The Gardener's Palette [Hardcover]

Sydney Eddison (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0809298937 | ISBN-13: 978-0809298938 | Publication Date: November 20, 2002 | Edition: 1

Gardeners learn the joy of creating color in the garden with ease

Any gardener can transform a dull perennial patch into a visual paradise with the expert tips in these beautifully illustrated pages. Written by a trained artist, The Gardener's Palette offers inspiration and instruction on "painting" with nature's colors. With a simple introduction to the color wheel and basic color theory, green thumbs learn to use harmonies and contrasts in the garden as an artist does on canvas. More than 300 glorious color photographs­­many in close-up detail­­showcase brilliant uses of color in gardens both real and impressionistic, including masterpieces by Monet and van Gogh.

This accessible guide offers chapters on container gardens, explaining how to experiment to create simple and complex color schemes by arranging and rearranging plant pots. Sections on background colors­­neglected in other books­­explore the visual roles of greens, grays, and whites in the garden. There are even suggestions on using pots, fabrics, and other outdoor decorating materials to enhance nature's hues. This handsome volume makes a wonderful gift for anyone striving to achieve color confidence in the garden.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sydney Eddison teaches gardening at the prestigious New York Botanical Garden and lectures widely. She writes regularly for top consumer magazines, including Fine Gardening and Horticulture.

Stephen Silk is an awardwinning garden photographer whose work graces the pages of leading gardening magazines, including Fine Gardening.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809298937
• ISBN-13: 978-0809298938
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #882,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For her work as a writer, gardener, and lecturer, Sydney Eddison received the Connecticut Horticultural Society's Gustav A. L. Melquist Award in 2002; the New England Wild Flower Society's Kathryn S. Taylor Award in 2005; The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut's Bronze Medal in 2006; and in 2010, the National Garden Clubs Award of Excellence. Her garden has been featured in magazines and on television. A former scene designer and drama teacher, Eddison lectures widely and continues to teach a course on color at the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good starting point, August 23, 2003

By 

M. Kirtland - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gardener's Palette (Hardcover)

If you don't know much about color theory and want some ideas on how to make color combinations work in the garden, this is a good starting point. I didn't learn a lot, but I found the photographs useful as they helped confirm that some of the ideas I have for my own garden should work out.

One topic I haven't seen covered in other books was the impact of house color on urban gardens. Most books seems to assume you have acres of space to work in with a woodland in the background. I have a typical city lot with a 10-15 foot wide border surrounding the house. Thus the background looking from the street or yard is almost always the house, and the background looking from the house is usually another house. The photographs in Eddison's book make it clear just how important the house color is to the overall impression of your borders and beds.

Another nice touch is the way Eddison relates color schemes to works of art (in particular of J.M.W. Turner and the Impressionists). I hadn't really thought of looking at paintings to come up with compelling color schemes for the garden, but I will now!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book going, January 27, 2005

By 

K. D. Cutler "VT gardener" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gardener's Palette (Hardcover)

What a treat--a book about color in the garden that doesn't get bogged down on the differences between cadmium yellow dark and cadmium yellow medium. This is a highly readable book that both experienced and beginning gardeners will find useful and informative. With apologies to James Bond, no one has done it better.