RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE

Landscape designer Chris Young finds this complete course in planting design perfect for professionals or semiprofessionals wanting to develop their horticultural style

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Even though gardening (as a hobby, profession or business) is obsessed with plants, it is curious there aren't more books dedicated to planting and the art of how plants are used in gardens.

In most gardening books, plants are either dealt with in a beautiful, coffee-table approach, featuring luscious photography and dreamy combinations, or there is the practical approach, with advice on growing and maintaining the plants from a horticultural viewpoint.

So it is interesting that a book focusing on plants and design should be published now. Written by Andrew Fisher Tomlin, a garden designer of note and (among many accolades) one of the founders of the well-respected London College of Garden Design, the book is an outpouring of all he knows and has taught. The 256 pages are a comprehensive treaty on how to think about plants, how to factor them into a design and landscape, how to propose and present them to a client, and their role in the wider environment. Through clear writing and plenty of space, it tells you what you need to know if you use plants as your palette.