Gardener's Palette: Creating Colour Harmony in the Garden by Jo Thompson

Gardener's Palette: Creating Colour Harmony in the Garden

by Jo Thompson

From the world's most respected gardening organisation, a new, soon-to-be classic guide to successfully using colour in the home garden. Everyone wants colour in their garden, but each gardener's preferred palette is unique. How do you choose the right one for your garden, and how do you find the plants that will help you fulfill your vision? The expert tips and inspiration found in The Gardener's Palette, by award-winning garden designer Jo Thompson, is a great place to start. This stunning book presents a new way for gardeners to consider colour that will be familiar to anyone who's ever painted a room. Using the Royal Horticultural Society's industry-standard colour chip system, Thompson has created 100 palettes derived from existing gardens. Readers can easily find a scheme that appeals to them and then make plant choices that will allow them to recreate the scheme in their home gardens. Also included are sidebars on colour history, ten planting plans that can be recreated at home, and hundreds of inspiring photographs. The Gardener's Palette, published in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, is a lush, photo-rich approach to garden design that will appeal to stylish home gardeners everywhere. AUTHOR: Jo Thompson has been the recipient of four Gold and six Silver Gilt medals, as well as Best in Show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. In 2017 she won the People's Choice award at the first RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. She is the Garden Advisor for RHS Rosemoor, an RHS Shows Judge, and a member of the RHS Gardens Committee, the Nominations & Governance Committee, and the RHS Show Gardens Selection Panel. Jo lectures both nationally and internationally and tutors at The London College of Garden Design. She is a Registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers. 615 colour photographs

Reviewed by annieb123 on

5 of 5 stars

Share
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Gardener’s Palette is a lushly illustrated and inspirational guide to colour harmony and garden design by Jo Thompson under the auspices of the RHS. Due out 5th July from Timber Press, it's 388 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a visually stunning and superlatively written guide with specific design instructions and cultivar recommendations for gardeners like me who always buy too many seeds and plants, and wander around forlornly looking for a place to fit them. I've always *wanted* to have the sort of garden which works from a design standpoint, and this is certainly a helpful book for pulling together spaces into a working cohesive whole.

The book is arranged around specific palettes. Each of the chapters has an introduction and pantone palette bar along with a general introduction/theme followed by lots of photos. The photos include keys with very specific plant and cultivar information in table form. The plant information includes name, annual/perennial, height, spread, flowering season, and culture requirements.

The author has also included an abbreviated list of stockists and suppliers, mostly slanted toward readers in the UK and North America, a short bibliography, and a cross-referenced index. The abundant photography and meticulous cultivar notes are clearly the star of the show, however.

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for public library acquisition, gardening clubs, and lovers of gardening.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 8 May, 2022: Reviewed