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The American Woodland Garden - Capturing the Spirit of the
Deciduous Forest
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The American Woodland Garden - Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest
Rick Darke
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| Pros |
• Rick Darke's book is part practical guide for creating that perfect woodland garden. He makes natural stocking recommendations down to the species level emphasizing "plants which can be grown with relative ease". Many of his recommended plants may already be in your "garden".
• Woodland Garden is part photographic essay that could be used as a companion to H. D. Thoreau and Anne Dillard prose. Darke is a master photographer of forested landscapes backed up by years of experience in horticulture. Believe it or not, Darke also has a gift for writing. Worth purchasing just for Darke's photos and philosophy!
• Darke's Woodland Garden gives readers unique insight on how forest landscape photos are composed. Although not a book on photography, Woodland Garden captures the essence of the forest aesthetic including Darke's interpretation of light, color and landscape composition. |
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| Cons |
• Some critics suggest the book avoids traditional gardening that promotes continuous floral display. Woodland Garden prefers "ecologically responsible gardening" that encourages natural flowering 'peaks'.
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The Bottom Line - Rick Darke's Woodland Garden creation is a most interesting read and excellent photo essay based on his thirty years of woodland observations. Darke captures in photography the essence of what Henry D. Thoreau wrote about Walden Pond and Anne Dillard saw at Tinker Creek. His photographic study of Pennsylvania's Red Clay Creek, which is included in Woodland Garden, is a similar classic exercise in observation and adds essential background information to everything else he writes.
Darke uses over 700 of his own color photographs to celebrate the forest's four seasons. His depictions of winter are equally beautiful when compared to the more colorful fall and spring. He totally and passionately represents in pictures the complete cycle of life but does prefer fall.
"Autumn is my clear favorite (season). No other season quite matches its color, pungency, or fleeting moods. And yet I'm certain I'd grow quite weary of it if it were a year-long constant."
This book would make a perfect gift for people, like my mother, who own an acre or two of eastern deciduous forest and constantly dream about making it look better.
(Hardback; Timber Press,Inc.)
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| Product Description |
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Published by Timber Press, Inc.
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ISBN 0-88192-545-4 |
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ExcerptsOn Acer, Maple- "I count maples among the best of flowering trees...I welcome the vibrant red and amber hues of red and silver maples as they suffuse the forest and woodland garden."
On Carpinus caroliniana, Ironwood- "Despite the insignificance or its flowers, ironwood, Carpinus caroliniana, is among the best small trees with four-season interest in the woodland landscape."
On Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf Hydrangea- "Oakleaf hydrangia, Hydrangea quercifolia, is easily the more alluring of two native eastern species, interesting in virtually every season."
On The Woodland Aesthetic- "Full of imperfect characters, such scenes are rich in story and visual appeal."
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