Good Book
yvonnerob25
Posts: 15
Looking for a good all in one garden design and planting book. Covering the design and build of a garden then cover plants/shrubs/trees ideas
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yvonnerob25
Posts: 15
yvonnerob25
Posts: 15
yvonnerob25
Posts: 15
Posts
Hello Yvonne, I'm not sure if its too basic but I found Alan Titchmarshs "how to be a gardener" a useful all round book. There is a TV series that went with it also which is probably on YouTube.
I really rate The Ultimate Garden Designer by Tim Newbury. There are a couple of other titles by him that cover similar ground.
I'd start with Alan Titchmarsh too. You can buy the DVDs for both series on Amazon and borrow the books from the library. He starts with how plants grow and what they need to grow well then goes on to how to use plants and design a garden.
Another good set of books would be Geoff Hamilton's Paradise Gardens and ornamental Kitchen Gardens, also with DVDs available form Amazon. You can sometimes find the books in charity shops or borrow them from the library.
You'll learn loads from this pair and can then branch out to more specialised books by people like Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd for plants or people like Dan Pearson for design,
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
A book covering all aspects will by it's nature be less in-depth than those which specialise in one or two areas. A 'generalist' book such as those mentioned is certainly a good starting point.
+1 for Tim Newbury's Ultimate Garden Designer. I picked up a copy in a charity shop at the weekend, mainly for the garden design angle (as opposed to detailed information about shrubs etc).
Other books annoy me because they either assume everyone has half acre gardens or unlimited budgets to generate high spec designs. This book feels much more realistic; it feels like it can genuinely help me make the most of my modest 50' garden.
Here's an example of one of the designs, complete with the planting scheme: