BOOK REVIEWS

Great Containers

Clare Matthews
Distributed by Bookwise International
$NZ44.95

THIS is a book for that rainy day when the garden is beyond its best and you're in need of a little bit of inspiration.

While some ideas may be too extreme for some tastes - take embellishing stones with gold paint as a decorative mulch - at least they get readers thinking outside the square. Great Containers opens with a chapter on colour, looks at container arrangements and groupings and then tackles the nitty gritty of decorating.

The emphasis is on harmony or contrast between container and plant, but note that materials for decoration may be difficult to get here (again, this is a British book). One idea, having an olive grove in squat terracotta planters with lavender at the base of each tree, is sure to find fans. Simple but effective.

A section on painting pots clearly explains sealing and priming various materials and discusses techniques like marbling and gilding. Last, but not least, plant care gets a thorough once over.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 145, 2004, Page 28

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