American Border Gardens

There are a lot of books presenting a bunch of gardens with photos and descriptions. But these "garden examples" books can interest even the best-read gardener, provided the book is technically competent, relevant to one's garden situation, and not covering famous gardens already well known to the reader. For temperate-zone Eastern gardeners, at least, this book should meet all three requirements. The book has unusually good photographs, and also includes more or less complete planting maps for each garden (partials on some of the largest gardens). This is possible because its 18 gardens are given an average of just over 6 pages each (generally 4 for photos, 2 for planting map and plant list) in a fairly large book format (10" square). The featured gardens are all in Southern New England or New York, zones 4 - 7. Most of the gardens look eminently achievable; there is no tendency to extravagant use of difficult, rare, tender or even annual plantings. These are mostly private gardens created by older couples -- often with the aid of garden designers -- or gay couples on their own (why do they get all the artistic talent?). We also read of the various owners' practical considerations (uses and microclimates) and theories of garden design, which are worth considering and interesting especially in conjunction with the finished product, regardless of whether you might agree with them. Sadly, this is Ms. Fleischmann's only gardening book. --David Pittelli http://www.woodedpaths.blogspot.com/