"Revolution" might seem rather a strong term for landscaping practices that place wildlife benefits and resource conservation on at least equal footing with aesthetics and tradition. And yet the revolution is afoot. It is native plants and biodiversity versus the tyranny of turf. Vive la Revolution!

Most Americans believe that the lawn has always been the central element in the landscape. In fact, the lawn has only been a fixture for commoners since the 1930s, albeit a well-entrenched fixture worth $27 billion annually in products and services.

For many eager horticultural revolutionaries, 1994 was a turning point in the intellectual battle for the American landscape, with naturalists, water conservation planners, and others cheering the arrival of Virginia Scott Jenkins' The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession (Smithsonian Institution Press), which provided a scholarly and compelling critique and history of landscaping myopia and environmental abuse. Now, Andy and Sally Wasowski have produced a conversational-and sometimes comic-study on the forces of change in American landscaping. From the author of Requiem for a Lawnmower, we have a delightful and lighthearted romp beyond the sea of grass and into the heart of the native plant and xeriscaping movements.

Is it any wonder? With dwindling groundwater reserves in the American heartland, cyclical droughts, and mandatory watering restrictions on the one hand, and Code Red Smog Alerts restricting the use of lawnmowers and backpack leafblowers on the other, our revered lawns are falling somewhat out of favor. In addition, we find the biodiversity of spaceship Earth shrinking with each day as habitat is cleared, developed, and paved over.

Part of the solution rests in America's yards and gardens through the use of a full range of natural landscaping practices. The authors tackle issues such as exotic invasive plants, homogenized landscapes, and peer pressure in a tone both jaunty and familiar. They recognize that even important changes in behavior take time, and that most people have inherited a bulldozed landscape that cannot be undone overnight.

The Landscaping Revolution provides graduated steps, or "scenarios," that guide and inspire remedial efforts to restore natural vitality and balance to the most white-bread of landscapes. Moreover, the book is filled with case studies of revolution: truly heartening sidebar profiles of adventurous gardeners who have successfully lobbied and fought against the turf-only paradigm in numerous North American municipalities.

Like most true revolutions, the conflict for proper land use and self-determination is political as well as philosophical. Decades-old ordinances and weed laws, right-of-way maintenance policies, and strict community covenants are just a sample of the social and political challenges the revolution must overcome. Happily, the Wasowskis' wry approach is empowering and entertaining and the tales of successful "landscape revolutionaries" interwoven throughout the book offer many choices for very personal landscaping revolutions that can and must be undertaken by all gardeners of conscience.

-Joseph M. Keyser

Joseph M. Keyser is the education specialist for the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection in Maryland; he also writes the "Green Man" garden column for the county's Gazette newspapers.

This book might also be aptly subtitled: "The Bold and The Beautiful." As American gardeners have grown more confident, experienced, and freed from the shackles of formal English borders, they've discovered a world of big leaves and bright colors that stand up to the heat, humidity, and searing sun of a North American summer. This book is an excellent introduction, with equal amounts inspiration and detailed how-to advice.

Even gardeners who espouse a more "natural" look but who remember the unrelenting heat of the summer of 1999 might search profitably here for plants that thrive in high temperatures instead of turning to mush.

Whether you're ready to jump in with both feet or merely dip a toe, Hot Plants tells you how to bring a touch of the tropics to temperate climates. The authors visited and photographed gardens as far north as Vermont, south to South Carolina, and west to Washington. Some of the gardeners have clearly embraced the look, while others have used tropical notes to add vitality, especially in late summer and fall, when gardens dependent on hardy perennials often look worn out. Although they interviewed many gardeners, much of the experience related here is firsthand: Roth is an award-winning writer, photographer, and avid gardener; Schrader is a designer, nurseryman, and owner of a wholesale greenhouse.

The book is divided into two sections. The first provides the inspiration: gorgeous photographs of entire gardens and smaller vignettes, a bit of history, and plenty of design advice. A chapter on container planting provides perhaps the best entrée for gardeners who are not sure how or where to start. Another chapter looks at hardy plants that provide a tropical effect with their enormous leaves or exotic profiles.

The chapter on winter survival techniques is worth the price of the book. Tropicals by definition don't make it through the winter outdoors in much of North America, but it turns out that a greenhouse isn't necessary to get dormant plants through the winter. And you don't need a gardening staff to manage them-although a good sturdy hand truck is probably an excellent investment if you plan to move heavy containers into the basement in the fall and back outdoors in the spring. The advice is detailed, specific and do-able.

The second section is an encyclopedia of plants, with descriptions, advice on use, and cultural instructions for each entry. There's also a detailed list of sources for tropical plants and tropical-looking hardy plants. The authors freely admit they have not exhausted the possibilities, but concentrated on plants they know and have grown, plants that perform reliably even in less than tropical climates.

-Renée Beaulieu

Renée Beaulieu is a horticulturist and editor at White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut. She invested in a hand truck to move containers to her basement years ago.

My love affair with old gardening magazines began when I ran across some very early issues of Sunset magazine at a garage sale. The pages were yellowed and smelled faintly of the cedar-lined closet where they'd been stored for years. The advertisements championed long-extinct seed catalogs. But the gardening articles were as fresh and interesting as anything I read today.

Virginia Tuttle Clayton unearthed a treasure trove of such magazines when she was doing research at the Library of Congress. As she paged through some of the most popular magazines from the first four decades of the 20th century, including House Beautiful, Ladies' Home Journal, and Scribner's Magazine, she realized that she'd found an uncommonly good collection of garden writing, one that was worth sharing.

The authors collected in this anthology-including such well-known names as Louise Beebe Wilder and Grace Tabor, as well as scores of unknown and anonymous contributors-quote poetry, debate fiercely over the geranium's status as a crashing bore or a mainstay of the garden, and insist that one's annual purchase from the rose catalog can be kept to a reasonable nine dollars and twenty-five cents. Some articles offer practical advice on the right kinds of plants for poolside or the virtues of a moonlight garden. Others muse about the proliferation of window gardens in New York (citing a florist who wished New Yorkers would stay in town long enough to let nasturtiums grow in summer) or make an impassioned plea for more blue in the flower garden.

It is comforting and also bemusing to learn that gardeners' concerns have changed very little over the last 50 to 100 years. Garden writers then, as now, make the case for letting a little wilderness take over the garden; native plants were championed, as were wild meadows. A writer in 1921 reflected on her grandmother's hollyhock-festooned garden with as much nostalgia as we feel looking back on gardens of the 1920s. And any modern gardener will sympathize with Barbara Cheney, who wrote in 1936 that the visitors to her garden were more interested in bragging about their own horticultural triumphs than admiring hers.

The Once & Future Gardener is the very best kind of armchair garden reading: It is intimate, funny, informative, and a fascinating historical read all at once. The book is divided into seven major sections, including "The Philosophical Gardener," "A Year in the Garden," and "Flower Garden Design." A series of color plates shows off some of the most beautifully illustrated magazine covers of the day, and black-and-white photographs accompany many of the articles, as they did when the articles were first published. Clayton provides brief introductions to each author at the beginning of the article, noting who worked as a lawyer and gardened on weekends, and who gained notoriety as the most widely-read garden writer of the day.

Louise Beebe Wilder wrote about old-fashioned gardens in 1921, and she could have been describing the old-fashioned garden articles collected in The Once & Future Gardener when she praised "the charm of their settled repose, their unaffected simplicity, and their inviting livableness." I highly recommend this delightful collection. -Amy Stewart

Gardeners in hot climates may well gasp in relief after reading Tom Peace's Sunbelt Gardening: Success in Hot-Weather Climates. Most of us southern and southwestern gardeners should be familiar with Peace's central theme by now, but some of us need to be told again: When temperatures soar in the peak summer months, you should be sitting in the shade, enjoying the fruits of work performed in the cooler seasons-not planting, weeding, or fretting over the latest insect invasion.

Peace, a garden designer and nurseryman, understands that it takes more than a glance at the USDA Hardiness Zone map to garden successfully in the South and Southwest. A knowledgeable plantsman, he makes useful suggestions for maintaining color, beauty and harmonious design in the garden all year long-something that is more problematic for our neighbors to the north. His concept of garden "time sharing"-designing and planting beds with plants that give way to others as the season progresses-is particularly useful to those with small spaces. He thoroughly explores the possibilities-beyond pansies and flowering kale-that southern and southwestern winters offer. He argues persuasively for making the most of the cooler months, despite the threat of the occasional freeze.

Peace presents the material in three main sections: cool season gardening throughout the southern latitudes; the hot, humid conditions of the Southeast; and the hot, arid and windy conditions of the Southwest. Along the way he discusses soil conditions, microclimates, and appropriate plant material-both exotic and native.

Peace writes in a rather relaxed, informal style that is nevertheless information packed. In fact, it might have been helpful to the busy gardener if the editors had cut a bit of the prose and provided some charts and sidebars for quicker retrieval of some of the information. Abundant photographs-most of them by Peace himself-supplement the narrative, and are both useful and inspiring.

This book is not for the lazy gardener. Gardening successfully in the Sunbelt requires taking the initiative to learn about one's climate and soils, as well as the limitations and opportunities presented by one's garden site. To garden year round, as Peace advocates, requires strong commitment. But the appeal will be there for those of us who prefer to spend torrid summers enjoying our gardens from a shady vantage point as we dream of the cool season and the possibilities ahead.

-Linda Thornton

Freelance writer, editor, and avid gardener Linda Thornton lives in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

The books listed here have not been critically evaluated; they have been chosen for description based on unusual subject matter or substantive content. Through a partnership with Amazon.com, AHS members can order books at a discount by linking to Amazon.com through the Society's Web site at www.ahs.org.

Roses

This comprehensive guide gives the reader in-depth information about the history of roses, botanical details, incorporating roses into the garden, and planting and nurturing roses. A detailed "Rose Atlas" covers 200 rose selections for any garden. Hundreds of color photographs depict roses in archways, in perennial gardens, in floral arrangements, and even in recipes.

Tony Lord shows gardeners how to choose, use, and cultivate roses in Designing with Roses. More than 100 color photographs depict beautiful gardens, such as The Queen's garden at Sudeley Castle, the Peacock Garden at Warwick Castle, the Roseraie at L'Haÿ-les-Roses, and the Bagatelle in Paris. The versatility of the rose and its use in various settings, from the urban terrace to the kitchen garden, is explored. A detailed directory of recommended rose varieties for each purpose and site is included.

Using this book as a guide, homeowners can give their yards a facelift. Step-by-step instructions show how to clean up wooded areas, plant trees and shrubs, reshape planting beds, fix or construct walkways, rejuvenate decks, and add outdoor lighting. Over 200 color photographs and illustrations show "before" and "after" pictures of yards that have been made over.

The focus of this book is on small garden spaces and providing design solutions for modest outdoor plots. Color photographs and illustrations depict 30 gardens designed by 20 noted landscape architects. These gardens from all over the country demonstrate how small garden spaces can be made to appear larger through the use of such devices as screens and terraces. This guide offers a multitude of ideas to gardeners working in confined spaces.

Travel

This guidebook to West Coast gardens includes gardens from San Diego to Vancouver. Each garden is described in detail with a section for directions and visiting information. Included are winery gardens in California's Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties, plus a host of nurseries with beautiful display gardens. West Coast Garden Walks is a great resource of travelers throughout California and the northern Pacific States.

Edible Gardening

The Edible Garden Series demonstrates how a large variety of delicious vegetables can be grown in even modest gardens. In addition to detailed growing information, these new books are filled with color photographs and culinary tips. A large recipe section offers instructions for making a variety of appetizers, soups, salsas, salads, side dishes, and main dishes.

Perennials

this comprehensive encyclopedia describes and illustrates 136 genera of herbaceous perennials. Each listing includes several species and many cultivars along with excellent color photographs. The author's extensive experience is evident in his commentary and observation. A section on "Selected Plants for Specific Characteristics or Purposes" lists the best choices for cut flowers, drought tolerance, flower color, fragrance, ground covers, foliage, or fruits.

Summer Reading

The origins and concepts of the Arts and Crafts movement, which began in the mid-18th century, are examined in this thought-provoking book, which includes outstanding photographs by the author. Darke explains that while no particular style defines an Arts and Crafts garden, a reverence for natural patterns and processes, concern for quality craftsmanship, and respect for traditions and place were concepts integrated into each design. Gardens in both England and the United States are featured. Includes an appendix listing product suppliers, books for further reading, and places to visit.

Over 100 selections from Lacy's eight-year-old newsletter, "Homeground," are presented in this new book. The collection of writings springs from the author's 30 years of gardening experience at his home in New Jersey, which he has transformed from a small suburban lot into a landscape that includes woodland, cottage, container, and deck gardens. In addition to his lively reflections about individual plants, the author discusses the seasons, botanical history, Latin pronunciations, and weather predicting. Black-and-white line drawings are interspersed throughout.