Cover Image: The Abundant Flower Gardener

The Abundant Flower Gardener

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Member Reviews

Plant Combinations for an Abundant Garden is a great reference book. It has practical advice and easy to follow garden designs. Highly recommend it. Loved this book.

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A beautifully illustrated and knowledgable book . It gives plenty of information fir both the beginner and advanced gardener . I really enjoyed the unusual plants which I had no knowledge of previously .
Excellent and thoroughly recommend

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An excellent book for both the novice and expert gardener. As I have recently retired I have more time to spend in the garden and this book has helped me plan what to plant and where to plant for maximum effect. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get the best out of their garden.

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Not quite what I was expecting but a well put together book. THe section on vegetable gardening is useful for beginners but the rest focuses mostly on garden design for intermediate gardeners.

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This book is far more comprehensive than the title led me to believe, Not only are there step-by-step instructions for combining plants in gardens, but numerous other aspects of garden design are considered too, from shed placement to building walkways, edging lawns and much more. The directions are clear and detailed. With a plethora of photos and illustrations this is a complete garden design book, and I will certainly use it as a reference.

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We really enjoyed the depth that this book goes to showing the how-to's of gardening. The photographs are fresh and the plot tutorials were helpful, especially the mushroom composting.

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Thank you Fox chapel Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

This was a really helpful book for me and taught me a lot about companion gardening and what to plant, where in the garden. It gave me confidence and enthusiasm to plan my own garden using these tips. .

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Plant Combinations for an Abundant Garden by Alan Bridgewater and David Squire provided so much information about building a garden. I have dabbled in gardening for years. So, Plant Combinations was basic enough to help me start a new garden and had enough variety that I still learned many things I hadn't considered previously. The pictures are beautiful and help reinforce the material. The book is organized well and easy to find just what you need. It is interesting enough to read front to back as well.

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3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Much like some other reviewers I found the title to be a little misleading, but this book includes so much more than I anticipated. This covers everything from lawn design, building pathways, decks, pergolas, lighting, companion planting vegetables, keeping chickens, constructing compost bins and much more.

I really liked that the author included seasons rather than months of the year and has also included the metric scale. I was disappointed that the quick reference tables did not align with the kindle edition, this meant the content was without any guide or separation which made the information unusable. The colourful images are also a bit lost on the Kindle version but that is to be expected, they create a good visual representation of what is being discussed. If you're after an in-depth gardening book covering a range of topics then I would suggest this. Roughly only 50% of the content discusses plants, had I known this prior I probably wouldn't have requested it.

Thank you Netgalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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What a great reference for gardening. I love to garden but I admit I could have benefited from a book like this. The pictures are really nice and inspiring. There are large sections dedicated to both flower and vegetable gardens. I like the year-round calendar. I have started to prepare for my “winter” garden while living in a snowy, cold climate. There is beauty as each season comes and goes. Thank you for allowing me to review an advanced copy.

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Plant Combinations for an Abundant Garden is full of garden ideas for all size of gardens. It includes a wide ranging plant guide in addition to the individual garden guides. This is a great book for those new to gardening with no idea where to start. I found some new information even as a long time gardener. It is tailored more to those in urban or suburban areas. It could also work for those with large yards who want to create a small garden area.

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I feel like this book is not titled correctly. This book provides all the basics for getting started with gardening - whether that is vegetables, flowers, or general yard. It devotes lots of pages to the design process - paths, lighting, patios, fences, and much more. It reviews types of gardens - container, Japanese, herb, rock, and several others. It features a section on the practice of no-dig gardening. And then it has plants! It rounds out its contents with pests, diseases, troubleshooting and such.

The book does provide step-by-step instructions and various references guides. There are beautiful photographs as well as detailed illustrations.

Please note: This book is a collection of new and previously published material.

I love gardening and always find a nugget in each book that helps me garden just a little bit better. You can find my garden blog at www.Patch405.com.

I was offered an advance digital copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

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I found this book very helpful and informative. It covered a wide range of garden sizes and types. It was clearly written with a good a variety of drawing and photos. A good companion for both experiences and beginner gardeners. I received this book as an Arc and freely give my review.

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I found this book very helpful and inspirational for planting my garden and foundational choices. It gave instructions on preparation, all the way through the planting, to the after care.

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A thoughtful, inspiring and practical guide to setting up and growing with your garden.
The authors have taken care to include all types of garden, whatever the size, even if it's just a balcony. I liked the table early on which made suggestions for tricky types of garden- what to do if you have a steep slope, or back on to lots of neighbours. Of course those with bigger gardens and budgets will get to play with more tools and ideas than the rest of us, but there are ideas here for us all. I also liked the encouragement to take a no-dig approach, to flowers as well as vegetables.
I received a review copy of this just as I moved into a house with a garden for the first time, and used it to think about and plan what to do with my new space. Also, if I get it wrong, there are planty- ahem, plenty - of ideas to try out next time, instead.

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If you are a gardener, or thinking of becoming one, this book is a must-have. Absolutely every aspect of gardening is addressed in this book.
Planning a landscape begins with plotting on paper. Adding in gazebos or other structures is an option addressed along with a selection of different structures and pictures of them. Solutions are given to problems with the terrain and suggestions of plantings along with both soil requirements and long term care and placement. Annuals and perennials are listed with definitions and descriptions. Shrubbery and the definition of deciduous and non-deciduous are disgussed. Gardening for food-growing is also explored from fruit trees to vegetables, and
the care and requirements of each group.. This comprehensive book belongs on every gardener’s shelf. This is the go-to book for ideas and answers.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily,providing my review.

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Overall, this is an excellent book to page through as a beginning or experienced gardener.

Some terms that I found interesting were “catch crops” and “intercropping” and the book explains them easily and quickly.

Thanks to #NetGalley, I had an advanced PDF to read and review.

*All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review. *

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Whilst containing some useful information, I felt the title of the book isn't really an accurate representation of what the book is about. The scope of the book is a little too wide, covering everything from building pavements and decking, to a directory of plants. However, there isn't much guidance on how to combine plants apart from some pages dedicated to themed gardens (2 pages per theme) and a large portion of those pages are taken up with hardscaping tips, rather than plant combinations. There are some useful plant combinations provided in the no-dig gardening chapter, like rotation and sequence of planting to extend the growing season, but it was really just a few pages . It was also interesting to learn how hardscaping is done, and these were illustrated nicely throughout the book, but the information was too simple to be useful for homeowners or even contractors.

Judging by the title and subtitle, I expected to learn more about how to combine plants in a way that is most aesthetically pleasing, more productive (e.g. maybe expanding more on companion planting, instead of only 1 paragraph), brings long-lasting colour to the garden (how to mix annuals, perennials, biennials, evergreens) and maybe examples of plants that work well together because of their sun and water requirements.

I guess I'm not sure who this book is meant for, and what the authors really intended to convey.

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This book is jam packed with information - from schematics for different garden designs to decks and verandas to different bedding plants.  The only thing that I found lacking in the book is photos!  Photographs of beautiful gardens, garden projects and plants are what pull me in and give me the most joy in reading books about gardening and I found photographs to be sorely lacking in this book.

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This book was ok, but didn’t have enough images to be helpful to a novice. I really do t need to read all the botanical names nor imagine how they look together. Overall, not very helpful for a very dry garden for an amateur.
Thanks for letting me read and review. Appreciate it.

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