Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations That Make Your Garden Look Fantastic Right from the Start

Looking forward to planting a garden that keeps on giving year after year!

Book contains about 344 pages divided into three main sections. The sections are Basic Design (14 pages), Combinations (306 pages), and Mail Order Sources & Index (24 pages).Each combination discussion (there are over 200) shows a garden photograph, a photo key, and several paragraphs of discussion. Each plant in the photograph is identified to species and variety. Great job!The discussions reveal growing tricks and tips. The book is full of solid and easy to follow instructions.This is an excellent book for generating garden design ideas for your own yard. Photographs are awesome (although some images appear to have the flower colors oversaturated - that's not the color they are in my yard :-)It's my favorite garden design book so far. Very creative!

As a serious new garderner I have been buying tons of gardening books to help me get started and to educate myself. I had no idea, when I purchased this book, that it would become my favorite! I took it on vacation and read it cover to cover, twice. It provides expert information on perennials, and nudges individual creativity with its stunning photos and drawings of beautiful combinations. I have already put in three of Mr. Burrell's garden plans - with some adjustment for personal favorites and have been extremely pleased with the results! I am giving this book as a Christmas gift this year to several gardening friends and would highly recommend it for all gardeners, beginners to master!

Author Cole Burrell has written a book that is beautiful, thoughtful and practical. Even the best of gardeners has had their share of poorly orchestrated vignettes and disasters but Cole inspires us to try yet again. Perennial Combinations is broken down into categories based on available light and varying cultural conditions making is easy to use and understand. The lush photographs clearly illustrate the points he shares about texture, form and color. Cole's lifetime of experience as a gardener, designer and hort head come to the fore as he encourages us to create tapestries and tell stories with plants. As a a fellow designer I have found this to be an invaluable resource when working with clients. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words and this marvelous book is a great visual aid helping me help clients articulate their likes and dislikes about plants and let them see how plants work in combination. After the introduction of each new combination Cole shares bits of wisdom about the cultural requirements of the various plants, points of fact that are missing in most books on perennials. This is a must have addition to the library for the new gardener as well as the consumate professional.

The pictures in this book are excellent, because each plant is well identified -- no more wondering whether the flower referred to is that tall pink thing in the back of the picture, or the short fuzzy one in front. I could easily browse through this book, stopping at pages with combinations I liked, and note the pairing of plant materials as well as the cultivation tips for these particular specimens, which appear on the facing page. One of my favorite gardening books. Useful and attractive.

This book far surpasses other perennial books that I've read. It covers all the bases. It tells you what plants to put in the different parts of your yard (for example, dry, wet, shady, clay soils). It show you had to acheive lovely color and height combinations. It helps you plan for the different seasons of the garden. And, it even tells you how to care for your plants so that you get the most vigorous and sustained performance.