Adventures in Eden An intimate tour of the private gardens of Europe

Mullet, a garden designer, leads readers on a spirited tour of 50 private European gardens. "The private garden has a special place in the roster of outdoor spaces," writes Mullet, as a site that is at once natural and cozy. Before each photo spread, Mullet introduces the garden's history, designers, and theme. Broughton Grange in Oxfordshire, England offers a "singular, sweeping panorama" designed by Tom Stuart-Smith in 2000, whereas Veddw in Wales was designed to honor the region's farming community. In Scotland, she finds Charles Jencks's scientifically themed Garden of Cosmic Speculation, where forking paths mirror the double helix structure of DNA and a grid of artificial turf and aluminum is arranged to suggest the warping of spacetime by black holes. In the Netherlands and Germany, the gardens Mullet surveys betray the common influence of contemporary Dutch Wave designer Piet Oudolf, with his style of soft naturalistic contours. In northern Spain and Italy, she finds a pair of gardens united by their success in growing olive trees in unforgiving climates, and in France, a château garden planted to emphasize the azures and silvers of the ancestral owners' family crest. Homebound gardeners will be dazzled. (Oct.)

Garden designer Mullet (founder, Carex Tours) introduces readers to 50 private, European gardens open to the public, including the author's favorites from 11 countries based on specific plants, creativity, and passion. Representative of current design, all of the spaces were developed over the past 25 years (though some boast older features). Arranged by country, typical entries run four to eight pages long with one text page followed by captioned photos. Mullet discusses the site, highlights features, and sometimes conveys an owner's motivation or attitudes by sprinkling in previously published comments (with references). This book lacks more in-depth information that would make it easy to quickly ID a garden's vital info (size, climate, designer, specialty), which is helpful when gardens vary tremendously. There are also lists of gardens, the designers, references, and an index (unseen). Photos are well done, though cold-climate gardeners will notice few depict snowy, winter-interest examples. VERDICT Recommended particularly for traveling gardeners, though all could cull ideas from this book, which is similar in scope to Cristopher Woods's Gardenlust.--Bonnie Poquette, Milwaukee