I have never come across such a fun tool for designing a garden. A flat picture in a book or on paper just isn't the same. There are 100's of punch out plants and garden fixtures, paper to cut for the pools, patios, walkways, etc. There are cutouts of fences etc. What fun! Combining this with any good quality gardening book with color photos and size information is a wonderful way to play in the garden even when it is raining. Great for those 'what-if' situations. I recommend it for anyone who is just starting out or even pros. It would really be helpful for clients who just don't seem to be able to visualize what they see on paper. Bravo!

A real value. The book included in the pack is worth far more than the price of the entire pack. The ingeniuosly designed kit is a treasure for anyone, no matter where they live, and with any size, type or configuration of lot or land to place their plants, shrubs, trees, flowers, walkways, fences, -- whatever they wish to try or design or grow. And you can use the kit over and over, no matter where in the world you move, and to design as many gardens and yards and areas for yourself, your family and anyone else that you want to. We have a terraced hillside property, and we are really excited about using the kit. We have never seen so much comprehensive knowledge and information in one kit or book, certainly not at this price. And you get a soil test kit, too! We have not discovered such a value in a long, long time. Thanks for asking!

Professor DeLorme writes like she lectures; with incredible amounts of fascinating information and anecdotes that reveal a wealth of information on pavillions, and how they played a role in the French Court. Her lively tone makes for a very enjoyable read on a fascinating subject, and the book is as visually beautiful as one could expect. If you can't see her lecture in person, this book is the next best thing.

Professer Delorme is a recognized authority in french decorative arts. This sumptuous work truly transposes the reader to another world . The text and illustrations are truly enlightening. I highly recommend this work for all library reference collections as well as art history students and collectors.

If you are looking for non-hybrid vegetable seed sources, this is the book for you. It lists vegetables, their characteristics and where their seed may be obtained. I own a copy and have spent hours enjoying it. I don't consider myself a zealot, just an avid gardener who is interested in preserving the vegetable gene pool, and trying some old varieties. I was interested in finding disease and insect resistant varieties. If your library has this book you can take a look at it before buying to be sure it is what you are looking for. I had to have my own copy.

Printed on the inside of the cover there are praises for "Garden Seed Inventory," and rightly so, for it is a valuable, "one of a kind" catalogue of all the vegetable seeds offered by garden seed companies in North America.

Dr. Harlan, retired professor of plant genetics (there's a clue for you) states that the book is for "enthusiastic gardeners, plant breeders and those interested in the preservation of seed stocks." Now I think of myself as an enthusiastic amateur gardener, but it will take a whole lot more than my enthusiasm to really make this tome useful. This is a book that a professor of plant genetics should have. This is the book that the owners of one of the 255 seed companies listed in the book should have, and this is the book that a seed zealot would have, but not your normal 'enthusiastic gardener'.

Don't get me wrong, this book is extremely valuable to the right person. As Wendell Berry said, "The saving of seeds has become a matter of the greatest importance, for we are on the verge of losing the genetic diversity of our food crops.". Over the last 20 years, because of mega-transnational corporations buying out the small seed companies, there has been a significant loss of local or regional varieties. Here's why; when a large corporation gets into the seed business they have to cover a large market, so they breed for a variety of vegetables plants that can grow anywhere across North America (hybrid) and dump the regional plants. In 1981, the first edition of "Garden Seed Inventory" there were 493 tomatoes (red) varieties available; by 1998 there were 108 still available (78% drop). Then again, in the same period, there were 546 new varieties brought to market.

What this book is really about is saving our vegetable heritage and assuring genetic preservation. It is the seed squealer of horticulture books. It will tell you which varieties are about to be dropped and it also helps you find regional varieties that you can plant, thus preserve the lineage. It is a great tool for those that are ready to move from enthusiastic gardener to zealous, non-hybrid vegetable seed gardener. However, for the rest of us Americans, we will probably plant our gardens with the seeds that were on the rack at the local stores and when they come up, if they come up, enthusiastically smile. Highly Recommended for the zealot, conditionally recommended for the rest of us.

This is a lovely book, full of practical advice, good ideas and useful tips. It's well written and easy to follow, perfect for anyone interested in adding stone to the garden or creating a garden in a stony site. But even those who may not have an application for the book will enjoy Dency Kane's gorgeous photographs. It's a great book for perusing and dreaming.

In Garden Stone: Creative Ideas, Practical Projects, And Inspiration For Purely Decorative Uses, gardening expert Barbara Pleasant has produced an impressive compendium of tips, tricks, techniques, suggestion, and original ideas for blending stone, plants, soil, water, and light to create gardens of enduring beauty and inspiration. The informative and practical text is wonderfully illustrated by Dency Kane's 250 full-color photographs of lush gardens and garden stonework taken from gardens throughout North America. More than forty different gardening projects are presented, along with instructional line drawings to complete stone projects in association with highlight plants that are especially effective when used in the company of stone. Garden Stone is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal and professional gardening reference collections.

It's not often you find a book that lives up to its cover blurb, but this one does. In it the author, who has restored and maintained some of England's most important gardens, shares his own garden and plant wisdom with the reader. The cover reads " The Garden Through the Year is an Invitation to stroll around the garden, season by season, month by month....The reader receives the benefit of Thomas's tremendous experience, delivered in the form of a conversation with an intimate friend." That, together with beautiful and relevant illustrations, are what you get in this book.

The author sets out to tell us which plants he treasures in his garden each month of the year and how they contribute, whether by flower, foliage or bark, to the beauty of the garden at that time of year. He throws in some suggestions to help us grow the plant more successfully.

Mr Thomas was about 90 years old when he wrote this book so we can honestly say he is sharing a lifetime of experience with us. His knowledge of plants and how they grow is profound and he has received almost all the chief honours of the horticultural world. The pleasure of this book is that his knowledge and experience are shared in such a conversational way, as if the reader was strolling around his garden with him and he was chatting about his plants. It's not often I feel enriched by a book, but this one both enriched me and made me feel more confident about my garden.

The Garden Through the Year is a beautiful and wonderful book. It would make an excellent addition to any serious gardener's own personal library. It would also make a terrific present for anyone you know who loves gardening.
I am writing this today, April 21, 03, on the day that I just heard that the author Graham Stuart Thomas just died. Thomas was easily one of the greatest of all the English garden writers. He wrote many marvelous books and in every one of them, his personality and vast experience shines brightly through.
This latest book is no exception to that rule of excellence in garden writing. I am a garden writer myself (Safe Sex in the Garden, Ten Speed Press)and I always appreciate extra good, extra informed garden writing. No one does it better than Graham Stuart Thomas. First, Thomas was an extraordinary gardener, in the finest tradition of English gardeners. In this book he brings in many new and exciting plants and always his writing is full of the best possible gardening advice. This is a very useful book for someone who is interested in how his/her garden might look (or could look!) in different seasons.
In my own back yard I have a large and beautiful yellow rose bush, a David Austin creation, called, 'Graham Thomas.' This rose smells wonderful, grows strongly, and has that old fashioned petal form that is a joy to see. Like the writer it was named for, the rose is a winner. If you have never had the pleasure of reading any Graham Thomas, buy this book and you'll be pleased. If you are already familar with his work, buy it also, and savor the high quality of an excellent book, probably the last one from the garden master, Graham Stuart Thomas.

The story is fun, the writing first class and the gardening essays made me want to race out and start planting. I will admit, however, that toward the end I did skip over the essays to follow the mystery line. My curiosity appeased, I was then eager to go back for the essays. I did read the paperback version and the cover doesn't do justice to the story or the writing. Also, one minor point. For me, Louise "felt" much older than forty and it threw me when references to her age were mentioned. I fear this is a publisher issue in that there is some fear readers won't want to read about a mature woman. Wrong! I don't know if this was actually the case or not, but it seems likely, and that is my only quibble with my first Louise Eldridge Mystery. This is a very talented writer with much to share with her readers and I thoroughly enjoyed the book!

After Ann Ripley so cleverly blended stories together in the first three Louise Eldridge stories, you think her ability to weave paths together in Death of A Political Plant couldn't be beat; then you read The Garden Tour Affair. The story changes the setting from the capital to the Litchfield Falls Inn in Connecticut. A quaint setting is the perfect foil for the hustle and bustle of the three first novels set in Washington. Our heroine Mrs. Eldridge takes the first major trip for her PBS show Gardening With Nature to a house of quarrel between members of the Seymour family. Halfway through, you'll think you have it all figured out, and then the story takes another twist. The fast paced action continues right up until the last page. Ripley can truly do it all, between her masterful storytelling ability to her knowledge of gardening and wonderful use of allusions in her literature. An entertaining read, the best so far from Ann! 5 stars.

Blend beautiful garden photos and quilt patterns and you have Garden Inspired Quilts, an impressive collection of twelve projects suitable for all quilter levels which offer quilters' journals of stepbystep techniques for translating garden designs to quilt styles. The flower photos are outstanding and the patterns quite useful.

The beautiful photography and unique quilts will inspire you!

This is one of my all time favorite books, I return to it time and again for ideas, ispiration and information. Andrew Lawson has written the definitive book on using color in the garden, there are wonderful examples of single color gardens, as well as using contrasting and co-ordinating colors with plants. He gives great suggestions for plants to use. The photographs in this book, taken by Lawson himself are superb. Every gardener will get something from this brilliant book.

Lawson does a better job of presenting and especially operationalizing color blending than any of ten books I looked at. He also consistently identifies what is in the glorious pictures. I am amazed by how many authors do not do this. It is an outstanding book for a beginner, that's me, to make a garden look like a pro did it, and for an experienced gardener to gain new perspectives and want to plant even more.

If you can get a copy of this book, do so. You'll be doing yourself a favor. This is an excellent book for pest identification in gardens. One caveat-DO NOT FOLLOW THE CONTROL RECOMMENDATIONS. This book was last published in 1976, and the controls are seriously outdated. However, it is still the best book for pest ID's in the garden or around the house available.

One of the basic books on serious gardener`s bookcases despite the outdated pesticide recommendations *which should not be followed*. Valuable because of the wide range of insect species described for many, many crops (everything from corn to rubber plants, sage to daisies, roses to lawn grasses) and the life cycle information included make this the best book I've found for figuring out rational methods for pest control. Few drawings, but good descriptions of the species`mean that this book should probably be used in conjunction with a good field guide, like Borror's _Insects_ volume (#19 in Peterson Field Guide Series). A publisher who would update and reissue this volume would be doing gardeners a big favor. Kay Lancaster

I live in a climate where the classic english garden of borders and meadows is unattainable. However, this book satisfies in many ways: as a souvenir of a visit, as a delicious geardening feast for the eyes, and as the story of one garden.

I was lucky enough to visit Sissinghurst in early summer and see one of her moods. This book introduces the other seasons and readily transports me when I am in the mood to think of faraway places, and need a bit of restful beauty in my reading life!

Could a British garden be taken seriously if it had no pleached limes, no white garden, no boxwood hedges? I should think not. Nor should any good book about important British gardens skimp on coverage of these features. This is not an issue for Tony Lord's Gardening at Sissinghurst.

Lord has photographed the garden in all seasons and in all kinds of flattering light. Where structure, foliage, and texture were important the light is diffuse. Where color makes the scene interesting, the light is warm, clear, and direct.

There's neither shortage of things to photograph nor of good photographs. Ten chapters are organized around specific garden regions: the rose garden, the lime walk, the cottage garden, the white garden, and so on. In each region the style of planting varies to match the theme. It's formal in the courtyards, less so in the cottage areas, and nearly wild in the orchard.

American gardeners in the northwest will be able to replicate the gardens thanks to watercolored plans by Frances Lincoln. Those in other parts of the country will have to reconsider plant selections. Limes, verbenas, boxes and lupines will have limited applicability outside the northwest. And in many of the drier parts of the US the lushness would not make sense. In all cases, though, the use of structure to create 'rooms' is relevant.

The text strikes a nice balance between talking about design aspects and discussing horticultural details. We get drawn into the scene, feeling at times like landscape architects and at others like master gardeners.

Who should buy this book? People interested in transforming outside spaces into interesting and vital living spaces, people who love good gardening photography, and people who plan to or wish they could visit the monumental English gardens of the early twentieth century.