all kinds, from simple window boxes filled with culinary herbs, to herb borders and traditional knot gardens.

Herbs are among the most valuable of garden plants, but their ornamental qualities are all too often overlooked. Good design is the essential starting point of any garden, and the book takes you through every stage of the process.

Guidance is given on siting the herb garden, choosing a layout and constructing the hard landscape of paths and walls, and there are numerous ideas for embellishing the lot with seats, sundials, statuary and topiary. The chapter on planting explains all the practicalities, as well as how to grow herbs to make the most of their colours, shapes, textures and scents.

Eight specifically photographed case studies of established herb gardens show how all this information can be put into practice, and a plant directory selects and describes 50 of the very best plants for the ornamental herb garden. With its combination of striking photographs, informative artworks and accessible text, this book will enable anyone to create their own stunning herb garden.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 105, September 5-18, 2002, Page 30

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH