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Good Reading : April 2005
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word of mouth gardening reviewed by Gordon Bain Bookwise bringing you the best in Gardening, Craft & Design Distributed by Bookwise International 174 Cormack Rd, Wingfield, SA 5013 Tel (08) 8268 8222 Fax (08) 8268 8704 www.bookwise.com.au orders@bookwise.com.au Gathering together the design principles and tricks of the trade of the world’s greatest garden makers, Gardens by Design provides expert help in all aspects of the design process. By examining in a series of interviews the way each designer works, it provides you with inspiration and ideas. Cameron House ISBN 1920743251 HB, RRP $49.95 Big needles mean instant gratification as items knit up quickly – a great incentive for the new knitter. The 20 projects in this book combine simple shapes and unusual yarns, from rags to string, to create great colours and textures with modern appeal. Throughout, the approach is thoroughly practical, accessible, and easy-to-use. Mitchell Beazley ISBN 1840009691 HB, RRP $39.95 Gardens by Design Space & Light provides solutions on how to achieve this quickly and inexpensively, and gives clever, practical examples of real homes that look fabulous as a result. The book is thoroughly practical throughout, with specific, easy-to-achieve ways to maximize space and light in the home. Mitchell Beazley ISBN 1845330161 HB, RRP $49.95 Fast Knits Fat Needles Space and Light available from all good Booksellers Aussie Plant Finder Margaret Hibbert If someone had suggested a few weeks ago that a gardening book with no photographs would become my favourite bedtime reading material, much heaping of scorn and pointing of mocking finger would have ensued, as they say in the classics. I now stand corrected. Aussie Plant Finder could well be subtitled ‘Transports of Delight’ – each night I drift off, secure in the knowledge that after the huge lottery win I’ll know exactly where to find all of those rare bromeliads that I lust after. More than 35,000 plants and nearly 400 of the best nurseries and seed suppliers in Australia are listed, so if you’re a keen gardener this is an absolutely indispensable reference tool. If you need any more encouragement to rush out and buy a copy, note that the good folk at Gardening Australia have stamped their seal of approval on this excellent resource. ★★★★ Florilegium $24.95 Garden Plants of Japan Ran Levy-Yamamori & Gerald Taaffe Plants from the Japanese archipelago have had a huge influence on Wester n gardens for the last 100 years, but gradually and inevitably the Western idea of a Japanese garden has degraded to the point where any old patch of gravel with an attendant clump of bamboo and a maple in a pot is seen to represent a millennia of garden practice. Garden Plants of Japan offers fresh insights, plants that will be familiar to most gardeners used in different contexts, tone and texture play as vital a role as colour, and a sense of place is valued over all else. This is a labour of love that provides an overview of Japanese flora and gives expression to the elusive qualities that suffuse the Japanese garden – a must for anyone with an interest in the history and practice of this most refined of gardening styles. ★★★★★ Timber Press $115.00 Ornamental Foliage Plants for Your Garden Denise Greig There’s a huge range of plants with spectacular foliage on the market these days, and each season sees new ones arrive.With such a vast palette of colour, texture and form available, it’s possible to free yourself from the tyranny of greedy annuals with their acid colours and inces- sant demands for water and slug pellets. Denise Greig has produced a treasure chest of a book – it features over 1500 plants from all over the world and the superb photographs are accompanied by exhaustive cultivation notes.The first half of the book is taken up with garden themes and special foliage plants – from the smallest potted plant to the mightiest palm, there’s something here for every gardener. An A-Z directory of plants follows – it’s both a serious reference book and a joy to browse through. Go on! Tear out those blasted petunias! You know you want to! ★★★★ New Holland $69.95
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