Garden Design for the Short Season Yard

Garden Design for the short Season Yard: Everything You Need to Know for the Chinook and Canadian Prairie Zones, by Lyndon Penner, 2015

Reviewed by Bernadette Vangool

As Lyndon states in his book "I can teach you enough, that you should be able to forth and boldly create something beautiful, which the world desperately needs, and you should be able to do it in our prairie climate".

In his book Lyndon takes you through analyzing your existing space, designing the structure or bones of the garden, intentional and unintentional focal points, colour and texture considerations, to the needs of plants as well as the needs of the gardener (high or low-maintenance landscapes), and ending with examples and critiques of existing garden spaces.

Chapters are divided into short subsections making for a fast read and easy review of concepts discussed. Many photographs with excellent captions will satisfy the avid reader as well as the occasional browser.

This is not your typical landscape book, so if you are looking for neatly drawn maps of city lots indicating where the trees and shrubs should go and where to plant your perennial borders, this is not the book for you. If however you love to experiment and learn, are looking for some inspiration and enjoy listening to Lyndon as he talks about gardening on CBC then you will enjoy this book for the entertainment value alone.