cover image The White Garden

The White Garden

Diana Grenfell. Trafalgar Square Publishing, $24.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-943955-36-0

Grenfell and Grounds, garden designers and nursery keepers in England, here discuss the wish for a white garden--and its fulfillment. As they put it, ``Good gardens are always a marriage between the genius of the place and the aspirations of the garden-maker,'' and allow that even a white garden need not be white through and through to make its statement: white borders and white ``incidents'' can be voices enough in a carpet of green and other hues. The authors explore the elements of the white garden--white perennials, bulbs, shrubs, trees, climbing vines, roses and ferns, and silver and gray foliage as variations on a ``white'' theme. They also make conscientious forays into matters of design (town gardens, courtyard gardens, etc.). It's a pity, though, that amid all their conversational clarity, the uncredited photographs are reproduced badly: felicity falls prey to blurred images and wan palettes in pictures of famous British gardens at Hazelby House, Tintinhull and elsewhere. (Mar.)