COUNTING IN THE GARDEN

Textile designer Parker makes her debut with this horticulturally themed book that counts to 10, and every page seems designed to elicit an admiring "Oooo, pretttty." Dispensing with conventional garden reference points such as earth, sun and sky, she turns her spreads into two-dimensional bouquets, strewing blossoms, branches and vines of no fixed residence against crisp white space; the casual but firm elegance of the array would make Martha Stewart proud. There's a similar deliberate artlessness in her flower shapes, but her utterly luscious colors—lemon yellows, cantaloupe oranges, lipstick pinks and an evocative range of greens ranging from lime to deep avocado—lend the pages a genuine vibrancy and visual depth. After a few pages, the overall effect is not unlike looking at very nice wallpaper, and the numbers themselves, marked by the requisite number of garden- loving, fancifully-patterned critters bobbing and weaving among the greenery ("4 bunnies finding love in the shade," "5 dragonflies darting between the daisies") seem like an afterthought. For anyone who's slogged through a long, gray-brown winter, however, this may be just the ticket. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)