Evening Gardens

This inspiring book will change the way you look at your garden after dark. It is an excellent book for those starting out down the gardening path, or those looking to expand a garden or collection of gardens. Clearly explaining the how to's and why's of planting an evening garden, Ms Barash invites and encourages you to plant a magical evening garden of your own.

If you want a different kind of garden, this is the book for you. While the focus is on evening gardens, information is given that would be useful for shade gardening or gardens that place more emphasis on color, shape and texture than usual.Chapters include: textured bark, flowers aglow at sunset, bright flowers, white flowers, night bloomers, silver foliage and fragrant plants. There are also sections on lighting and sample garden layouts.Each plant description is several paragraphs long, usually containing a brief history of the plant, sometimes distinctions drawn between species, useful care instructions and often a photograph. There is a good index and a 6-page resources section which gives very good information on where to buy lights, seeds, plants and bulbs, and suggestions for further reading.A very useful book indeed.

I'll be honest...a devoted gardener I am not. But this book has given me a new viewpoint toward the art of landscaping. Basing her theory on the assumption that working folks simply don't have the opportunity to see their planting artworks during the day, the author makes us look at the evening garden instead. I certainly walked away from this book with a whole different outlook, specifically lighting, colour, placement, and sculpture. Most importantly, this book gave me the confidence to go out and try something new. Let the rest of the world hire landscapers to have look-a-like gardens. I shall focus on the gloaming.