NORM PLATE / COURTESY OF 'GARDENING IN THE NORTHWEST'
	"Gardening in the Northwest" features exceptional examples, including this one, where 'Provence' lavender and 'Stargazer' lilies perfume the seating areas on this deck. Loose-textured flowering plants such as asters and bacopa soften the lines of the decking.

• One of the most enjoyable springtime tasks is seeking out new plants, and "Consider the Leaf: Foliage in Garden Design" by Judy Glattstein (Timber Press, $24.95) reminds us that while flowers are fleeting, leaves clothe the garden all year. Because they are short-lived compared with the longer-lasting shape, color and form of leaves, flowers shouldn't be the criteria for selecting plants. And if any of your plants are looking lonesome, Glattstein suggests exciting foliage combinations, emphasizing that "In a first-rate garden, plants are arranged so that they look better together than they do by themselves." She extols the familiar, such as hostas and ornamental grasses, but also explores the full range of textures and variegation to be found in plants not necessarily thought of for their foliage — zucchini with its fuzzy leaves, for instance, or the airy veil of mature asparagus stalks.
 

In "Consider the Leaf," sturdy, attractive, cold-resistant ornamental cabbages (Brassica oleracea), used here with Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegatus,' will ornament a garden once autumn frost kills off summer annuals. 'CONSIDER THE LEAF'
'THE WELL-DESIGNED MIXED GARDEN'
"The Well-Designed Garden" shows Byzantine gladiolas (Gladiolus communis byzantinus) with spikes of magenta flowers and iris-like leaves combining with the feathery foliage of Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll.'

• "Feast Your Eyes: The Unexpected Beauty of Vegetable Gardens" by Susan J. Pennington (University of California Press, $29.95) is a well-illustrated look at two centuries' worth of attractive and unusual designs for vegetable gardens in a variety of cultures. From painter Robert Dash's circular plot of edibles, which he constantly replants in a quest for the perfect composition, to the unique beauty of the Aztecs' floating lake gardens, this book is sure to enlarge your ideas about the possibilities of growing what you eat. While Thomas Jefferson, an early champion of the tomato, grew fruits and vegetables in a stately, 1,000-foot-long garden, most of the plots shown here are far more mixed, lively and achievable.

• The book that might inspire even me to grow more than a tomato or two is "The Bountiful Container" by Maggie Stuckey and Rose Marie Nichols McGee, owner of Nichols Garden Nursery in Oregon (Workman Publishing, $16.95). With this book, a splash of sunlight, a pot and a bag of soil you can be a farmer. These two edibles enthusiasts not only give exacting instructions on how to grow herbs, fruits and vegetables in containers, but also pay great attention to aesthetics and cookery. Learn how to grow a Bangkok Banquet, a Mediterranean Medley or a Salsa Bowl in a single pot, then turn the page to find the recipes to cook up what you harvest. The down-to-earth, knowledgeable tone of the book convinces the reader that container gardening is the ideal: "A world with virtually no weeds, no soil-borne diseases, and no overplanting, where you can fine-tune sun and shade — everything edible that's grown in the traditional garden can be successfully raised in a container."

• "Gardening in the Northwest" (Sunset Publishing, $19.95) is one of the prettiest books Sunset has published, with a great number of large color photos of exceptional gardens from Oregon to Alaska. Various garden authorities are quoted (Cass Turnbull on pruning, Harold Greer on rhododendrons), useful plant lists are included, and it's fun to guess whose garden is in which photos. But the book is so useful and special because it focuses on how we've integrated English and Asian influences into our gardens, and on the wide variety of garden styles that have grown out of our unique climates and topography.

• Tracy DiSabato-Aust's book on perennial care was a great best-seller, and now she's followed it up with "The Well-Designed Mixed Garden" (Timber Press, 2003, $39.95). Her first book was so popular because it was clearly focused on how to tend perennials; here she's planted design in with advice on creating mixed borders of bulbs, trees, perennials, shrubs and annuals. The chapter on art in the garden has pronouncements such as, "bright and shiny cobalt blue pots add good energy and an otherworldly sense of adventure." I appreciate the personal tone and examples from her own garden, as well as the fine plant combinations she suggests, but nearly half this oversized book is charts, graphs and lists. I'm not sure a multi-page list of cool-toned perennials will prove useful. I'm interested to know what other gardeners make of this book.