Garden in Winter

Readers have come to expect great things from Verey ( The Englishwoman's Garden ; The American Woman's Garden ), and her new offering won't disappoint. ``If our gardens are to be more than graves commemorating summer's beauty, we must start by using our eyes,'' she urges. Working with the express purpose of getting gardeners to look at ``each tree or shrub as one thread in a twelve-month tapestry,'' Verey persuasively describes paths, vistas, corners and even planters that will bring winter's ``extraordinary intensity'' of color, its ``architectural form,'' its characteristic clarity of pattern and its pungent scents to fruition in a season that most gardeners forget or despair of. Since she has consulted gardeners in this country, the author's British orientation is not limiting; her directory of 150 plants for winter gardens is zoned for our climates. Some species and hybrids are American natives, and many figure in her handsome full-color photographs. Verey's book is a delightful one to read by the fire or take along on a ramble through one's own backyard. (Nov.)