The Layered Garden: Book Review and Giveaway

Image from The Layered Garden © David l. Culp & Timber Press, 2012. Used with kind permission from Timber Press.

This year, I happened to visit the garden of a well-known, local garden expert and writer while on a summer garden tour. I was so disappointed! His garden was truly awful. Seriously, any amateur could do better! The new pond he had installed was so staged and artificial that it was hideous. Most of the tiny back garden was patio. There were very few plants to speak off, let alone take pictures of.

We got to chatting and perhaps because the conversation turned quickly in the direction of the other gardens on the tour, he got a little self-conscious. 

"You know who has the worst gardens?", he asked me. He didn't pause for my reply. "Garden writers! They are too busy writing to be fusing around in their own gardens."

"Really?", I thought to myself. "Can that possibly be true?"

No, come to think of it, I don't think that's true at all. The garden writers I respect are the ones with the dirty hands. They are gardeners first and writers second. They speak from experience both good and bad.

The reason I bring all this up is the fact that I am about to review a book by a gardener who offers expert information that has been gleaned from decades of hard work on his two-acre garden in Pennsylvania. 

You need not take my word on this- David Culp's garden is his best referral. 

Take a peak at the garden he and his partner call "Brandywine Cottage".

Image from The Layered Garden © David l. Culp & Timber Press, 2012. Used with kind permission from Timber Press.

 Isn't this Ruin Garden simply amazing?

Image from The Layered Garden © David l. Culp & Timber Press, 2012. Used with kind permission from Timber Press.

Of course it didn't always look like this. This is a before and after shot.

Do you see what I mean? This is a garden that grew out of lots of hard work. I absolutely respect that!

Image from The Layered Garden © David l. Culp & Timber Press, 2012. Used with kind permission from Timber Press.

The rest of the garden is just as nice.

Image from The Layered Garden © David l. Culp & Timber Press, 2012. Used with kind permission from Timber Press.

David confesses in The Layered Garden, "The path to horticultural enlightenment may be littered with countless missteps, mistakes, and (may I be honest?) dead plants. But the wonder of gardening is that it always keeps us looking forward, since there is always the next flower to bloom, the next season, next year."

In the book, the term "layers" refers to the design process of maximizing interest in each garden space with plantings that either grow and bloom together or follow each other in succession. The result is a non-stop parade of color that begins with daffodils and hellebores in spring and continues into the winter months with Asian wildflowers. 

The book leads you on a detailed tour of the garden through the various seasons. It was especially nice on a few occasions to see the same part of the garden in one season and the next side by side. 

The photographs by Rob Cardillo are superb!

The Layered Garden is the perfect book to cosy up to and read this winter. 

I am going to link this review to HolleyGarden's monthly book club on her blog Roses and Other Gardening Joys. To see more reviews, please click the link.

If you would like to be included in a book draw for a copy of The Layered Garden, please leave a comment below. The contest closes January 6th. Be sure to see the previous post, as there are other books to be given away as well. Many thanks to Timber Press for providing a copy of The Layered Garden for the giveaway.

More Information and Links:

Author David L. Culp along with his partner Michael Alderfer are the creators of the gardens at Brandywine Cottage in Downington, Pennsylvania. David's writing has appeared in Country Living, Fine Gardening and many other publications. An expert on herbaceous perennials, David serves as a sales consultant and new plant researcher for Sunny Border Nurseries in Connecticut. He has developed the Brandywine hybrid strain of hellebores, and was recently cited in the Wall Street Journal for his expertise on snowdrops. Brandywine Cottage has been featured several times on HGTV and Martha Stewart Living.