The problem with this book...is that it's too small.

Gardens, from formal flower gardens to wild gardens, are showcases for bursts of color and texture throughout the year. They can practically scream with riots of snapdragons, larkspur, and daisies, or be more subtle with rockcress, sedums, and phlox.

At Wild Gardens of Acadia, the gardeners have created a mosaic of the different native plant biomes found on Mount Desert Island off Maine's coast. Carefully nurtured since the 1960s, the gardens found at Sieur de Monts Spring within Acadia National Park capture the native vegetation from the bogs and heaths of the island up through the brooks and ponds and mixed and coniferous woodlands to the Pitch Pine uplands in the park. 

These are landscapes that, if they're to be captured in a book, call out for a coffee table format that showcases color photographs of the woodland settings and meadows in bloom and which allows for supporting narrative that matches the wildflowers. This book fails that, though not due to any oversight by the authors -- Anne M. Kozak and Susan S. Leiter-- as it was intended only as part of the publisher's Images of Modern America series. Hopefully the authors can find another publisher willing to support a larger format book.

I've never managed, during my two visits to Acadia, to stop at Wild Gardens of Acadia, which started out as a project of the Bar Harbor Garden Club but which today is a stand-alone, colorful entity supported both by the National Park Service as well as Friends of Acadia. This book ensures that my next visit to the park will include a stop at the gardens.

Following a three-and-a-half page introduction, the authors take us on a journey through the gardens and their various biomes. Full color photographs document both construction of some areas of the gardens as well as highlight some of the flora to be found here. Extended captions suffice, but there no doubt are longer stories that would provide the reader with more depth into the evolution of Wild Gardens of Acadia.

Still, this small (94 pages) book highlights some of the wonders to be found at Acadia, such as the purple Arctic iris, which though uncommon on Mount Desert Island can be found in the garden's Beach habitat. A Showy Lady's Slipper also can be found here, in the Pond habitat, while the carniverous Pitcher plant grows in the Bog habitat.

While the $23 price tag on this book might catch your breath a bit, the authors are donating all their royalties to the Wild Gardens of Acadia endowment at Friends of Acadia.