Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Jerry Jackson

For those of us who go to the garden center with a page torn out of a magazine and the fervent hope that we can re-create the picture there, P. Allen Smith has an answer.

Container garden recipe cards.

A deck of 50 cards depicting container gardens seen in his book, "P. Allen Smith's Container Gardens," is divided by season. Each card has a picture of the finished planter on the front and a shopping list and a planting diagram on the back, plus a few tips.

Each card also tells where the container would do best - sun, shade or partial shade - and tells of the design principle that Smith is using: color, shape and form, or whimsy. These design elements are described on bi-fold card that also includes a list of supplies the gardener should have on hand.

A couple of thoughts on what is otherwise a very handy product:

The cards do include - indeed there isn't room for -- a list of substitutes if you can't find the plant in the "recipe."

And, it is not immediately clear to me if the containers on the winter cards - there are only seven - are meant for outdoors, and in what zone.

The container that uses orchids is photographed on a kitchen table. I understand that that is a centerpiece. And several use evergreens, such as dwarf spruce or junipers.

But what about the one that includes snapdragons and English daisies or lamb's ear and scabiosa? How long might we expect those containers to last?

Having said that, the recipes for the spring and summer containers are a vision. And, though several of the containers are quite unusual, most are the kind of 18-inch decorative pots that are easy to find at a garden center.

This deck of cards sells for $14.99. Less on Amazon. I'd say it was worth it.