Gardens Around the World: 365 Days

This book's novel approach to showcasing international gardens allows the author considerable freedom to display lovely photographs of widely varying scenes, while allowing readers to take each image literally one day at a time. Garden photographer Hales (The Fine Art of Flower Arranging; etc.) shares photos of more than 150 gardens from North America, Europe and Asia. He arranges the gardens alphabetically, from The Abkhazi Garden in Victoria, British Columbia (on January 1), to A Zelun Garden, in Chengdu Province, China (on December 31). Although the gardens don't seem to overtly correspond with the dates, their day by day positioning may help readers appreciate the photographs more slowly and carefully. Some gardens receive numerous pages (for five days in late August, Hales focuses on Portugal's Quinta da Bacalhoa gardens), while others appear only once (such as Jones Wood Garden in New York City and The Elizabeth Lawrence Garden, in Charlotte, North Carolina). Each image appears full-bleed on a right-hand page, and brief commentary accompanies it on the left-hand page. Green thumbs and non-gardeners alike should find enjoyment in these calming, inspiring vistas.