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Rating: 
Summary: Impressions of "The Woodland Garden"
Review: This book focuses on the design and structure of woodland gardens. Content describes the layers of groundcover, upper story and middle layer. Extensive lists of appropriate plants with zone and cultivation information are provided and are very useful. I found the book a great help in thinking about my shady woodland area, and inspiring in terms of design ideas. The focus is on general principles of woodland design rather than giving diagrams to follow. There are some pictures of plants, but I would have preferred more pictures of general woodland scenes. I have read sections over & over and continue to find it enjoyable and useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough but dull
Review: This is an updated version of a book that first appeared in 1999. It contains a great deal of well organized information presented in an attractive format. While much of the information is based on experience in the Pacific Northwest, it has validity for other areas too.The writers are well-known and respected in the Pacific Northwest. They start by discussing the design of the woodland garden on various sites, and then offer ideas for building and developing the garden. This is followed by a chapter each on the canopy, understory, woodland floor and climbing plants. Each chapter concludes with plant lists. There follows a chapter on planting, pruning and maintenance and a list of the authors' favourite plants. There are pleasant colour photographs, black and white designs for gardens and sketches of rock placements. The writers are knowledgeable and thorough but the writing tends to be dry and tedious to plough through. Other writers have addressed the topic in a much more readable style. I found no inspiration here - just text book-type info.
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