{"id":54763,"date":"2017-01-25T11:17:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T16:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=54763"},"modified":"2017-01-25T11:18:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T16:18:49","slug":"for-fans-of-foliage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2017\/01\/from-the-library\/for-fans-of-foliage\/","title":{"rendered":"For Fans of Foliage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Esther Jackson<\/a> is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG<\/a>\u2019s LuEsther T. Mertz Library<\/a> where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Gardening<\/a>Gardening with Foliage First: 127 Dazzling Combinations That Pair the Beauty of Leaves with Flowers, Bark, Berries, and More<\/a><\/em> is a recipe book for colorful and creative garden designs. The premise of the book is that flowers are lovely, but foliage is the longer-lasting ornament in a garden bed. For gardeners trying to create landscapes with year-round interest, starting with the foliage first is a wonderful approach.<\/p>\n

Authors Karen Chapman<\/a> and Christina Salwitz<\/a> \u201cscoured gardens from British Columbia to Arizona and Florida to Washington State to find designs to delight, inspire, and embolden [readers] to try new ideas, new plants, and new ways of looking at plant combinations.\u201d The resulting text is both beautiful and functional.
\n
\nThis book is a great addition to the home library for two main reasons. Firstly, the focus on foliage, while not exactly a new trend, doesn\u2019t tend to be the primary focus of a high percentage of gardening books. By approaching gardening \u201cfoliage first,\u201d the authors have created a specialized resource that highlights the best characteristics or seasonal interest of certain plants sometimes forgotten. While there are certainly flowers in the photographs shown, and flowers were clearly taken into account during the creation of the various designs highlighted, they are treated as accent touches more frequently than focal points.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the breakdown of the recipes (individual thematic garden designs) into four primary sections is practical and well executed. The sections are: Combinations for Spring and Summer (bright locations), Combinations for Spring and Summer (shade locations), Combinations for Fall (bright locations), and Combinations for Fall (shade locations). In total, 127 recipes are provided for home gardeners.<\/p>\n

This is a useful resource for new gardeners testing their design teeth and for experienced horticulturalists looking for some new inspiration. Regardless of the reader\u2019s experience and expertise, the recipe format is charming and engaging, with palette names such as \u201cPocket Prairie,\u201d \u201cFocal Point Formula,\u201d and \u201cRich and Robust\u201d appealing to the alliterative-minded and the plant-obsessed alike. If you haven\u2019t designed a \u201cfoliage first\u201d garden before, Chapman and Salwitz have design recipes in hand, and a willingness to help and inspire you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The premise of this book is that flowers are lovely, but foliage is the longer-lasting ornament in a garden bed. For gardeners trying to create landscapes with year-round interest, starting with the foliage first is a wonderful approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91575,"featured_media":54766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1346],"tags":[416,5202,4789,4677,5200,5201],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/9781604696646l.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph0lU-efh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54763"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54771,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54763\/revisions\/54771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}