The Garden Gate

Together, these books make up the Library of Garden Detail, a cleverly packaged series that concentrates on the ``small'' elements that can make a big difference in the design of gardens. Miniature themselves, the volumes are beautifully photographed and exquisitely designed: what with their bordered pages and intimate-scale pictures, browsing is like walking through minute herbaceous enclaves. Unfortunately, the books aren't as good as they look. The introductions are all well penned by writers well known in the U.S. and the U.K.; preliminary text is often very successful in terms poetic, practical and historic. But the remaining contents--organized blandly, shallow in scope--simply don't deliver the charm and information promised. With the exception of The Garden Trellis , which may have won its more creative approach because its subject is more abstract, the tiny tomes read like catalogues--but are less fun. (Jan.)