Gardening at the Dragon's Gate
By Wendy Johnson
464 pages. Bantam.

Gardening, with all its trials and errors, is not for the faint-hearted—and neither is meditation, both of which Wendy Johnson practices at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, north of San Francisco. Gardening at the Dragon's Gate (Bantam) is not only a wonder-filled celebration of nature, human and horticultural ("Every garden is unique, quirky, distinct and disobedient, just like every gardener"), but, with its practical hints and wide-ranging garden lore, a patch of paradise in an imperfect world.