Reviews of Color in My Garden: An American Gardener's Palette

First published in 1918, when flower gardeners in America were enthralled with reproducing the English mixed border popularized by Gertrude Jekyll, Louise Beebe Wilder makes the case for a sophisticated American style mixed border based on perennials, shrubs, and trees that thrive in the climates peculiar to the North American eastern seaboard regions.

I loved this book. Mrs. Beebe is one of the foremost American garden writers and her style, although 'old-fashioned', is delightful.

And although plant varieties, nomenclature, and sources may be out of date, her descriptions are clear and detailed, her gardener's knowledge of plants and useful and beautiful planting groups to make her 'garden pictures' is without peer, and her theories of creating a garden using an 'artist's eye' is something that everyone who is a 'planter' and wants to go beyond 'horticulture' to creating a 'garden' should study.

"Color in My Garden" was Mrs. Beebe's second book, and it is illustrated with paintings of Balderbrae, her New York garden, blooming throughout the year by her neighbor, Anna Winegar. I have read it twice and will read it again with post-it notes in hand . Mrs. Beebe wrote nine other gardening books and countless magazine articles. I have already checked out several others from the library and suggest you do to!