Designing and Planting the Woodland Garden: Plants and Combinations That Thrive in the Shade

Wiley, head gardener at the Garden House in Devon, U.K., explores the secrets and wonders of woodland gardening. These shade-loving magical miniature landscapes meander from one ecosystem to another, all under a protective canopy of the woods. The wonder of woodland gardening is that it looks like plants grow themselves there. After reading this book and following its guidelines, gardeners can make that happen. Wiley highlights the multilayered complexity of developing horticulture in the woods: for example, determining if the growing environment is grassy or sandy, humid or dry, sun or shady. Each of these variations has distinctive characteristics that affect the development of a sustainable understory and canopy. The helpful garden designs and diagrams (such as how to plant a tree), along with hundreds of color photographs, facilitate choosing perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs, tubers, and ferns. Gardeners, who are dreamers, writes Wiley, can dream that, once established, this magical garden will in fact grow itself. (Dec.)