Tom Karwin: New Sunset garden book plants fresh inspiration

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Tom Karwin

I've been pouring through the new edition of "Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping: The Complete Guide to Beautiful Paths, Patios, Plantings and More." This book is hot off the press, published just this month. It complements "Sunset's New Western Garden Book" (ninth edition, February 2012), which is about plants.

The book provides more than 600 color photographs of gardens in the western states, with ideas for home gardeners and landscape professionals. It is organized under five headings: Gardens, Structures, Plants, Finishing Touches and Planning. Each section visits numerous topics, illustrating each in pages of comments and captioned photographs. The text identifies almost all plants that are shown, and the excellent index lists them all, as well.

Each topic could motivate the reader to seek detailed information in other sources.

Editor Kathleen Norris Brenzel notes that the book is primarily about inspiration, with an underlying theme of earth-friendly, sustainable design. In a brief introduction, landscape architect William R. Marken defines sustainability as basic to the "new golden age of landscape design," which has grown out of Thomas Church's four principles:

Unity of house and garden;

Function, serving household needs;

Simplicity, considering both costs and aesthetics; and

Scale, relating the parts of the landscape.

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Tom Karwin: New Sunset garden book plants fresh inspiration