Garden Designs

Rating:
Summary: Lots of ideas!
Review: I like this book because it gives gardeners lots of ideas for various garden designs, in all shapes and sizes. There are designs for narrow walkways, curved entrances, large yards, small yards, front yards, back yards, boulevards, and with varying themes: by colour; by function (e.g. to attract butterflies or hummingbirds); by plant types (e.g. all shrubs, herbs, cutting flowers, fragrant plants). While not every design is suitable for every Zone, there is a good selection for each Zone, and where possible the authors provide substitutions to expand the applicable zones for a design. The book also includes botanical as well as common names for all plants listed in the coloured watercolour drawings. All in all, this is a very well written and useful book, for gardeners of all levels.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Ideas
Review: I love gardening but am not the best at designing gardens, so I frequently look for books to give me ideas about designs. This one has quite a few nice designs will full plant lists, but unfortunately, it was lacking on designs for my area or zone. Only one garden in the entire book fit my zone, which is 28. I would suggest that in the future each garden design includes substitutions for plants to make it fit in other areas or zones.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Ideas
Review: I love gardening but am not the best at designing gardens, so I frequently look for books to give me ideas about designs. This one has quite a few nice designs will full plant lists, but unfortunately, it was lacking on designs for my area or zone. Only one garden in the entire book fit my zone, which is 28. I would suggest that in the future each garden design includes substitutions for plants to make it fit in other areas or zones.

Rating:
Summary: A letdown
Review: Somehow I missed the fact that all the designs were illustrations (watercolor paintings?), not photographs. I get inspired by looking at photos of existing gardens that someone actually created. Looking at paintings just doesn't do it for me. Besides, as the other reviewer said, these gardens are for zones all over the US, not necessarily for my zone, so not all the ideas work for me.

The other thing that is missing in this book is at least a small photo of each of the plants/flowers on a page. Sure, I can look them up in another book. I'm familiar with quite a few of the flowers and their Latin/common names, but a beginning gardener wouldn't be. This is definitely not a book for beginners, and even as a more advanced gardener, it was disappointing.