Continuous Container Gardens: Swap In the Plants of the Season to Create Fresh Designs Year-Round

As a master gardener through our county extension office, this has provided many opportunities to use share and use these ideas. They are time and money saving!

This books offers a fresh, beautifully-crafted approach to container gardening with perennials and woodies in New England, or anywhere! What an inspiration!

Continuous Container Gardens: Swap In the Plants of the Season to Create Fresh Designs Year-Round Right from the first page, the authors declare that a container garden is better than a large flower bed because with containers, the gardener can focus on less and do more with it. For example, deadheading a container garden takes 30 seconds if done a few times a week. Furthermore, because pots are closer to eye level, they make it easier to appreciate individual plants. The restricted amount of gardening surface also teaches and inspires the gardener to become a better editor and a better designer.Traditional gardeners better hold onto their hats because this book will provide a roller coaster of a ride as the authors present a new treatment for an established style of gardening. According to the publisher, the authors submit "...an innovative system for creating stylish container gardens that can change with the seasons with a minimum of fuss. They begin with a "main-stage" plant -- a woody plant, garden ornament, or eye-catching perennial - and then add a secondary player for texture and variety. As the seasons change, they show how easy it is to swap plants in and out for a dynamic display that looks great year-round. Their simple approach yields endless variations, seasonal bursts of color, and varied textures that echo the ever-changing beauty of nature. The book features designs for twelve containers, each with a unique plan for swapping plants every season, for a total of 48 exciting looks."Essential to the theme of this book is that for container gardens to be sustaining, annuals won't do. The continuous container garden is less of a colorful floral composition and more of a mini-garden inspired by the nature surrounding a home. To that end, the focus is on perennials and their foliage, ornamental and evergreen shrubs, and ornamental trees that grow less than 25 feet tall. Pretty flowers are considered a bonus, a small decorative splash..However, one of the requisites of this philosophy of container planting is that one must be prepared to move plants in and out of containers as the seasons dictate. In addition, trees and shrubs might require their roots to be trimmed in order for them to remain pot - friendly, as they mature. Some perennials will require dividing. Therefore, while this innovative form of miniature gardening is refreshing, it is not targeting the busy multi-tasking homeowner. For as little work as it takes to maintain these pots, there is a greater commitment to transform them as the season changes. Dedicated and passionate gardeners, with time on their hands, will be delighted with the results.

great ideas for plants to use in permanent or seasonal containers. Suggestions for a main shrub or tree and then changing out accompanying plants for each season. Highly recommend for anyone interested in container designs and inspirational combinations. Book recommends experimenting with shrubs and perennials rather than traditional annuals.

Fast delivery, product exactly as described

Lots of great plant combos and container ideas. Great photography. Nice book for my collection. I would recommend to professional or homeowner

Clearly written with lots of detail about the plants used, as well as what to do do with them after you take them out of the container and possible alternatives.

This book focuses on using perennial type plants in containers. The problem is they never stay in the containers.It did not take much reading before the words, "plant out into the garden" became the theme here. Who has a garden, that is just waiting eagerly for plants that get big? Endless numbers of shrubs and trees in this book start out in containers and then are put in the garden. All these are plants requiring space talked about in feet, not inches when mature. These are not plants that you can just tuck into existing beds, but are the sort of shrubs and trees that form backbones in the landscape. Oddly there is no mention as to how yards are supposed to swallow up this constant parade of plants and provide them with permanent homes. Nor is there any mention of how they find time to maintain all these newly transplanted shrub and tree areas. All garden areas take more effort to maintain than the mere mowing of grass. Even for those who love plants the realities of space, time and maintenance can not be ignored.There is an immense cost involved in buying shrubs and trees to put temporarily in containers. Yes one could change out a container 4 times per year but why would one want to?Yes you could put perennials into a container but I can't think of any shrub, tree or perennials that provides all summer color. That IS the reason annuals are normally used in containers.The other thing that is extremely important but not mentioned here at all, is that plants in containers are subjected to more cold than plants in the ground. So buying the expensive shrub and deciding to use it another season might be a great way to kill your shrub.They mention moving some of these containers inside over the winter. Why would anyone wish to wrestle a heavy container and where do most people have the space to put it?While one could do the things suggested in this book, one has to wonder why anyone would choose to do so. Possibly the best use of this book, would be to consider some of the plant combinations and plant them directly in the ground!This book appears to only focus on the container as a constant play arena. It completely ignores the problems involved in constantly creating permanent homes for what will become large shrubs and trees.

This book is very American and uses terms, slang and American names for plants so therefore very difficult to understand here in the UK.