Potted Gardens: A Fresh Approach to Container Gardening (ISBN 0517704579)

Too much Rebecca Cole, not enough plants!:
Lots of little anecdotes about Rebecca Cole, but as an inspiration for container gardening, this book is a bomb. If you like cute, this might be your cup of tea, but if you want to create a garden that's something special, this book won't help. Lots of marigolds and petunias in cast-off containers, but nothing new or noteworthy in the plant department. Try Gardening without a Garden by Gay Search or 50 Recipes for Container Gardens by Richard Bird.

Gardening Made Easy--and Fun!:
With two semi-black thumbs and not much of a penchant for backbreaking work in the garden, I was hesitant to try my hand once again at container gardening--even if it would be for one last time. But POTTED GARDENS opened up a whole new world of gardening to me! Rebecca Cole finds unique and often humorous containers everywhere she goes--and now so do I! I see containers in old coffee pots, and buckets, and boxes; in wooden shoes and tin watering cans. You simply need to open your eyes to Ms Cole's vision of what container, terrace, patio, and potted gardens were meant to be. I recommend this book to weekend and serious gardeners alike.

Not what I was looking for:
I bought this book when I decided to start a container garden on my deck. I returned it the moment I got it. It just didn't have what I was looking for. Although it has some stuff that is pretty to look at it didn't provide the instruction that I wanted and needed. I wasn't impressed in the least. I found a book that outshines this one in every way. It's David Joyce's Complete Container Garden. A huge book with wonderful ideas and photographs. The best part is that it gives step by step instructions on how to duplicate A LOT of the arrangements. I am very proud of my new deck and it is because of that book. I learned a lot. It has all of the info a beginner would need yet it is interesting enough for someone who has gardened forever. Potted Gardens, by Rebecca Cole can't compare.

Shabby Chic Container Planting:
Here are some things this book won't do for you: For those wanting a how-to book, there are only six pages on transplanting, pruning, watering, pests, etc. and eight pages on planting in boxes and buckets. For those wanting traditional pots and window boxes, this enthuses about offbeat containers. For anyone wanting a photo book to identify plants for containers, this isn't a plant guide. The author gives her personal experiences junk hunting (for containers), setting up city gardens (on rooftops, in windowboxes), and her relationships with plants. Since I've already read other books for the how-to, the plant selection, and the traditional looking containers, this book was a refreshing change. If you're drawn to the shabby chic style of decorating, you may already have plenty of containers for this style of potted gardening. Brace yourself, the woman hacks holes in the bottom of a fire bucket. The glossy photos open your mind to new uses for old things. Think of morning glories climbing an old iron bed as a trellis or a fern growing in a cake tin. Fill a teapot with ivy, a spice tin with rosemary, then perch them on a rustic step ladder near a sunny window. This is a fun idea book for growing plants in containers.

I love this book!:
Rebecca Cole's imagination soars when it comes to potted gardens! I love the way she sees containers in everyday items--including items headed for the trash! Hurray for Rebecca and giving me new vision for my garden.