There`s not a scintilla of nitty-gritty gardening advice in ”Moments in Eden” (Little, Brown, 144 pages, $40 hard-cover), Richard Brown`s
photographic tribute to some of the world`s loveliest horticultural havens. There are no planting particulars to be had here, no tips on turning your own back yard into a glorious riot of vivid color or a pastel palette. Instead,
”Moments in Eden” offers inspiration via 89 gorgeous color photos of gardens around the world, from a field of wildflowers in California`s Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve to the formal, statue-dotted terraces of Wales` Powis Castle or the understated serenity made manifest in the garden of Japan`s Tenjuan temple.
The Vermont-based Brown, who specializes in photos of landscapes and rural life, sees gardens as a reflection of ”man`s earthly and universal search for a paradise regained” and his trusty battery of Nikons as the means of capturing forever those ”times when a garden might reveal itself, moments that show its genius, its cultural spirit, its whimsical or sedate nature.
”Gardens are magical places, and eventually, often mysteriously, a garden will disclose its human creator`s vision of an attainable earthly paradise,” he notes in the book`s introduction. ”In the brief instant the shutter is open, I will try to capture these moments in Eden.”
The gardens, window boxes and bits of statuary that Brown chooses to celebrate are by no means always off the beaten path. Some, such as Monet`s house and garden at Giverny, France, and Georgia`s Callaway Gardens, have proved irresistible to countless photographers and turned up in a number of glossy garden books, but Brown`s treatment of them avoids the cliche in favor of new angles and approaches. The photographs are accompanied by a dozen brief, descriptive essays.
If your idea of paradise is a garden that smells as wonderful as it looks, Rosemary Verey`s charming ”The Scented Garden” (Random House, 168 pages, $24.95 hard-cover) provides authoritative, detailed advice on everything from plant selection to using the fragrant floral and herbal bounty in recipes, natural cosmetics and skin lotions, and the ever-popular potpourri.
Verey, a veteran garden writer, is English-”The Scented Garden” was, in fact, originally published in Britain in 1981-but, unlike many English garden writers, she takes North American climates into account in her plant recommendations. Along with horticultural advice, Verey includes a good deal of fascinating historical information about fragrant plants and a brief chemical breakdown of various scents.
”Of course, it is not necessary to study the makeup of the scented compounds in order to plant a scented garden,” she hastens to add. ”You can simply be aware of their presence, and enjoy them.” This attractive book, illustrated with nostalgic drawings and contemporary color photographs, also includes whimsical information on the traditional meaning of various scented flowers for those who want to send a message with their bouquets. (But will the cad who receives your carefully chosen bouquet of narcissus, stephanotis and yellow lilies realize that you`re telling him loud and clear in the
”language of flowers” that he`s a duplicitous, boastful egomaniac?)
Arranging flowers quickly and confidently is the theme of Jane Newdick`s
”The Five-Minute Flower Arranger” (Crown, 88 pages, $15.95 hard-cover), which pairs full-page color photos of arrangements with instructions for duplicating them in your own home.
”Unless you positively enjoy the therapy of slowly building up a flower arrangement bit by bit and carefully adapting every branch and stem to fit precisely where you planned, you will find five minutes sufficient time for most arrangements,” maintains Newdick, who writes frequently about flower arranging for Good Housekeeping and Country Living magazines. ”You may not finish up with a complicated Dutch master of a vase-full, but you will have something good to look at and a fresh idea.” Among Nedick`s simplest suggestions: Make the most of a few flowers by putting each bloom in a separate container, such as a wineglass, and displaying them in a row. Or, for those ”too nervous” to arrange flowers in a vase, wrap tulip stems in damp wadding and then in shiny gold foil and deposit the wrapped bouquet on a low table or windowsill for a look of casual elegance.
