California is renowned for its sunshine, glamour and artisticness and it is these qualities that abound in this collection of 44 small Californian gardens. Quirkiness and originality are continuing themes reflecting the owners' tastes and skills with the inclusion of pottery, sculpture and an assortment of garden ornaments seemingly thrown together yet bringing the gardens an individuality and personality of their own. From an English point of view, the mix of foxgloves and succulents, cordylines and primula vialii can at first appear jarring, not right. But viewed as a whole, the gardens seem to gain from this eclectic mix, the foreigners adding glamour whilst the natives add a more permanent form and structure, totally contrary to our way of gardening where the situation tends to be more vice versa. From desert gardens to cacti havens, faux English country gardens to formal retreats, the variety for one area is enormous reflecting the Californians love for experimentation and gardening. Their innovativeness is now noted throughout the gardening world with TV gardening programmes regularly featuring these exotic, green oases. Lack of photographic captions is a drawback but overall the quality of the photographs and the chatty text makes this a pleasant and inspiring read with many ideas for summer planting in our colder clime. - Lucy Watson
