PERENNIALS FOR TODAY’S GARDENS, Better Homes and Gardens, Des Moines, Iowa; 2000, 288 pages. $29.95.

There are nearly as many colors in the typefaces as in the photographs of perennials. In fact, the opening page exclaims in bright cerise: “Get excited! You are about to discover a diverse palette of plants.”

That is an understatement. Better Homes and Gardens went out of its way to produce a four-color array of 100 perennials for gardeners “who desire breathtaking, easy-care flower beds year after year.”

The book itself is breathtaking, thanks to author and principal photographer Colston Burrell. As the book guides the gardener in matching plants to the amount of sunlight or helping to select plants based on soil type and amount of moisture, it also provides page after page of vivid yellows and pinks and greens and purples, the likes of which one wouldn’t see except in a Maine wildflower field. It’s hard not to get excited.

The contents range from elements of design to garden ecology, from shade to sun perennials. The easy-to-use resource provides the home gardener with a practical – and beautiful – guide to perennial planting. The photographs showcase each plant, and an accompanying tip box offers key information at a glance – common and botanic names, time and color of bloom, size, hardiness zone, descriptions of fruits and leaves, and special attributes.

For more than 50 years, Better Homes and Gardens Books has provided gardeners with authoritative and reliable gardening information and instruction. This latest venture is no exception.

One of the chapters has fresh appeal since the author leads the gardener to nature before returning to his own domain. “Observing plants as they grow in the wild shows us how to arrange plants in our garden. Factors that affect where plants grow in nature include light, moisture, temperature and soil.”

That may sound like elementary information, but how many of us gardeners ignore nature as a model pattern and proceed to plant in unnatural ways? “If the spot you choose is shaded by trees, or you wish to create shade, your garden should emulate a woodland. If you have a sunny spot, your garden is best patterned after what grows in abandoned fields and open meadows. If you have a low, wet spot, consider what grows in a swale or bog, and select plants from local nurseries and garden centers accordingly.

“As you reflect on what you’ve learned, you’ll discover how to adapt it to your own garden. For example, you can grow shade plants in a sunny border by placing them in the shade of taller plants. You can grow moisture lovers in a relatively dry, well-drained site by grouping them together and putting them in an area you water more often.”

It makes sense to look to the growing conditions in the natural landscape to use as a guide for your own garden. It makes sense to combine plants, considering their overall shapes as well as their ultimate heights and the sequence of bloom. Keeping these factors in mind allows you to layer the plants – using one plant to fill the space left by another that has gone dormant – to get the most bloom in the smallest space. It makes sense to know which perennials can adapt to clay soils that are wet in winter and dry in summer; or to sandy soils that drain fast and dry out quickly. It makes sense to study perennials by their growth seasons: daffodils and bleeding hearts in springtime; phlox and day lilies heralding midsummer; asters and goldenrod in autumn.

Better Homes and Gardens’ “Perennials for Today’s Gardens” makes sense, even in its organization. Instead of poring over entries in an alphabetized compendium, the reader merely turns to the section that matches his or her gardening site, then browses for the most appealing perennials.

It should come as no surprise that this book is top-notch for both its appearance and its substance. Better Homes and Gardens book executive garden editor Cathy Wilkinson Barash’s primary passion is to produce garden books that are accessible, exciting, and functional for gardeners, whatever their level of experience and wherever they live.

And – heaven forbid – you should not be a gardener, then you’ll find this striking book with its breathtaking photographs great for the coffee table.