Do you have a dream for your garden?
Either creating something new from scratch or giving your existing paradise a makeover?
If so, Charlie Albone's Garden of Your Dreams may just be your book.
Charlie Albone remembers the exact moment when he discovered he wanted to be a gardener: as a teenager, when he was shown an English wildflower, a snake's head fritillary (Fritillaria mleagris) in bloom, its inky purple texture just like a snake's skin.
Related reading:
After growing up in Hong Kong and England, Charlie spent his gap year in Australia and decided that he wanted to settle here and work in horticulture.
He studied at Ryde TAFE and says that while the course was excellent, nothing beats hands on learning: it was working as a gardener to support himself while studying that taught him how plants grow, their varied needs and how a single element - too much sun, waterlogged ground, prevailing wind - can transform how a plant performs.
After graduating with a Diploma of Horticulture and Landscape Design he established his own business designing and building a wide range of gardens It was while working as a TV presenter for Selling Houses Australia that he learned how to inspire others to try gardening.
This ability pervades his writing - Garden of Your Dreams is the most inspirational gardening book that has come my way for years.
The book is divided into two halves, the first on planning your dream space and the second on how to achieve it, both beautifully illustrated in colour throughout.
Planning includes where to start, outdoor entertaining spaces and small spaces; how to go about it covers soil, plants and lawns and finishes with lists of Charlie's top five favourite plants in a number of categories, among them trees, hedging plants, shrubs, grasses, scented plants, ground covers, flowers and textural plants.
The emotional feel of a garden means as much to Charlie as its physical elements.
He designed and built his first garden for the Royal Horticulture Society's Chelsea Flower Show in memory of his father who died when Charlie was 17.
The garden won Silver Gilt, the second-highest medal - Charlie's first of two - and is clearly still deeply important to him.
Charlie suggests you start your dream garden by thinking hard about how you want it to make you feel - happy, nostalgic, relaxed and so on - and then making a wish list from ideas collected from the net, books and other people's gardens.
If you have a set budget, do fewer things to the highest standard: labour is the biggest expense.
Practical advice covers healthy soil, compost, fertilisers, choosing plants, designing beds and planting plans, taking cuttings and so much more.
The best thing about this book is the author's enthusiasm and chatty, friendly style which makes you want to get out and get going.
If you're not a gardener when you start reading it, you will be when you've finished.
Charlie Albone's new book, Garden of Your Dreams, is illustrated by Julia Cornelius and is in stores now.