Book Reviews

Fallscaping
By Nancy J. Ondra & Stephanie Cohen / Photography by Rob Cardillo
Storey Publishing,
(240 pages, $22.95 paperback, $32.95 hardcover)

Fall is a woefully neglected season in the ornamental garden. Despite the cooling temperatures, autumn is a time when many plants actually look their best. Philadelphia-area authors Nancy Ondra and Stephanie Cohen do a fine job illustrating that fact in Fallscaping—Extending Your Garden Season into Autumn.

Beyond flowers, fall provides gardeners with bright berries and seed-heads, as well as a vast assortment of foliage colors and textures to choose from. This book offers advice on a large palette of plants that do well in autumn and offers tips on how to combine them to best effect. Although the authors are best known for their expertise on garden perennials, they also offer ample information on trees, shrubs, and vines. And for lovers of fruiting plants, there’s a colorful section on viburnums, Japanese beauty berries, roses, chokeberries and more.

One can appreciate the sample garden designs that are here, too, complete with “shopping lists” and color combinations. A section on planting for birds is another nice addition (don’t forget to plant coneflowers, asters, and goldenrod for our feathered friends), along with tips on deadheading and grooming your garden for winter.

All told, Fallscaping is a stunner, both for its practical information and lively design. Add to that the knockout photographs of camera ace Rob Cardillo, and you have a simply terrific gardening book. Indeed, it’s one of the best we’ve seen this year. —Tim Smith

The Herb Society of America’s Essential Guide to Growing & Cooking with Herbs
Edited by Katherine K. Schlosser
Louisiana State University Press
(349 pp., $29.95)

Here at Green Scene, review copies of
new gardening books frequently come across our desks. There have been many that I’ve wanted to take home, either because of their gorgeous photos, helpful information, or stimulating topics. But this is the first one that has made me, well, hungry. The Herb Society of America’s Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking
with Herbs, edited by Katherine K. Schlosser, is as appetizing as it is authoritative.

The book was published as a fundraiser for the beautiful National Herb Garden at the United States National Arboretum, which the Herb Society of America was instrumental in creating. It contains cultivation tips for each of the 63 herbs growing in the Herb Garden’s Culinary Garden, as well as a history of each plant and suggestions for use.

The final section gives information about the themed areas of the National Herb Garden with complete plant lists. But the real fun is in the middle of the book, where you’ll find recipes submitted by Herb Society of America members from all over the country. These range from lemon verbena muffins to turkey tenderloins with lingonberry rosemary sauce to lavender raspberry cheesecake. There is also a section on sauces, blends, and “extras” such as rose petal jam. The final word on this book is simply, “Yum!” —Jane Carroll