The Exuberant Garden and the Controlling Hand: Plant Combinations for North American Gardens

Frederick ( 100 Great Garden Plants ) offers a great many guidelines and informative charts for budding and serious landscapers and garden designers with this book. Appendices, in the form of charts and lists, comprise half of it. The author distills his extensive professional knowledge into compilations of 600 plants, woody and herbaceous. Two master lists lead off, summarizing cultural preferences and design characteristics. Separate charts provide information on plants by shape, texture, soil and light requirements, color (of bark and stems, not just flowers) and uses--for structure; for seasonal interest (including bird and butterfly attractors). There are detailed charts on ground covers, which Frederick considers a unifying material that pulls a landscape together and underlies its focus. Preceding the appendices are chapters that cover specific landscapes Frederick has designed, including a delightful one for his mother's retirement home. Each illustrates design concepts and plant combinations for landscaping front yards, gardens, swimming pools and backyards (or ``live-in'' gardens, as he refers to them). Frederick's frame of reference and knowledge is the Northeast; he gives short shrift to those parts of the country in zones 8 and warmer. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)