cover image Climbing Vines: Simple Secrets for Glorious Gardens

Climbing Vines: Simple Secrets for Glorious Gardens

Chronicle Books, Mimi Luebbermann. Chronicle Books, $12.95 (108pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-0723-4

Part of the publisher's Garden Style series, Luebbermann's book explores climbing vines from half a dozen different angles, discussing vines suitable for growing indoors, those that are colorful, fragrant and so on. Solid general information about planting, fertilizing, supporting, training, and other topics is offered in the beginning overview. In each topical chapter, a brief introductory discussion is followed by a disappointingly limited list (four to six varieties) of plants. Luebbermann offers competent instructions for planting and cultivating each species that she highlights, but information on hardiness zones is scant (the entry for wisteria, for example, reads simply ``Hardy''), necessitating additional reference material for those who want to follow through with her selections. A final caveat: the photographs are stunning, but many of them lack captions or labels. (Apr.)