The American Weekend Garden

Thorpe ( Everlastings , LJ 7/85) has an infectious faith that the land can "come alive with color and fragrance" if we use the rich variety of plants. She says hers is not a basic garden book, and its tone and substance are more like that of a lecture or article. Organization is sketchy: Thorpe mentions plants' water needs only as a regional issue in the last chapter, but adds that all of us face the watering problem because of droughts or weeklong absences. She first mentions the difficulty of scheduling garden projects on weekends in Appendix B. The book's language and structure suggest an effort to pad the text or simply poor copy-editing. The result, even with 48 handsome color pages, is expensive moral support for those who are thinking about gardening. Thorpe will do better. BOMC alternate. Deci Lowry, Chappaqua, N.Y.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.