Container Theme Gardens: 42 Combinations, Each Using 5 Perfectly Matched Plants

The latest from Ondra (Five-Plant Gardens) is a practical and planter-friendly guide to gardening—no garden required. Focusing on pots instead of plots, Ondra demonstrates the appeal of growing plants in containers with 42 original designs. Each design uses a five-plant palette of plants that complement each other and the pot they’re displayed in. For example, a terra cotta container holds fuchsia, coleus, spurge, sweet potato vine, and heuchera, their colors keyed to the clay pot’s. For each design, Ondra teases the bouquet apart with descriptions of each plant, then offers “Tidbits, Tips, and Tricks” plus commentary on the plants’ behavior through four seasons. She helpfully adds substitutes: if Arizona apricot blanket flower is not available for the mini-meadow design, she suggests mesa peach or “another mounded annual... with daisy-form flowers.” Rob Cardillo’s photographs accentuate Ondra’s seductive designs in this comprehensive, easy-to-use book. This is not an armchair gardener’s book—anyone can do it! (Dec.)