This is one of those used books (with an inscription “To Nan”) that I picked up somewhere along the way and which has provided hours of enjoyable browsing.  Cole, who had a shop in Greenwich Village called Potted Gardens (the title of her first book, as well) writes about creating gardens in small spaces in NYC—terraces, patios, balconies, rooftops.  And accompanied by beautiful photographs by Helen Norman, the book succeeds in my measure of a ‘good garden book by providing good ideas and stimulating some creative thought about my own gardens.  Her use of antique furniture, statues, and pots is a key element as is the use of trees, shrubs, and flowering plants in containers.

The prose is a bit mundane and pedestrian but the photos and ideas are great.  I’ve searched Google for Cole and her shop but have come up empty.  Twenty-two years is a long time, but it would have been fun to find her shop still up and running and visit during our next trip to Brooklyn. Oh, tempus fugit!