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Product Description
Even the smallest garden can be transformed into an earthly delight when you know how to make the most out of limited square footage. Balconies, rooftops, townhouse patios, and postage-stamp-size front yards alike can yield spectacular results with the right focal point, plants, and an expert trick or two. Whether you’re living in a new suburb or a dense metropolis, Big Ideas for Small Gardens offers inventive, attainable solutions, plus recommendations … More >>
Big Ideas for Small Gardens: Featuring Dave Egbert’s Garden Notebook
Tags: Dave, dave egbert, earthly delight, Egbert's, Featuring, Garden, garden notebook, Gardens, Ideas, million books, Notebook, postage stamp, remainder mark, rooftops, Small, small gardens, spectacular results, stamp size
#1 by Ruthie Fox on May 17, 2010 - 10:44 am
Great ideas for small gardens! I liked it so much that I gave a copy of the book to a relative.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Thomas Schoenbeck on May 17, 2010 - 10:45 am
Saw book featured on The Coastal Gardener Show. WOW… It’s great! Richly illustrated and easy to follow. Dave’s garden note book is a perfect pop-off to his advice on small gardens.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by David A. White on May 17, 2010 - 11:48 am
Each picture is supported by several pages of how to and plant lists. Covers a variety of growing zones and combinations of plants, landscaping materials and furniture. Does not provide specific construction or planting details but the diversity of ideas gets you thinking about how to design garden spaces to meet your individual taste. Rate it 4 1/2 stars of 5.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Apel Mjausson on May 17, 2010 - 1:47 pm
There are no garden plans at all in this book, so if you’re looking for help with planning your garden, you’re out of luck.
This is a picture book mostly. The pictures are meant to inspire and give you ideas for what could work in your own garden. Unfortunately many of the photos are not very good technically and the ideas in them are often impractical.
To start with the technical issues with the photos, too many of them are blurry, over- or under-exposed. E.g. adding a hot tub to a small garden is a great idea. But why would the photo editor choose a photo with a white hot tub so over-exposed that it’s completely washed out? They could have spent 15 minutes on [...] and found at least a dozen technically perfect photos of hot tubs in garden settings.
As for the ideas, I lost count of all the trip hazards in the photos. Many other ideas are also rather impractical or awkward.
* An unpaved path under trees in a shade garden: How long until you get tired of slipping about in the mud?
* A grove of aspens next to the swimming pool: Do you mind paying the pool maintenance company extra for dealing with all the leaves?
* Such a pretty seating area hidden behind the yuccas: But who will use it when they have to fight stiff, sharp leaves to get there?
I have a number of other garden design books. What they have in common is stressing the importance of planning your outdoor space so that it actually works and to make the most of it. The best of them also point out the weaknesses in the designs shown: E.g. two rhododendrons at the peak of bloom look impressive. But the rest of the year they have rather boring, dark leaves and no architectural interest. If you only have a small garden, you might want to use the space for plants that are attractive more than a month per year.
There must be better design books for small gardens than this.
Rating: 2 / 5
#5 by Scott Upper on May 17, 2010 - 4:36 pm
i’m a big fan of dave egbert’s tv show (the coastal gardener) and now i also love this book. dave delivers his usual brand of enthusiastic expertise while emily young provides illuminating commentary through hundreds of brilliant photos. this book literally cracked my mind open about what i could do with my small patio space. i am inspired. definitely worth it.
Rating: 5 / 5