The Bottom Line
- Inspiring ornamental grass pictures from around the world.
- Well-crafted prose.
- Price. As the word, "encyclopedia" suggests, it's hardcover.
Description
- Learn how to work with light in the garden.
- View combinations with contrasting texture and/or form.
- Ornamental grass pictures show their use as specimens, accents, groundcovers, hedges and in pots.
- Information on growing and caring for ornamental grasses.
- Index to common names, scientific names of plants.
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map, plus information for European landscapers.
- Glossary and bibliography.
- List of nursery sources.
Guide Review - "The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses" -- Rick Darke
"The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-Tails, and Selected Bamboos" is full of information on ornamental grasses. Yet it's as much an artsy, intellectual book as it is a practical guide. That's not to say that you won't learn about growing ornamental grasses from this book -- you most certainly will. It's just that the book offers so much more than that. Unlike a how-to book from, say, Ortho or even Better Homes and Gardens, this is not just a do-it-yourself text, something that may end up dog-eared and stored in the shed as a handy reference for when you're out in the yard working. No, this is more of a coffee-table book, something your guests will pick up and admire.
Chapter 1 explains that the appeal of ornamental grasses, as opposed to lawn grass, can be attributed to the landscape design elements of line, form and texture. Ch. 2 is on botany of the grass families, while Ch. 3 looks at where they fall within Linnaeus' classification system. Ch. 4, "Learning from Grasses in Native Habitats," discusses their cultural requirements (sun or shade) and aesthetic potential. Consider, e.g., the observation, "The role of grasses as an aesthetic counterpoint to bright foliage or flowers is often underestimated." Ch. 5 provides examples, with striking pictures of, e.g., ornamental grass as a backdrop for sumac and winterberry. Ch. 6 covers maintenance. Ch. 7 is the heart of the book: the gallery of ornamental grass pictures, with descriptions.
