Shady Retreats provides a compendium of ideas for building the perfect shady garden to fit your personality and terrain. Small Tree Gardens supplies an inspiring source book of small trees around which to center a special garden space.

Shady Retreats: 20 Plans For Colorful Private Spaces In Your Backyard
by Barbara W. Ellis, Storey Books

Recognizing the 'secret garden' aspect of shade gardens, author and gardener Barbara W. Ellis has provided readers with a treasury of ideas on how to create shady nooks and retreats, even in small, unshady yards. She sees gardens as extensions of our roofed living areas and suggests thinking of outdoor spaces as rooms with floor, ceiling, and walls. This approach lends itself especially well to shade gardens, which often come equipped with most of these requirements already. But if yours doesn't have shade and shade is what you need, Ellis will show you how to manufacture some.

In Shady Retreats, you'll find helpful hints, lists of plants suitable for growing in or to provide shade, and glossaries of garden furnishings. But the real heart of the book lies in the case studies, where the author takes us through 20 different approaches to creating shady spaces from woodland patios to vine-draped terraces. Her gardens range from formal sitting areas to relaxed patio arrangements, and are especially suited for gardeners who want to create living spaces for group use. Almost all the designs include some form of table and chairs, and look both private and inviting.

The book is nicely illustrated with pastel drawings of each 'shady retreat' and color photographs of plants featured in the text. Shady Retreats is a great book for garden designers looking to create shady, comfortable outdoor spaces, and interior designers looking for a way to get outside more. Just published this Spring 2003 from Storey Books.

Small Tree Gardens: Simple Projects, Contemporary Designs
by Hazel White, Chronicle Books

The philosophy of Small-Tree Gardens is that a small tree can become a marvel when placed at the focal point of its own little garden world. This book provides examples of such small tree gardens, each centered around one of 22 different trees. The selection includes a broad cross-section of unusual varieties (chitalpas, strawberry guava), old standbys (birch, wisteria, dogwood), and forgotten gems (redbud, crabapple, crepe myrtle). Regardless of your coast or zone, there are bound to be trees that will thrive in your climate and conditions.

For a small book, this one is surprisingly action packed. In addition to the sample gardens, there is a brief but useful sections on choosing a tree including aesthetic considerations such as foliage, autumn color, flowers, seeds, berries and texture of bark. There is also a chapter covering practical matters relating to tree culture, including the various tree products ("bareroot", balled-and-burlapped), how to plant, and how to care for your growing tree.

If you have a small space and would like to grow a small tree in it, to striking effect, Small-Tree Gardens is the book for you.