Beautiful American Vegetable Gardens

Rating:
Summary: A book of gardening dreams fulfilled
Review: Beautiful American Vegetable Gardens, by Mary Tonetti Dorra takes you into a bucolic fantasy of enthralling design and impressive maintenance. These gardens were created to feed the eye as well as the stomach. It is filled with alluring photographs by Steve Elting, who captures the romance and variety of these splendid plots along with their abundant fruit. It is also filled with practical information on cultivation and design. There is no vegetable patch that wont profit from the experience, advice and sources shared by Dorra in her clear and unpretentious style The two dozen gardens range from magnificent to manageable, and cover all the geographic areas of the United States.

Rating:
Summary: Is this about American or French vegetable gardens?
Review: I was hoping this book would celebrate beautiful homegrown American vegetable gardens...like the kind you find by chance in a neighbor's backyard. Instead this book focused on the gardens of the rich and famous, which were mainly designed by landscape professionals, and highly influenced by the French. The pictures in this book failed to show me one vegetable garden that was truly breathtaking. Worst of all, most of the gardeners had professional assistants to maintain their gardens. This book is a waste of time and money- I absolutely hated it. Please don't waste your time or money on this book. Instead buy the House Beautiful Garden design book (on sale)...granted these gardens were also professionally designed by wealthy homeowners- they are beautiful to look at, and you can find some inspiration for your own home- plus it's much less patronizing than the Vegetable book.