Creative Shrub Garden: Eye-Catching Combinations That Make Shrubs the Stars of Your Garden: Eye-catching combinations for year-round interest Hardcover – 29 July 2014

fresh vision for the garden. packed with ideas and plant combinations and information. a joy to use.

Really useful for designing a shrub border or choosing shrubs for a mixed garden. Andy McIndoe guides you through different ways of choosing and suggests planting combinations for different styles of garden and for creating different moods, for example you might want to create a quiet atmosphere for reflection and quiet relaxation, or you might want a lively, vibrant garden as a backdrop for socialising. His planting combinations are gorgeous, and there's a directory of a huge, but well-chosen range of shrubs with ideas for how to use them. It's been really useful in planning my new garden and giving me a list of plants that will look good together, work with the aspect, soil and size of my garden and help create the kind of atmosphere I want. It covers a lot of information but is not over long and is well-written enough to make it easy to read from cover to cover.My only small criticisms are: it's very clearly aimed at both US and UK readers - for example he uses the word fall rather than autumn throughout, along with other Americanisms, but American readers might be unhappy with the lack of information on US hardiness zones (though this info is easily available online). I also found a few of the photos a bit small and unclear, though that is being picky as there are lots of other lovely photos. Still a 5 star book for me.

I love this book. Full of ideas and lots of information for even an experienced gardener. However, a tiny niggle. Autumn is referred to throughout as "fall" yet the author is English. I expect it was done to appeal to the American market but it felt false and odd.

This is a fantastic book. Full of colour pictures, it gives ideas of what shrubs to use together to create different styles, and what plants and bulbs to use to set them off. There’s also a good, though not exhaustive, alphabetical listing with photos in the final section, outlining characteristic, size, season and colour, and good companion planting For many shrubs. A truly inspiring and informative book.

The Creative Shrub Garden is a brilliant book for those keen to do more in the garden without necessarily being flower based. Don't get me wrong, I love flowers, I just love the maintenance-free nature of shrubs more. I am not the most proficient flower deadheader, it's true.I appreciate the insight into layering and colour matching/contrasting this book offers. The plant directory is terrific as shrubs are often over looked with guides on trees and flowers easy to source.All in all, this book ticked all the boxes for me and will be a valuable reference book in future.

I was so looking forward to reading this book by such an expert as I think shrubs are underused and underrated. But I didn't find much inspiration. The best photo is on the cover and it's such a pity there aren't many more like this from real gardens showing such combinations. The shrub photos generally give no idea of habit, size and form nor how they would sit with the suggested partners. But a good book if you just want some basic ideas or an introduction to shrubs.

A book that I would rate indispensable. Written by an expert who understands the complexities of selecting and grouping shrubs with other plants to great effect. Well set out for easy reference with stunning photos. I bought it for my gardening library but it would make a very acceptable present. I particularly like the photographic binding without a dust cover, it will take hard wear and still look new, take it with you when you go to buy plants. You won't buy the wrong one again!

This book is the first gardening book that has rekindled my love of shrubs. It is the first book that has promoted the use of subtle complimentary planting as opposed to creating contrasts. Brilliant!!!!!!

Am redoing my borders, and this book has lots of ideas for plant combinations. Room for notes too as not all the plants mentioned will grow in my area. Book is definitely worth getting if you are interested in shrubs.

Dommage que la couverture extérieure est arrivée abimée par une matière collante.

Raramente un libro di giardinaggio ha una struttura ben fatta come quella di questo libro. Chi vuole avvicinarsi agli arbusti e alla loro collocazione nel giardino dovrebbe dare un'occhiata a questo volume. L'organizzazione è in cinque sezioni: 1) introduzione agli arbusti; 2) scegliere l'arbusto giusto per il tuo giardino; 3) creare splendidi effetti visivi piantando arbusti; 4) lista degli arbusti; 5) piantare e curare gli arbusti. La lista degli arbusti nella quarta sezione è molto utile per capire quali piante facciano al caso nostro. Il libro, poi, è molto ben illustrato e i concetti sono esposti molto bene anche in forma visiva. Gran bel libro che non può mancare nella nostra biblioteca di giardinaggio.

Sehr gute und informative Lektüre für Gehölz- und Pflanzenfans, die Anregungen brauchen, welche Gehölze sich gut zusammenpflanzen lassen. Wunderbar, fünf Punkte.

Described accurately and arrived promptly.