With a fine book on ornamental grasses to his credit, Darke turns to summoning forth the spirit, beauty, and natural order of a woodland in the gardens he creates in its image... Darke shares a reverie on nature and observations of an applicable artistry. As responsible stewards of the land, gardeners can look to Darke's unorthodox design manual to transcend trite solutions with a wise and vital philosophy, and with its cache of inspiring photographs, this is sure to inspire all who garden east of the Rocky Mountains. -- Alice Joyce Booklist 20020927 One is eager to take up gardening challenges when they are as poetically presented as Darke's ... Overall, Darke has delivered a tour de force to follow his magnum opus. -- Patricia Jonas Plants and Gardens News 20021101 I don't know of any other book that discusses the eastern deciduous forest in such detail and with such beautiful photography while also providing practical information for cultivating your own woodland garden... One of the most important gardening books this year... Provides a sustainable and enjoyable text for anyone interested in understanding the forests that constitute so much of America's terrain. -- Dan Scurek Current Books on Gardening and Botany 20021125 An accomplished work of epic proportions. ... Wherever you garden and no matter how extensive or small the woodland you tend - even if it is just a single birch tree - The American Woodland Garden offers the most comprehensive, inspiring, and thought-provoking advice you are ever likely to find within the confines of a single volume. As the text on the inside jacket correctly claims, this book is destined to become a classic. -- Bob Purnell Gardens Illustrated 20031210 Should be displayed where you and your guests can refer to it regularly. Reading this book is like winding through the forest with the author at your side and learning from his 20 years of studying how the woods work... Every page has photographs that perfectly parallel the text. -- Joel M. Lerner Washington Post 20021130 Within two pages ... I was hooked. This is a first-rate work... Generously illustrated with Rick Darke's photographs, and the captions convey a good deal of his narrative making for an easy read. -- Mark Flanagan Garden (Peterborough) 20021110 Award-winning author Rick Darke shares his love of the eastern deciduous forest through his stunning photographs and insightful prose, making the ordinary seem remarkable. Nature's seasonal transitions become a magical journey that the reader is invited to witness. American Gardener 20021210 Darke is almost like a woodland spirit as he visits forests and captures their beauty on film and in words throughout the seasons. -- Suzanne Hively Cleveland Plain Dealer 20021114 The book will reach out and inspire anyone who loves nature and gardening - whether that individual is a master gardener or a garden spectator. I believe everyone who sees this book will forever view the eastern deciduous forest with a far greater depth of appreciation for the diversity and a positively influenced perception of its woodland landscape. -- Alice Le Duc Flora 20021210 Firmly grounded in horticultural and ecological science... So richly illustrated with Darke's great photographs that it appears to be a coffee table book, this substantial, informative volume is a wonderful read. -- Liz Ball Yardening 20021127 In this unique and often thought-provoking new book, Darke promotes and stunningly illustrates a garden aesthetic... A clarion call to a new awareness of humankind's relationship to the natural world. This book will take its rightful place among the classic works that have influenced the concept of the American landscape. Biology Digest 20021210 Outstanding. -- Denise Cowie Philadelphia Inquirer 20021122 With [this book]... the woodland gardener cannot go far wrong. -- David Wheeler Hortus 20021210 Destined to become a classic among books on shade gardening, for it shows how to select, design with, and grow the wonderful cornucopia of plants that are found in America's great deciduous forests. Avant Gardener 20021010 An homage to the beauty of the deciduous forest and the wonder of the natural forces that create and sustain it, as well as a how-to book to guide readers in creating woodland gardens. -- Mary Beth Breckenridge Akron Beacon Journal 20021010 Darke's language is erudite, informative and makes pleasant reading... Destined to become a classic, The American Woodland Garden will find a welcome home in any gardener's library. -- Judy Glattstein Home Monthly 20021110 Perhaps [the book's] greatest accomplishment ... is in gloriously refuting the notion that forest gardening tends to be dull and plain compared to gardening with flashy exotic annuals. HortIdeas 20021013 A gallery of breathtaking images of native woodlands in all seasons ... This is an inspiring reference that synthesizes ecology and horticulture, presented by a philosophical author with an artist's eye. -- Virginia Small Fine Gardening 20031216 His photographs and text communicate vividly the inevitability and pace of change ... One is eager to take up gardening challenges when they are as poetically presented as Darke's. -- Patricia Jonas Plants and Gardens News 20020108 Gardeners living east of the Mississippi will never again consider a shady yard 'a problem' after reading The American Woodland Garden. -- Judy Lowe Christian Science Monitor 20021204 The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest is a splendid combination of inspiration and practicality that will change many of our ideas about what constitutes gardening in the shade. -- Pamela Lord Gardener for the Prairies 20030109 Those who live in or near trees will find hours of deep pleasure in Rick Darke's The American Woodland Garden. -- Ann Lovejoy Seattle Post-Intelligencer 20030116 The plant palette section occupies a good third of the book, and it is the best presentation of native plant species I've seen. -- Derek Fell Nouveau 20021122 I knew from his previous books what an excellent photographer and writer Rick Darke is but I think his newest book, The American Woodland Garden, is the best yet. -- Bobbie Schwartz Buckeye 20020127 This is the best book yet on natural landscaping... This is one of those rare books that's beautiful enough for the coffee table yet useful enough to end up dog-eared. Harrisburg Patriot-News 20021205 His beautiful photographic essays on the natural scenes on his property [are] especially relevant to gardeners in our area. -- Patricia A. Taylor Trenton Times 20021124 Oftentimes I open a book and it's like Christmas. The American Woodland Garden ... is such a book. -- Marty Figley Michigan Observer and Eccentric 20021128 This is an important book that makes a strong case for private gardeners who live in a woodland setting to learn how to retain the spirit of the forest in their gardens and synthesize nature and culture. -- Ethel Fried Manchester (CT) Journal Inquirer 20021201 This is a serious book with a message. -- Jane Carroll Audubon Naturalist News 20021206 I recommend the book for 738 colorful reasons: Its photos remind us how the sensorial pleasures of a forest are the result of nature going about its relatively predictable biological business... All aspects of the book's layout and typology are exemplary. -- Joy Buslaff Ecological Landscaper 20020217 This book is a combination of ecological widom, interesting designs and practical advice. -- Nancy Brachey Charlotte Observer 20030218 A persuasive book for observing nature and bringing it into our gardens. -- Connie LeClair American Rhododendron Society Journal 20030218 A persuasive book for observing nature and bringing it into our gardens. -- Connie LeClair American Rhododendron Society Journal 20030218 A remarkable contribution. -- Donna Williamson Grandiflora 20030119 Far more than just a gardening book, this amounts to an ecological walk in the woods... What the author has learned from a lifetime of being enchanted by the forest is offered in this sensitive book. -- Jim Carlson Country Almanac 20030220 [Darke's] philosophical and horticultural observations from longtime study of a native woodland stream habitat should appeal to all ecologically-responsible gardners. -- Jane Erskine SciTech Book News 20030320 The American Woodland Garden contains hundreds of illuminating images from the eastern woods and their reincarnation in the home garden. -- Adrian Higgins Washington Post 20030220 This book is packed with useful information on woodland gardening design, practices, and plant choices. Photographs are stunning and numerous... Highly recommended. -- R. P. Poincelot Choice 20030306 Rick Darke's beautiful book shows us how our native forests can be an inspiraion for our own gardens, private or public... The photographs catch the essence of the plants in all their many guises. They are so realistic and detailed that I, unscientific as I am, found them helpful in identifying some trees and shrubs that I'd never been able to untangle... If you want to strengthen your appreciation of the woods, this book is a deep and meditative study of the ways in which the forest casts its spell. Dip or plunge, go indulge. -- Wendy Ely Woodland Garden 20030422 This volume is nothing short of monumental. Exquisitely photographed and deftly written, it takes the reader on a journey of discovery... A good garden needs a philosophy, an aesthetic, a methodology, and a palette. This extraordinary book furnishes them all. -- C. Colston Burrell Horticulture 20030422 Much more than a beautiful coffee table book, although it is that in spades. It whets the appetite of anyone who might be tempted to create a woodland garden. If you want a quick fix for your gardening questions go elsewhere. But if you want to strengthen your appreciation of the woods, this book is a deep and meditative study of the ways in which the forest casts its spell. Dip or plunge, go indulge. -- Wendy Ely Woodland Garden 20030423 Contains more than 700 of his photographs showing how to blend the woodland and landscaped garden into one resulting in ecological excellence. National Gardener 20020423 Packed full of gorgeous photographs and useful advice. Northwest Horticultural Society 20030507 Almost 50% of the great information is in the smaller-tighter text associated with the awesome images (every image is a work of art) ... Rick's plant descriptions are written in a way that indicates he has obviously grown the plants discussed. -- Winston Dunwell University of Kentucky HortMemo 20030331 Reads like a memoir. It's also a visual showcase, with more than 700 of Darke's exceptional photographs gracing its pages, all documented with an attention to detail gardeners will appreciate... A valuable reference for those who seek to follow Darke's call to 'capture the spirit of the deciduous forest' in their own spaces. -- Moira Sheridan People Places Plants 20030529 This book is an excellent reference and guide for both amateur and professional horticulturalists. Northeastern Naturalist 20030603 Beautiful photos and ideas from an experienced gardener. -- Kathy Gilbert Chattanooga Times Free Press 20030419 Stunning photography, with every shot perfectly composed. -- Mary Tucker Nativescape 20030718 This inspired work is an instant classic. -- Dean Riddle Country Gardens 20030626 Since the reviewer is generally 'all thumbs,' he is qualified to give The American Woodland Garden a rating of 'ten thumbs up.' -- Ernest Flippo Hosta Journal 20030804 Rick Darke's Woodland Garden creation is a most interesting read and excellent photo essay based on this thirty years of woodland observations... Worth purchasing just for Darke's photos and philosophy! -- Steve Nix Foresty.About.com 20031001 I believe that it represents a new type of gardening book that combines ecology principles, design concepts, horticultural information, along with essays on individual plants... Once again this is a beautiful and very worthy Timber Press production. Kirkland Courier 20031001 Worth purchasing just for Darke's photos and philosophy! ... Rick Darke's Woodland Garden creation is a most interesting read and excellent photo essay based on his thirty years of woodland observations. -- Steve Nix Foresty.About.com 20031027 Wow ... what can one say. This statement is not hyperbole. Darke is truly a wordsmith and philosopher, and together with his excellent color photos, it is a must read and view. -- George Graine Virginia Master Gardeners Association Report 20031106 Offers an eloquent overview and abundant color photographs to demonstrate the context of landscapes dominated by trees. -- Roland Sweet Log Homes Illustrated 20041121 This is a wonderful photographic study, showing both the seasonal and long-term changes which occur in an area of natural woodland. Irish Plant Society 20040425 In this award-winning book, the author promotes and illustrates a garden aesthetic based on the strengths and opportunities of the woodland, including play of light, sound, scent, seasonal drama, and the architectural interest of woody plants. -- Eric Hofley Michigan Gardener 20060501 Packed with an abundance of dazzling color photos, this book makes it plain in both words and pictures how much the author enjoys deciduous forests and the beauty they have to offer. ... A must-have for anyone interested in woodlands and gardening. -- Lee MacFadden Bristol Herald Courier 20080730