The Bottom Line
- This is a subject not often given its due in gardening books
- The accompanying photos illustrate the featured attributes well
- Wonderful quotes are interspersed with the text
- The photos are very good, but there should have been more, especially landscape views
- The layout of the text made it difficult to skim, when I had a specific question
Description
- Concisely covers growth and culture, design attributes and features particular cultivars.
- Discusses how to view the ‘Total Package’ when evaluating and appreciating woody plants.
- Covers winter considerations, like the effect of softer sunlight on the textures/colors of plants.
- Nice section on “Appreciating Our Big Trees”. Photos of leafless oaks are among the most riviting.
- Leaves us with his choice for the Top 15 Woody Plants for 4 Seasons Interest.
Guide Review - Garden Book - Wonders of the Winter Landscape, by Vincent A. Simeone
Everyone who studies garden design knows a garden needs structure and bones. Knowing this and putting it into practice are two different things. Mr. Simeone has used his time as Director of Long Island’s Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park to gain considerable insight into the subtle changing wonder of trees and shrubs and how best to feature them in a garden. This is what he shares with us in his book. It is the kind of knowledge you can only get from someone who has spent many seasons observing trees and shrubs and the encyclopedic structure of this book is liberally sprinkled with personal asides.
Many varieties are listed and discussed, but there is an underlying context that these plants are not to be thought of as specimens or the occasional shade tree, but as integral parts of a landscape, especially in winter. Conifers and broadleaf evergreens are, of course, discussed. But emphasis is put on decidious trees and shrubs and "...the elegance of plants with leaves and fruits that grab attention against the gray winter sky..."
