Colour For Adventurous Gardeners

Christopher Lloyd

Editions

Review

As I write in mid-October, the garden is ablaze with colour; vivid reds, luminous yellows and sumptuous purples - almost all coming from foliage and berries rather than flowers.

Fleeting and unpredictable as these effects are, I am glad to say that they are certainly not neglected here by Christopher Lloyd.

It is hard to bring discipline into an argument when the prevailing motto, much repeated in his introductory chapter, is “Go for it!”, but Lloyd rides the spectrum from “dangerous” reds, “enigmatic” greens to “sophisticated” black in his usual breezy and highly individual style.  Not every suggestion or plant association will find favour.  Sometimes I find that his preferred plant groupings, both in this book and in his own garden at Great Dixter, quite set my teeth on edge (even he says they can test your nerves), but no-one will gainsay either his enthusiasm or the deep knowledge he has acquired in 60 and more years of practical horticulture.

It would be too much to expect that this latest offering is on a par with his great classic The Well-Tempered Garden pbk £14.99, or even as good as Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers (itself a miraculous late flourish), but aided by the splendid photography of Jonathan Buckley, this is a visual feast and an entertaining read.

Go for it! - review by Stewart Grimshaw