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Tough Plants for Tough Places – book review

Plantswoman and nursery owner Rosy Hardy reviews Tough Plants for Tough Places: Invincible Plants for Every Situation by Sharon Amos.

Published: March 5, 2023 at 8:47 pm

Our review
A starting point to help beginner gardeners understand the constraints of their garden and succeed in growing the right plant in the right place.

Tough Plants for Tough Places: Invincible Plants for Every Situation
by Sharon Amos
Pimpernel Press, £20
ISBN 978-1914902017

Few gardens benefit from perfect growing conditions – all of us have areas that are dry, damp, exposed and so on. These trickier areas need plants that will not only survive but thrive there, and this book aims to help gardeners choose them. Although aimed at beginners, it contains advice that all gardeners would benefit from a recap of. The most important starting point in any garden is the soil, and there’s good sensible advice about soil identification and soil improvement strategies.

After this you should look at the environmental factors that will drive your planting choices, such as sun and shade. This is all well explained in an easy-to-read writing style. This book allows you to follow easy steps, giving enough information without overload or complication to help you make correct plant choices. Included in the advice is the use of plastic membranes. I’m not a fan of these as membranes can cause more problems down the line, and it’s better if we all use less plastic. However, there is good information to help with planting and establishing plants in new beds, and this is explained in an easy guide.

This book allows you to follow easy steps, giving enough information without overload or complication to help you make correct plant choices.

Once you move to the directory section, you’re able to jump straight to the plant suggestions for the conditions you’re dealing with in the garden, such as an exposed or coastal site. This isn’t an exhaustive plant list but this guide will help the beginner to avoid plant losses. Overall, I liked the dual referencing of plants for the various conditions and growing preferences, such as sun, shade and so on.

But, once you start looking at the individual plants there are some inaccuracies – though none that would make growing the plant any less successful. The plant descriptions would be improved with consistent use of botanical naming alongside common names, rather than one or the other. But this book is a good starting point and has much to recommend it.

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