Review
"Color By Design" is THE book to give a flower-loving friend. It may even tempt her to rip out her garden and start anew, so eloquent are the Popes in advocating single-color plantings with all their harmonious shifts in shades and saturation. Chapters are divided by color, and within each chapter sumptuous photographs of plants and plant combinations are organized by season. --
House Beautiful magazine, December 1998In this book the Popes present, color by color, provocative essays on the essence of a color, and explore appropriately hued plants and their role in creating dazzling combinations as the seasons progress. Clive Nichols' sumptuous photographs exude the sensual qualities the Popes have lavished upon their flowery palette... --
Fine Gardening magazine, June 1999Its cover jumps off the shelf in vivid purple, declaring up front that this book is no shrinking violet. However, it's perfect for people who tend to shy away from using strong colors in the garden. Within the brightly photographed pages, Nori and Sandy Pope hope to inspire gardeners to use colors in ways they might not have dared, approaching the practice as one would a painting or musical composition. The Popes work through the entire spectrum demonstrating how to use colors with confidence and to the height of their potential. The book is beautifully illustrated by garden photographer Clive Nichols, complete with a series of illustrations showing the transition of color at a fixed spot through the year. --
Sheboygan Press, January 27, 1999This "coffee table" gardening book offers much more than just another pretty face!...The Popes intend gardeners to be able to invoke exotic moods by careful selection of plant colors, and they are entirely convincing when demonstrating how easy it can be. Because the Popes now live in England...there is some bias toward European cultivars, but that doesn't compromise the book's utility for North American Gardens. A truly inspiring volume! --
HortIdeas, October 1998[In "Color by Design"] the monochromatic garden is seen not as limiting but just the opposite: the Popes are taking single-hued borders to new artistic hights...Even if you don't want to isolate hues in your own garden, this book will inspire with its crisp photography; head shots (portraits of single flowers) in each chapter are stunning examples of pure color. For ideas about the habit of the plant (height, width, blooming times, etc.), research beyond this text is necessary, but for color alone it is like receiving a new box of watercolors for Christmas. No nursery visit will ever come close to putting together this range of color possibilities. --
Horticulture, May 1999
About the Author
Nori and Sandra Pope are originally from Vancouver Island, Canada, where they operated a nursery. Currently, they live and work at Hadspen Garden, where Penelpe Hobhouse and her husband lived and gardened for twelve years.
