Many of us grow plants in pots for many reasons in Hawai'i: we live in apartments; we don't own the garden where we live; our landlord doesn't like abundant plants; our housing is temporary; we're unsure where to plant it; we like to move plants around like furniture and decorate our living spaces with pretty, flowering or edible and savory, spicy growing plants.

Maybe your soil is junk (most home garden soil is poor, due to construction methods, and "needs work" to successfully grow plants), maybe you want your plants up out of reach of hungry slugs, or maybe your yard is a concrete slab or bare lava.

Potted plants can look like a hodgepodge or they can be an attractive, unified design statement.

After years of research, growing, experimenting, meeting and sharing with other gardeners, and working with plants in various and sundry pots, Janice Crowl has come out with a great book — "Container Gardening in Hawaii: How to Grow Paradise in a Pot" (Mutual Publishing, $16.95).

People are so busy these days that many of us rarely read anymore, preferring to skim the surface and glean the good bits. This means that photos and illustrations are vital. The pictures in this book are inspiring and tell the story well. I keep going back to it, especially on rainy wet days that keep me out of the garden.

One of my favorite chapters is on how to make pots out of concrete hypertufa. The late, great gardener Mary Wickenden of Keolu Hills showed me how to do this, but you forget the details if you don't do it often. In England, tufa is a natural lightweight stone that is carved to make horse troughs and planters. We don't have this kind of rock in Hawai'i, but we can make various versions of it. Crowl's basic varied recipes incorporate red or black cinder, coral sand and other Island ingredients.

This is a messy project — a whole neighborhood, school or your keiki who like to play in mud could get together and make some of these. Have a make-a-pot party — what a fun event for a gathering of gardener pals. And the results make great Christmas gifts. Make it hypertufa! Woo hoo!

Old-time gardeners made a lot of epic pots out of concrete from their own molds. Do any of you gardeners have pots like this? This is a gift that I'll feature in "Friendship Garden" — my next book, inspired by my mom, Marilyn, and her faithful poi dog, Makalele.

These old-time concrete pots can last a lifetime and many plants like the good drainage they provide. They also are solid and heavy, and won't "huli maka flip down" or blow off your lanai in times of strong whipping trade winds, or gusty kona winds.

We all need to be reminded of the basics of good horticulture. "Container Gardening in Hawaii" spells it out, from what kind of media to pot plants in to how to grow an organic food feast for your eyes and 'opu.

Crowl has a section on native Hawaiian plants, on onolicious edibles, unique and thrifty kinds of pots and how to design for challenging conditions, such as wind, salt, high-rises and noisy neighbors. You can learn how to complement an awesome view or screen out a noxious, noisy one.

Crowl lives in Hilo where gardening has its own challenges and joys. The lawns and weeds grow rapidly and the coqui can invade your serenity. Good, desirable plants, well chosen for your microclimate, in the right kind of media and light exposure also will grow fabulously. She lists lots of resources to learn more about the thrill of gardening in pots, and she has really done her homework to create this fine book.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.