BOOK REVIEWS

Garden Design Bible

Tim Newbury
Hamlyn
Distributed by Bookwise
$NZ51.95

DO you dream of transforming your back garden into a romantic retreat? Would you like to make a modern-day Utopia on your balcony? Is your ideal outdoor space a minimalist design with easy-to-care-for plants or a family garden with room to grow culinary herbs?" That's exactly what this colourful book has been designed to help you achieve.

Garden Design Bible is written by four-times Chelsea gold medal-winner Tim Newbury and the ease at which it can be read is an indication of the man's ability to make garden design achievable for all and sundry.

Whether yours is a small courtyard, a veritable jungle or a sweeping lawn, Newbury's designs can be incorporated in most spaces. Indeed, he includes a section on how to adapt a plan to suit your own situation.

Forty designs are illustrated with photographs and drawings and each one includes a comprehensive list of plants and a clear planting diagram. In many designs, Newbury also features a weekend project for the DIY enthusiast. The broad range of step-by-step projects include how to build a natural-looking pond, a wooden herb bed, a trellis and bamboo screen and a wooden pergola.

Garden Design Bible is ideal for gardeners searching for new inspiration and clever design. It certainly outranks many books of a similar nature in that it provides clear instruction and lovely, original photographs.

As good design is the key to a successful garden, it's surprising there aren't more books of such high standard on how to design a garden. If you were to purchase such a book, this is the one to get.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH