A Year in My Garden

This beautiful, full-color, coffee-table book from Dutch garden and landscape designer van der Kloet is “not a diary, but rather a guide for readers to give them the feeling that they were being led by the hand to understand...what you do in a garden and what the garden does to you.” The book doesn’t follow a traditional calendar year; it begins in September and ends in August. Favorite plants are featured each month, such as purple plants in October, and white plants in January. Themes such as “Peace and Quiet” in July and “The Force of Nature” in March provide information on flowers such as hydrangea, phlox, and salvia. Of course, everything isn’t going to grow everywhere year round, and some type of zone guide for North American/non-European gardens would be helpful. The index is thorough, and the diagrams are easy to understand and practical.