Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #356880 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
For would-be gardeners with thin pocketbooks or limited outdoor space, this book is a delightful guide to raising plants in pots. Like skillful flower arranging, container planting starts with an artistic vision of complementary colors, shapes and textures. British gardener Williams’s volume blossoms with striking creations, but he also shares practical advice on recreating the "container portraits" pictured. Like a chef, Williams lists necessary "ingredients," and offers detailed instructions on plant care and container size, shape and material for each of the 44 displays. Williams (The Garden Color Book; Digging Deeper) also covers critical gardening principles for picking healthy plants, rich potting mixtures and attractive containers. For readers who want to experiment beyond his arrangements, Williams provides a detailed directory of 300 plants that thrive in containers, including staples like impatiens and begonias, as well as unusual suspects like the soft, silver-leafed plectranthus argentatus, which he calls "a textural delight." The full-color photos are also sure to inspire.
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Customer Reviews

New Flowers for a New Home
Although I've read a number of gardening books, I seem to have been having terrible luck with one container garden. Finally, I tossed all the soil and read this book. After realizing the draining system was not in place, not to mention I was using the wrong soil and the root system was in a tangle, I finally was able to create a fushia and violet themed flower garden complete with Daddy Blue Petunias, Easter Bonnet Violet Alyssum and pink Bearded tongue. The Columbine flowers are mixed in someplace and I think I have to rescue them from the petunias that are now taking over the planter.

Page 135 shows how to drill holes in the base of the planter, which was very needed. Then, while at the store, I accidentally dropped a clay pot, which was just perfect because you use the broken pot pieces to ensure free passage of water through the potting mix. The Miracle Grow potting mix now also has some water-retaining crystals mentioned on page 151.

By reading this one book you can learn everything you need to know to set up your own container garden in short order.

Features:

- Paul Williams original arrangements with close-up shots of every plant featured.
- An A-Z plant directory
- Detailed sections on how to water, choose pots, move heavy pots and design arrangements.
- Information on "when to repot" plants
- Interesting arrangements with "ingredients, planting details and container details."
- How to Clean Containers
- Choosing the right potting mix
- Interesting "capillary" watering method. Might work
if you travel a lot.

The arrangements all have themes. You might want a low-maintenance pink arrangement filled with Osteospermum jucundum (delicate pink daisy-style flowers) or create a lively arrangement bursting with golden stars (Bidens ferufolia). Many of the arrangements also help to set dreamy moods, like the Purple Haze with the fuzzy lotus hirsutus meandering with blue trailing petunias.

Paul Williams was trained at one of the UK's top horticultural colleges and is a regular contributor to horticultural magazines. His ideas are practical and inspiring.

I was so happy to read this book! Now I can look out of my bedroom window and see a beautiful, long-lasting arrangement inspired by Paul Williams.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

A breath of fresh air
Container Gardening is a breath of fresh air. Paul Williams enthusiastic and energetic writing style,when combined with such fantastic photographs is truly inspiring. Having read all of his books, you understand Paul Williams is a man who really loves plants and understands how to make a garden work. He has an amazing ability to pass on his knowledge in an informative and motivating style. As a young gardener, Container Gardening is one of the best purchases i have ever made and is a cracking book.