An inspiring appreciation of what is uniquely American: the woodland garden. Living in a suburbanized Hickory-Oak savanna, Darke's study of the forest aesthetic and presentation of common natives one might consider installing in one's own garden provided me considerable insight. Typical of Timber Press books, the volume is generous in its presentation. Photographs abound. The photographic sequence of Darke's recurrent visits over an extended period to a specific natural area truly makes one see more attentively. This book is a cornerstone of my gardening library. In the dead of a Midwest American Winter it always makes me dream. ( )

Heralds a new kind of garden design, one based on ecology of natural woodlands & featuring multiple layers of native plants, both woody & herbaceous.

The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest, with text and photography by Rick Darke, looks at some uniquely American wooded landscapes and tries to help the reader interpret them for the home garden. This is a book based on the North American Eastern deciduous forest. It does not discuss the boreal forest or any Western woodland types. However, for almost half the United States - from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River - this book covers familiar natural forms and plants. Darke is primarily a photographer, and the pictures in this book are amazing. He is also a good writer, and the text does a nice job of describing what's happening in the photos.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is made of up four chapters: "A Forest Aesthetic," which discusses how a forest is "put together;" "Learning from a Woodland Stream," in which Darke looks shows one year's worth of photos of a specific stream and describes how the landscape changes with the seasons; "Designing the Woodland Garden," which starts to take the elements found in nature and "abstract" them to the home garden; and "Planting and Maintaining the Woodland Garden," with a few tips and tricks for installing the new garden (this was the weakest chapter of the book.). The second part is a plant encyclopedia, or as Darke calls it, "The Forest Palette." This section is arranged by Latin name, with trees, grasses, ferns and forbs all mixed together (generally I like it best when they each have their own section). There are beautiful photos of each plant with good descriptions that include the native habitat range and hardiness zone.

Overall, a beautiful book that offers some imaginative ideas for a natural woodland garden at home. ( )