To enjoy A Country- Style, Poetic Garden, visit  page 19 in Gardening from a Hammock.  Frank Kershaw provides the criteria on how not to just choose good plants, but how to recognize great ones. Here are some of his must-haves:

• Multi-season interest of foliage, flowers, berries, and form.
• Mix of coniferous (evergreens) and deciduous. The evergreens give mass and volume for winter interest, create garden walls and provide winter bird habitat.
• Ability to mature quickly to give full impact without being invasive. “We live in a world where there is a lot of instant gratification, and expectations are heightened. People aren’t always prepared to wait seven years for something to bloom.”
• Ability to retain colour. Some plants lose their colour intensity with age or too much sun and that can affect their value in plant combinations.
• Look for many more in his chapter as well as some great advice on how to avoid weeding.

Frank Kershaw explains that your garden is a living form of art that changes as you do

Teacher, lecturer, writer, garden tour leader with more than 30 years working experience in horticulture, Frank Kershaw can be googled by name for more information.

Frank's garden is a mix of art and poetry, even in winter