Monday, September 10, 2012

The Natural Garden - review by Dawn Forbes

Author: Xanthe White
RRP: $55.00
Publisher: Random House New Zealand (Godwit)
Publication: 14 September 2012 

Xanthe White is an award-winning garden designer but don’t be put off by that because her latest book, The Natural Garden, is about encouraging all gardeners to think about the natural behaviour of plants and what they will grow into within their  own gardens…but don’t be put off by that either because she gives you all the information you could possibly need for success for most garden situations and purpose, e.g productive, flower, small, dry, coastal, country, restored, sub-tropical, native (even rooftop),  and plant choices and options, soil types, composting, fertilising, mulching, seed saving and growing…the content is too long to cover here.

My advice would be to firstly just go through the book looking at the pictures, and once captured, read the last section (The Natural Gardener, p.297) and then go back to the chapters that cover your own garden setting and read them thoroughly, checking out the suggested plans, plant guide and what they will achieve. 

The section entitled The Natural Country Garden opens with “If a garden were a manuscript, the urban garden would be a short story and the country garden a novel”. That gives the reader a taste of the warmth and inclusiveness of this fabulous book which will enthuse all gardeners.

Dawn Forbes is an Auckland reader who wishes she had a bigger garden.This is her first review on Beattie's Book Blog.

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