Southern Living Landscape Book. Steve Bender, editor. Oxmoor House, Birmingham, Alabama, 2000. 416 pages. 81/4" 5 103/4". Publisher's price, soft cover: $29.95. AHS price: $23.96. Buy this book

One of a gardener's great frustrations is trying to find the information you want without having to flip through 10 or 12 books. New ideas, along with answers to gardening problems, abound in Taylor's Master Guide to Landscaping by Rita Buchanan.

If I had only one book to turn to for solutions on garden design and construction, plant care and maintenance, this would be the volume I'd buy. Buchanan covers all the basics on topics such as paving, retaining walls, steps, paths, and fences, but she tells you when you need to hire an expert rather than try the project yourself. "Only skilled stone masons can make dry-laid stone steps that look-and are-safe and stable to walk on," she advises.

Buchanan also steers homeowners away from materials such as pea gravel that look terrific in garden photographs but are truly impractical. "Anyone who has lived with it will tell you that uniform, round aggregate, such as pea gravel, is totally unsuitable for pavement because the particles continually roll, slip, and shift underfoot," she says. "This is annoying and tiring to walk on, even dangerous. Pea gravel is also hard to confine; it leaps across any edging."

Plant lists in this book are among the most useful and unusual I've ever encountered-plants with colored leaves, trees for small patios, shrubs for narrow hedges, plants that flower in hot weather, and much, much more. Tips on plant combinations plus basic design elements such as repetition, texture, contrast and color provide a comprehensive guide to garden design that will make anyone's landscape stand out.

The photographs in the book beautifully illustrate points made in the accompanying text, and the excellent drawings are very easy to understand.

Two new volumes from the publishers of Southern Living magazine and Sunset books will be helpful to gardeners living in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and southern regions of the country. Sunset's Northeastern Landscaping, edited by Ken Druse, and Southern Living's Landscape Book are similar in many ways: They contain many identical drawings and photographs, and the text in many sections of the two books varies only slightly, if at all.

Both of these volumes contain brief descriptions with many illustrative photographs and drawings of construction techniques and planting designs. The books are excellent for quick reference on plant topics such as wildflowers, ornamental grasses, bulbs, perennials, trees, shrubs, ground covers, and deer-resistant plants. There are some important differences between the two, however, and gardeners in regions that span the two areas may want to carefully consider the information they'll find most useful.

Northeastern Landscaping contains sections on wetlands, woodland gardens, winterizing water gardens, animal pests, and low-allergen plants that can reduce suffering for the millions who are susceptible to pollen. Southern Living's Landscape Book concentrates on many gardening features unsuitable up north: garden fireplaces, tropical plants, container gardens, and a more expansive treatment of water features. In addition, the Southern Living volume is filled with photographs of stunning gardens, each, in itself, an individual lesson in garden design.

Committed do-it-yourselfers and organic gardeners may prefer Catriona Tudor Erler's Complete Home Landscaping. This book includes useful details on managing plant pests and diseases without the use of pesticides; renovating existing trees, shrubs, and lawns; garden design; composting, weeding, and mulching. However, chapters on garden construction might better be titled "Complete Home Headaches." I wouldn't advise anyone to tackle masonry brick steps as a home landscaping project, let alone in the four simple steps illustrated on one page in this book. The author defines the task as "challenging," and she's certainly not kidding! Still, this could be a useful book for a homeowner who wants to understand the building process before hiring a professional landscape contractor.

-Jane Berger

Jane Berger is a writer and a partner in the Garden Design Group LLC of Alexandria, Virginia.

This book is a delight from beginning to end. It's a book of tales, all of them true, of recent immigrants and the gardens they have created. Transplanted from countries all over the world, these people now live and garden in Minnesota-a tremendous change of climate for most. These ordinary yet extraordinary people grow both ornamentals and edibles as links to the homes of their childhoods and the cultures they left behind. So do I; so do many gardeners who grew up in America. As British author L. P. Hartley wrote in his 1954 novel The Go-Between: "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

Growing Home is beautifully illustrated with John Gregor's color photos of gardens and gardeners. Charmingly, a photograph of the gardener as a child in his or her native land is also included where possible.

This is an excellent bedtime book; each chapter is complete in itself. Yet unifying the book are greater themes: the joy and peace found in the garden; the value of compost and gardening without dangerous chemicals; the garden as a way to pass one's heritage on to children. Another thought occurred to me as well. Patriotism in America these days is so often associated with guns and bombs. Growing Home reminds me of what gives us our greatest strength as a nation: the hybrid vigor we gain from the blend of cultures that is America.

"Culture is rooted in the land," explains Gita Kar, who came from India and now gardens with her husband, Pradip, in Minnesota. "When you are not in the land of your culture, where do you grow your roots? I think we began to grow our roots into our American reality with the permanence of our garden and the trees we planted and the changing of the seasons."

In addition to all this high-minded idealism, there are practical tips as well. Of Ludmila Bryskin, who moved here from Russia with her husband, Leonid, Davis writes, "She has learned that seeds will germinate very quickly if they are kept moist, wrapped in plastic, and carried close to her heart. 'The temperature is uniformly warm,' she [Ludmila] explained, 'and you soon forget they are there. Old ladies know that tip.'"

You will enjoy Growing Home. It will make an excellent gift; I've got it earmarked for three gardening friends already. It comes with my highest recommendation. m

-Nancy McDonald

Nancy McDonald writes about and tends her extensive gardens in Michigan's Upper Penninsula.

Gardener's Books

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 these and other books at a discount by clicking on "Buy This Book" at the end of each book listing.

Plants

This concise illustrated guide provides practical information on selecting, planting, training, and pruning clematis. Photographs show you how to propagate your own clematis from seed, cuttings, or layering. Step-by-step instructions for building a trellis for the vine and details of training clematis to form a globe are covered. An illustrated gallery of selections is arranged according to flowering time.

This book describes both familiar and rare species, some of which are only found in the wild. The book is comprised of three sections: Cultivation, botany, and classification, including a survey of all known species. Over 100 color photographs illustrate the range of ornamental characteristics offered by this genus. Keys are included to assist with identification; maps indicate the distribution of species in the wild.

written for gardeners, this book demonstrates how easily ferns can be used to enhance nearly every landscape. Rickard discusses how to select, grow, and propagate this diverse group of plants. Enhanced with more than 120 color photographs and 20 line drawings, the book focuses on both hardy species and those for cool conservatories. The alphabetical listing of ferns includes a description, site preference, and hardiness for each species covered.

Water Gardening

Complete Guide to Water Gardens. Kathleen Fisher. Creative Homeowner, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2000. 201 pages. Publisher's price, softcover: $19.95. AHS price: $17.95. Buy this book

A comprehensive guide to water garden design and installation, this book addresses both aesthetic and practical concerns. More than 400 color photographs and diagrams help illustrate design, construction, and maintenance. Details on building a pond's foundation, constructing streams and waterfalls, installing fountains and lighting, and incorporating bridges and stepping stones are included, as well as a useful encyclopedia of select aquatic plants.

Propagation

ALL you ever wanted to know about plant propagation can be found in this detailed guide to techniques and equipment used for propagating a wide variety of plants. Step-by-step instructions, illustrated with color photographs, are provided throughout.

Perennials

Ideal for novice gardeners, this book covers basic information on site selection, plant selection, buying plants, garden design, and care of perennials. It includes an encyclopedia of over 1,000 perennials arranged by purpose, such as ever blooming, moisture-loving, and fantastic foliage. Readers can go directly to the area that most interests them to find out more about each plant.