cover image Glorious Gardens to Visit in Northern California: 65 Gardens Within 3 Hours of San Francisco - From Mendocino to Carmel

Glorious Gardens to Visit in Northern California: 65 Gardens Within 3 Hours of San Francisco - From Mendocino to Carmel

Priscilla Dunhill. Three Rivers Press (CA), $16 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-517-88051-7

Dunhill and Freedman, who also collaborated on Glorious Gardens to Visit in and around New York, go west this time, choosing 65 choice spots from more than 180 surveyed not far from the city (and, of course, some inside it). Their commentary is pointed, informative, sometimes funny. ``Asilomar's spiritual environment is as assiduously pruned as its landscape,'' they say of a dune and pine stretch in the Monterey neighborhood, while in the haven of an ``agroecological research center'' run by the University of California-Santa Cruz, ``200 varieties of acacias and eucalyptus burst with frilly, fluffy, fuzzy fruits,'' and ``a tiger-striped cat snoozes on a Salvation Army sofa.'' These two are writers. They stir the senses and make you want even more than is provided, bringing to mind future trips and the various rewards of the long-lasting California growing season. They also vividly evoke gardeners--like Grace Marchant, ``an ex-Hollywood stuntwoman who retired to San Francisco in 1950 when the Filbert Street area was a city dump. She hauled off the debris and began planting.'' The rewards of gardening are human, as well as horticultural, and this guide is better than a guide--it's a stimulus. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)