Bold Romantic Gardens


Book Description

A rich harvest of ideas for achieving dynamic, four-season gardens, this book outlines the problems of and provides solutions for 30 different public and private projects. The authors show how to create bold, free-spirited gardens that require inexpensive maintenance, designing them so that they evolve with each season. 300 illustrations, many in color.




The Artful Garden


Book Description

“I want to put the mystery back into the heart of garden design, where it needs to be. It’s what lures you in through the gate, keeps you moving through the landscape, and fills you with excitement along the way. The sense of mystery is what turns a mere display of plants, paths, and ornaments into an adventure.” —James van Sweden Guided by world-renowned landscape architect James van Sweden and horticulture expert Tom Christopher, any gardener can learn the secrets of the gardener’s art and absorb the essence of inspired garden design. In their gifted hands, creating your own perfect garden, with its own alluring mysteries, turns out to be not only easy but a delight. Whether it’s a ten-foot-square city terrace or a ten-acre expanse, the same principles apply: the intelligent use of positive and negative space, of form and scale, of light and shadow, of rough and smooth textures. Do you want a garden you can immerse yourself in? A garden you can smell and listen to as well as observe? An exuberant garden or a contemplative garden? In this elegantly written and visually stunning book, van Sweden reveals the secrets of famous gardens around the world and encourages you to find inspiration in the arts—in painting (from America’s classic regional artists to the abstract expressionists), music (from classical to jazz), sculpture, even dance. He introduces you to famous artists who share how their art has influenced the design of their own gardens, and teaches you to think not in terms of borders and beds or even paths and meadows but of a tapestry woven from sky, trees, rocks, vines, flowers, grasses, and space. Richly illustrated throughout with magnificent photographs, The Artful Garden both tells and shows, sharing with beginning and experienced gardeners a wealth of inspiration and practical help. “What’s my message?” van Sweden asks in conclusion. The wise answer: “Don’t squander the potential for surprise and wonder.” This beautiful book guarantees everyone who reads it a priceless store of gardening wisdom.




A New Garden Ethic


Book Description

In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.




Gardening with Water


Book Description

By bringing what H. Marc Cathey, president of the American Horticultural Society, has called "a new wave of naturalism" to America, James van Sweden and his partner, Wolfgang Oehme, have revolutionized American landscape design. Van Sweden and Oehme are internationally renowned for their public projects and private commissions: responsible for the Hudson River Park in New York City and several gardens of the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., they have landscaped the properties of celebrity clients such as Oprah Winfrey and David Brinkley, as well as many more modest gardens for private homeowners. According to van Sweden, no garden is too small to benefit from the soothing, sensuous qualities of water. Gardening with Water, the first in a new series of books to be written by van Sweden, covers everything from birdbaths and small fountains to waterfalls, swimming pools, lily pools, and water edges. Writing for professional and nonprofessional gardeners alike, van Sweden begins with an overview of influences -- from Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" to palace gardens in Kyoto, Japan -- before surveying close to a hundred of his own projects to illustrate how he and Wolfgang Oehme introduce water into their garden designs. Several chapters are devoted to practical questions: what to plant, where to plant, whom to contact, and how to build. Clear instructions are supplemented with numerous illustrations, extensive diagrams, and a detailed glossary of trees, plants, and flowers (including Oehme and van Sweden's trademark grasses).




Private Paradise


Book Description

Sweeping, voluptuous, and authoritative, Private Paradise instantly joins an elite collection of great and inspiring garden design books. Charlotte Frieze presents forty-one cutting-edge gardens, all richly photographed and profusely illustrated, emphasizing design, climate, and horticulture. Overarching themes of Aqua, Arcadia, Bold Geometry, Color, Nightscapes, Oasis, Sanctuary, and Urban cogently frame chapters about the challenges presented by the land, the climate, and the client’s interests. Located throughout the United States, these gardens demonstrate the intersection between traditional elements of garden design and current concerns such as sustainability, drought tolerance, and use of native plants. Private Paradise features the work of the most talented landscape architects and garden designers working in the United States today, including Topher Delaney, Marta Fry, Kathryn Gustafson, Raymond Jungles, Steve Koch, Ron Lutsko, Steve Martino, Pamela Palmer, Ken Smith, Christine Ten Eyck, and Thomas Wolz. In a publication that rightfully takes its place on the sturdy foundation of a century’s worth of garden surveys and design monographs, Private Paradise creates a compelling portrait of contemporary landscape design.




Great Gardens of London


Book Description

London's gardeners are twice blessed: not only do they live in one of the world's most vibrant capitals, it is also one of the most verdant. Gardens of every imaginable style, shape and size abound on rooftops, within palaces, surrounding churches, behind walls - on every piece of dry land - even if it is floating on or lapped by the river Thames. In Great Gardens of London, Victoria Summerley and Hugo Rittson Thomas collaborate to unearth the most fascinating stories of plants and people inside London's most exciting gardens. Some of the gardens are strictly private, while others are regularly open to visitors, but all can now be savoured and enjoyed along with those who know them best. Great Gardens of London is a captivating photographic portrait of the greatest gardens of the capital which are primarily closed to the public or rarely open their gates. It will feature gardens designed by some of the leading contemporary garden designers from across the world. Accompanying the photographs will be essays on the design and planting that explain the designers' inspiration and passion.




Rambunctious Garden


Book Description

"Some of the material in this book appeared previously, in a different form, in the journal Nature"--T.p. verso.




Breaking Ground


Book Description

Not since Martha Schinz's masterful Visions of Paradise, published in 1984, has there been such an important survey of garden design and style as Breaking Ground. Whereas Visions of Paradise featured classic European garden design, Breaking Ground takes an in-depth look at the work of ten contemporary garden designers living and working in America and Europe today. The two hundred glorious full-color photographs by Erica Lennard and the lucid text by garden writer and designer Page Dickey capture the spirit and genius of the ten designers. A chapter is devoted to each designer--his or her sources of inspiration, style, philosophy, and method of creation. From the bold Southern California designs of Nancy Power to the urban geometries of Madison Cox to the updated French formal style of Louis Benech to the romantic country gardens of Nancy McCabe, Breaking Ground profiles the artists who are redefining garden design categories. Inspirational, informative, contemporary, and beautiful, Breaking Ground is a spectacularly crafted object in itself--sure to be one of the major garden gift books of the season.




Mellon Square


Book Description

The second volume in our Modern Landscapes series examines the evolution of Pittsburgh's first modern garden plaza. Completed in 1955 from a design by the acclaimed landscape design firm Simonds & Simonds and architects Mitchell & Ritchey, Mellon Square functioned as an urban oasis that provided downtown office workers a much-needed respite from the city's infamous smoke pollution. Now, more than six decades later, Mellon Square is undergoing a major restoration by Patricia O'Donnell of Heritage Landscapes that aims to restore this urban garden and help revitalize downtown Pittsburgh. Featuring new photography and archival material, Mellon Square is the only book to showcase the development of this iconic urban landscape.




Gardenlust


Book Description

“An extraordinary collection of 21st-century gardens that will arouse wanderlust… Whether you are a garden globetrotter or an armchair explorer, this book is definitely one to add to your collection.” —Gardens Illustrated A steep hillside oasis in Singapore, a garden distinguished by shape and light in Marrakech, a haunting tree museum in Switzerland—these are just a few of the extraordinary outdoor havens visited in Gardenlust. In this sumptuous global tour of modern gardens, intrepid plant expert Christopher Woods spotlights 50 gardens that push boundaries and define natural beauty in significant ways. Featuring both private and public gardens, this journey makes its way from the Americas and Europe to Australia and New Zealand, with stops in Asia, Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. Along the way, you'll learn about the people, plants, and stories that make these iconic gardens so lust-worthy. As inspiring as it is insightful, Gardenlust will delight your passion for garden inspiration—and the many places it grows.