Plants for American Landscapes

Recalling paper dolls and their cut-out clothes, The Garden Pack by Sue Phillips (Well-Planned Garden) offers a three-dimensional planning kit with which gardeners can design and visualize their gardens. Included are a fold-out grid; cardboard plant cards representing 265 trees, shrubs and flowers; sheets representing ground covers; cut-outs for boundaries (walls, hedges and fences); and a soil testing kit. An accompanying book discusses sites, soil, light and moisture requirements and includes a plant directory. (Viking, $24.95 48p ISBN 0-670-86963-5; Nov.)