Planting Companions

Jill Billington has created a guide to companion planting of ornamental plants that considers not only color, but also form, texture, growth patterns, and soil compatibility for the best results. It's very much in the mold of the current fad of beautiful garden books with a roughly equal amount of nicely laid-out text and utterly sensuous photography. That this makes it more of a coffee-table volume of what some people call "garden porn" than a serious garden planner shouldn't deter those looking for just a smidgen of design advice rather than a wheelbarrow full of it; for what it is, it's a very pretty book indeed.