Rock Garden Design and Construction: North American Rock Garden Society

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive
Review: This is a well-planned book that addresses all the major aspects of rock gardening and has ideas to offer gardeners from all parts of North America. One of its strengths is that the writers understand, through experience, the differences in soil and climate that influence rock gardening in different parts of the continent. Because of this personal experience the dissimilarities are addressed fully and not just mentioned briefly.

With contributions from over 40 leading rock gardeners from all parts of North America this is a truly comprehensive book. The section I found most interesting and relevant was the generous chapter on "Soils" by Louise Parsons. A geologist and rock gardener, she looks at all types of soils, soil components and she offers guidelines for handling soils.

The four sections of the book deal with design principles and materials, types of rock gardens, structures and containers, and regional styles and techniques. The book concludes with an overview of ten public rock gardens, from Alaska to Kansas City, where you'll find fine examples of rock gardening. There is an appendix describing ingredients for rock garden soils and an excellent annotated bibliography.

I learned a great deal from this book - for one thing I had no idea there were so many types of rock gardens (who knew you could make a rock garden on a downtown balcony?). The writing is of uniformly high quality and each of the writers shares with the reader not just knowledge and experience but their passion for rock gardening.