Gardens Lovely In Fall, Too

Fri., Nov. 17, 2000

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Through summer, the brilliant hues of blooming geraniums, petunias and marigolds paint many gardens. Autumn gardens, though, tout the muted shades of burgundy and gold and brown — more subtle, but in some ways a richer visual landscape.

While many gardening books focus on the summer show, a new book captures what happens in the garden after the dog days of August.

Photographs of foggy gardens littered with fallen leaves and of frost-coated plants fill “Autumn Gardens.” While photographer Jonathan Buckley included a few photos of fall-blooming purple asters and chrysanthemums and white and yellow daisies, the book is not about flowers. Rather, it encourages appreciation of the other aspects of the garden — the texture and hues of tree bark, the plants that don’t bloom and the fall foliage.

“Autumn Gardens” will make gardeners long for the respite brought on by early September frosts, which end the need for constant tending and deadheading of flowers. For once the intensity of summer flowers is gone, gardeners can relax and just stroll and appreciate the more subtle tones of the landscape. “Autumn Gardens” will lead them down that path.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

“Autumn Gardens”

by Ethne Clarke

(Soma, $35, 168 pages)

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