Creating Small Formal Gardens

Well illustrated, instructive and fun --The Observer. Resurrect the forgotten art of the formal garden, full of elegance and enchantment, even in the smallest backyards. Intimate and complex or simple and streamlined, these 24 arrangements--worthy of a king but suitable everywhere--share such wonderfully theatrical devices as a mirror-image pair of beds or ornamental focal points to draw the eye along a vista. Once you understand the principles behind the grand style, you'll find them surprisingly easy to implement and to maintain--and every scheme comes with a ground plan, three-dimensional drawings, and a wealth of alternative suggestions and planting ideas. And, with such classic features as rose-covered pergolas, twists of topiary, apple tunnels, and scalloped hedges, they all bring year-round satisfaction.