The author is a teacher and practicing landscape designer, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The author begins with an overview of color what it is and isn t, the various color systems used to describe colors, and what the actual color names mean. The second section is perhaps the key, and one to which the rest of the book refers the attributes of color which are used to describe colors. These include hue, value and saturation. Hue refers to the location of the color on the spectrum or place on various color wheels or systems.
Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color, or hue.
Saturation is the amount of color present, from an almost neutral gray to an almost pure color or hue. As throughout the book, color photos are used to illustrate such discussions. The third section begins where most color books begin with combinations. First the author explores the effects in the landscape of various colors such as pales, pastels and vivid, as well as the role and effects of background colors. The latter are often not considered, yet can have a profound effect.