The Herbalist's Garden [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

As a novice herb gardener tending my first 4x10 bed in its first season, I was deeply impressed by the gardeners (and plants!) featured in this book. I got the book from the library, started reading, and immediately purchased my own copy from Amazon. I need to have this one around! It's a great book to come back to for tips when you're worried, glorious colors when it's wintertime, and inspiration whenever you want it.

Each section tells the story of a lovely garden and the people who have made it what it is, then profiles their three favorite herbs, suggesting culinary and medicinal uses and giving instructions for planting and care. Gardeners and herbalists will not regreat the purchase of this beautiful book.

The photographs by Saxon Holt are some of the best. In each picture, I can clearly distinguish one plant from another--no small feat since to capture one plant clearly often causes others to be distorted. For example in one shot the viewer can raise her eyes from lettuce in the first row to cabbage in the second row to onions in the third row. I guess this is "trick" photography, but it's great. Although the photos are not three dimensional, they remind me of old 3-D viewer I had when I was a kid or the holograms of today where you can hold the picture to your eye and feel as if you are "inside" the frame.

The de la Tours have done a fabulous job of compiling, writing, and editing their book. They are down to earth and friendly and the text is newsy and informative. The de la Tours own Dry Creek Farm and Learning Center in Auburn California--the first garden on the guided tour which features the gardens of several other herbalist/gardeners and writers. Each section shows a ground plan for the featured garden. There are plenty of shots of the gardens including entrances and paths, and unique features found at the various sites.

Dry Creek Farm features a children's garden, a medicine-wheel garden, and a moon garden. The medicine-wheel garden is festooned with multi-colored prayer ribbons--hung out by the de la Tour's students at the Spring Equinox--that will be burned at the Winter Solstice. Along the edge of the medicine-wheel garden are plants representing the Zodiac Signs--Lavender for the Gemini, Mint for Virgo, and Lemon Balm for Cancer.

The Moon Garden is composed of a Catalpa tree surrounded by a circle shaped garden. The garden surface is composed of white gravel chips and outlined with smooth river stones. Both the full moon and the cresent are delineated. The full moon is white pebbles sans plants, the crescent is set off by Artemesia, the ghostly white plant that bears the "other" name of Diana, queen of the Fairies, Queen of the Witches and Queen of the Moon. A statue of a coyote (Diana's hund?) sits below the mobile moons hanging from the Catalpa tree.

There are photos of garden layouts, photos of specific beds, photos of smiling owners/gardeners and plenty of close-ups of the herbs recommended by the 10 herbalists. The text is extremely informative and inspiring.