The Encyclopedia of Container Plants

Container gardening is ideally suited to today’s lifestyles—it provides the excitement, versatility, and variety of in-the-ground gardening to those with limited space, time, and resources. But in order to make the most of container gardening, aspiring gardeners—whether rank beginners or seasoned veterans—need to know precisely which plants perform best in containers; just as importantly, they need to know how to grow them well.

Author Ray Rogers is the ideal guide to this world of colorful possibilities. An award-winning container gardener and horticulturist, he profiles more than 500 outstanding plants in 180 genera. Along with Rogers’s engaging descriptions, the entries include each plant’s height and spread; light, moisture, temperature, and soil requirements; ease and rate of growth; principal interest and design attributes; potential problems; and best method of propagation. To this abundance of useful information, Rob Cardillo’s stunning photographs add a wealth of visual inspiration.

Success with container gardening isn’t always instantly achieved—it’s easy to be seduced by brightly flowering plants at a nursery or garden center that turn out to be unsuited to the growing conditions provided for them, or that make poor companions for their pot-mates. Even a brief dip into this authoritative reference, however, is sure to yield a host of plants that will show just how spectacular a well-grown—and carefully chosen—container garden can be.

 

Ray Rogers has won 397 blue ribbons and 88 top awards (including 5 Best in Show) for container-grown plants at the Philadelphia International Flower Show. After a career in public horticulture with the Morris Arboretum and the American Horticultural Society, he turned to garden writing, speaking, and editing. He is the author of Coleus and Pots in the Garden and the editor of several major gardening titles published by Dorling Kindersley. He holds a master’s degree in horticulture and is an avid hybridizer of Hippeastrum, better known as amaryllis. Visit him at www.showplants.net.

Rob Cardillo has been photographing gardens, plants, and the people who tend them for more than 20 years. Formerly the director of photography at Organic Gardening, he now works for major publishers, horticultural suppliers, and landscape designers throughout the United States. Visit him at robcardillo.com.