It is a great irony that garden books are filled with sunny, colorful photos taken at midday, while the gardeners who tend them are usually away at work. Peter Loewer's "The Evening Garden" is an exciting revelation of the delights to be found in a garden that is planned and planted for evening enjoyment, from night-bloomers to fragrant orchids and wildflowers.
This book runs the gamut from technical considerations, like how the eye sees color at night, to essential discussions of plants with night-time value, whether it be fragrance, bloom, or the ability to attract moths. There are chapters dedicated to night-blooming daylilies, evening primroses and other nocturnal wildflowers, water gardens of the evening, moonlight gardens, and fireflies and glowworms. All are made eminently readable with quotes from past botanical writings, and the elegant text is graced with 160 beautiful line drawings.
This is an indispensable book for any gardener who plans to venture out to the garden after sundown - or who just likes to read about it.