The Border in Bloom: A Northwest Garden Through the Seasons

Rating:
Summary: Very good regional guide for the experienced gardener.
Review: This book could also be used to advantage by gardeners in coastal areas of northern California. Lovejoy takes one through the calendar in a Northwest garden, detailing flowers and shrubs in bloom and garden tasks appropriate to the season. She includes lots of recommendations for design combinations and mentions of unusual plants - with clues in an appendix about where to locate them. Ideas on siting and caring for plants specific to our cool rainy winters/cool dry summers are also valuable. The book contains a through-the-seasons planting guide for a 20' x 40' garden, parts of which could be abstracted for almost any border, large or small. This book is chattier and more personal than some of Lovejoy's more recent works, which I find charming. Drawbacks: 1) The book was apparently put together from a series of separate essays, which occasionally shows - transitions are not always smooth from one chapter to the next. 2) Lovejoy gardens in the warmest part of the Puget Sound area, and her plant picks reflect that - it would be nice if she had included more information on hardiness zones, at least for the more marginal varieties. That said, this will join my collection of indespensable references for my zone 7 Pacific Northwest garden.