Colourful Gardens

By Dennis Greville (New Holland, RRP $39.99)

COLOURFUL GARDENS

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Ever since Vita Sackville-West created her famous series of "white gardens" at Sissinghurst in Kent, many a gardener with an Anglo-Saxon bent has been wrestling with the problem of colour. Not that they've had much help, judging by the down-to-earth gardening guides on my shelves.

This makes Dennis Greville's Colourful Gardens all the more welcome. In his 16th book, the painter-former art teacher and top New Zealand gardening writer and photographer draws on the many strands of his expertise to focus on this neglected aspect of garden design.

Many gardeners overlook the strategic use of colour, Greville says, focusing instead on favourite colours or specific flower types. Suggesting we take a step back from our preconceptions, he shows us how an appreciation of colour relationships can "create wonderful spaces, large and small, to delight the senses and nurture the soul".

First he explains how to structure a garden based on colour combinations.

Each chapter, itself profusely illustrated, then highlights a colour (red, orange, yellow, green, blue/purple, white, the pastels), followed by a photo gallery of specific examples. A final section discusses the role of carefully placed objects (think red deck-chair, yellow hammock, blue vase, etc) Throughout we are made aware of the effect of light and shade, if anything an even more-neglected subject.

For the price this is a sumptuous production; the zillion photographs fairly jump off the page, the advice is invaluable, and (heaven be praised) it comes with a decent index.

Men will find the text a little overblown, I suspect, so give it to a female relative rather than the spud and bean grower in your life.

- © Fairfax NZ News