The Border Planner: A Practical Approach To Designing, Planting And Maintaining Borders

Richard Bird

Editions

Review

Most of us, unless we are born to garden at Great Dixter or trained to work at Sissinghurst, will at some time in our horticultural lives be confronted with the daunting task of planning a border, and while there is no hard and fast way of doing it, this book will help many people through some of the pitfalls involved.

Usually, the ornamental border is an essential element in any garden, large or small, and a wide range of small trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and annuals can all play their part in a well planned scheme, allowing us to express ourselves in the various aspects of colour, texture and scale which contribute to a satisfying result.

Certainly this is not a book intended for the experienced practitioner.  What author Richard Bird does is to apply sound common sense and the basic principles of good husbandry to the issues around the planning, the creation and the maintenance of a well ordered planting, in a chatty brisk manner and using plans and well chosen photographs to inspire individuality in gardening initiates. - review by Stewart Grimshaw