Product Description

Indoor plants bring living warmth to any interior décor. Arrange them in beautiful containers, root them creatively in varied textural beds, and enjoy the stunning results. Author Rosemary McCreary has designed 40 dazzling tabletop gardens to inspire the indoor green thumb year-round — gardens that enhance the home with more drama than potted houseplants and greater durability than cut flowers.

McCreary’s innovative designs include stylish gardens under glass; floating plants whose roots, visible in clear water, are part of the allure; and miniature landscapes that grow in every type of beautiful tray, container, and basket imaginable. Among the projects are a collection of succulents springing out of a colorful gravel bed; a basket of savory Mediterranean herbs to perk up winter meals; cascading ivy, trained to frame a north-facing window; and a charming miniature tea rose in a jar.

To ensure success, each project includes step-by-step design and planting instructions, a complete checklist of required materials, ongoing care advice, and full-color photography of materials and the completed garden. Exotic orchids, soft grasses, easy-to-grow herbs, and colorful bulbs are among the dozens of popular plants McCreary encourages gardeners to work with in her designs.

For every dedicated gardener who has spent dull winter months longing for the scent of dirt, tabletop gardens are the answer. Their elegance and vitality connect the housebound grower to summer’s cycles of growth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #328234 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Review
“If you’re looking to move beyond pothos vines, give these pages a turn.”—Randy Miranda, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Randy Miranda Minneapolis Star-Tribune )

"Most garden books are pretty, but something about McCreary’s is truly inspiring."— Sandy Dunham, The Seattle Times, Sept. 23, 2006 (Sandy Dunham Seattle Times )

"This goes far beyond conventional...displays of indoor plants...inspiration fills the pages of Tabletop Gardens."
—HortIdeas (HortIdeas )

"Vases, cake plates, buckets and colanders are all put to imaginative use for displaying a little bit of Eden."
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle Post-Intelligencer )

If youre looking to move beyond pothos vines, give these pages a turn.Randy Miranda, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Minneapolis Star-Tribune )

Most garden books are pretty, but something about McCrearys is truly inspiring. Sandy Dunham, The Seattle Times, Sept. 23, 2006 (Seattle Times )

This goes far beyond conventional...displays of indoor plants...inspiration fills the pages of Tabletop Gardens. HortIdeas (HortIdeas )

Vases, cake plates, buckets and colanders are all put to imaginative use for displaying a little bit of Eden. Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle Post-Intelligencer )

From the Back Cover
Bring the beauty and allure of living plants indoors with 40 miniature gardens, designed to lend warmth and interest to a variety of surfaces. Through exquisite photography, a dazzling array of creative ideas, step-by-step instructions, and all the practical advice you need, you'll discover how simple it is to enhance your home and satisify your winter gardening urges at the same time.

Tabletop Gardens shows you how to integrate a project with your decor, choose plants and flowers that will thrive indoors, work with space limitations, manipulate light, and select creative containers. You'll learn all the basics that ensure success—watering, fertilizing, pruning, repotting, and propagating.

Innovative designs include plants and styling for all tastes, from delicate gardens under glass to Zenlike stone mosaics. Exotic orchids, soft grasses, easy-to-grow herbs, and colorful bulbs are among the plants that take center stage. And adding personality to every project are the containers—from clear glass jars to indoor fountains, shallow ceramic trays to wicker and wire baskets. Vitality and elegance—yours throughout the year.

About the Author
Rosemary McCreary lives north of San Francisco, where she tries to limit her ever-expanding garden to two acres. She shares her knowledge of botany and horticulture by volunteer teaching throughout northern California and in her weekly garden column in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Customer Reviews

An informative introduction to creating and maintaining an indoor miniature garden
Tabletop Gardens: 40 Stylish Plantscapes For Counters And Shelves, Desktops And Windowsills by gardening expert Rosemary McCreary is profusely illustrated with photographs by William Holt. Tabletop Gardens is an informative introduction to creating and maintaining an indoor miniature garden. Guiding readers through a all the germane issues for watering, fertilizing, pruning, repotting, and propagating plants suitable for a miniature garden, Tabletop Gardens deftly reveals a remarkable understanding of the exotic flowerings and plants that it contains. A unique and original addition to any personal, professional, or community library Gardening Studies reference collection, Tabletop Gardens is especially recommended for its innovative ideas and sound advice for those wishing to incorporate more serenity and nature into their personal household or business office environment.

Artistic and Inspiring!
I have to say the photography in this book is BEAUTIFUL. The photographer somehow catches the best angles, and thus creates a deep sense of inspiration in the reader. The book also gives good recommendations of different species and what can be used in different environments (terrariums, submerged, etc.). Awesome book.

A wonderful book for house plant lovers
Tabletop Gardens is more than I expected. I was looking for ideas to support by passion for building terrariums. And I found just what I was looking for in that regard. The instructions given and the ideas for the perfect plants are found inside the pages. However, what I did not expect was a new passion for water gardens and topiaries. This book is splendid with easy directions for creating exquisite gardens to display inside your home. I am very happy with this book. It will be "a keeper" in my book collection for years to come.