The year's best garden books

Many gardeners are in their element when growing things, but don't feel as confident of their landscape-design ability. In The Well-Designed Mixed Garden (Timber Press, 460 pp., $39.95), Tracy DiSabato-Aust takes the reader by the hand to make the planting of beds and borders (those that include shrubs and trees, as well as flowers) so foolproof that anyone can do it. She walks readers through each step of the design process, then shows how to achieve whatever look is desired. She also lists plants by their design characteristics (from flower color and time of bloom to form and texture). Best of all, the advice is all from DiSabato-Aust's own vast experience. You'll find that her tips work as well in your yard as in hers. Owning a copy of this book is like having 24-hour daily access to a talented landscape designer.

It's often discouraging to see photographs of gorgeous gardens in books and magazines and not receive any information on how they got that way (and how you can create something similar). In Water Features for Small Gardens: From Concept to Construction (Timber Press, 174 pp., $29.95), Keith Davitt perfectly balances the art of designing a water garden with the practical aspects of how to achieve what he has shown is possible. Davitt introduces us to all kinds of water features - waterfalls, natural pools, formal pools, tub gardens, fountains, streams, wall fountains, and bogs among them. Once we've fallen under the spell of the beautiful photographs, then he explains (and, when necessary, shows in a diagram) how to build them in your yard.

I would trust and buy any garden book simply on the strength of Frances Tenenbaum's name on the cover. This legendary editor knows her stuff when it comes to horticulture, and she knows how to package the information in the way that's most useful for readers.

Taylor's Guides Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (Houghton Mifflin, 447 pp., $45) is no exception. It's the reference guide that should be on the bookshelf of everyone who grows anything.

Written for and by North Americans (no warmed-over British advice), it's packed with plant descriptions, how-to-grow directions, and plenty of photos that will help you identify a plant you already own or discover one that isn't in your yard, but ought to be.

If you're looking for a stocking stuffer for a gardening enthusiast, consider two little books. For those who enjoy pithy sayings and Mary Engelbreit's colorful drawings, there's Words for Gardeners to Live By (Andrews McMeel, 96 pp., $12.95).

The Little Book of Slugs, edited by Allan Shepherd and Suzanne Galant (Centre for Alternative Technology, 115 pages, $7.95), is filled with British gardeners' advice on ridding the yard of the slimy creatures. It's funny as well as practical, but a word of advice: Don't dip into it before you sit down to lunch.

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