BOOK REVIEWS

Cool Containers

Adam Caplin
Cameron House, distributed by Bookwise
$NZ51.95

GARDENING in pots is fun, affordable and, if you get it right, offers instant results. Whether you plant in large terracotta urns, new containers, sleek stainless steel planters or rustic wooden window-boxes, there's a pot - and a plant - to suit every garden style.

This new book by British writer and garden designer Adam Caplin is an all-purpose ideas manual, covering the basics (potting up, mulching, watering, pruning and feeding) and throwing in design ideas, seasonal options and mix-and-match combinations. Instead of simply focusing on the plants, Adam writes about which plants look best in which type of pot. We all know that alpines go well in hypertufa containers, for example, but what would you suggest for an old enamel flower tin or a bright yellow plastic pot? (Adam suggests salad greens in the former and lipstick red kalanchoes in the latter). Cool Containers is a rare coffee table book: it looks great and is packed with ideas too.

Also see later review from Weekend Gardener, Issue 208, 2006, Page 34

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