1 comments about Sowing Empire: Landscape and Colonization.

1. Those of us who have been south of the United States know parts of Latin America fit a stereotype of how tropical countries look. In my case, the stereotype's from old black-and-white movies on television and foreign films. In Latin America, I found the lush greenery I was expecting to find. What I didn't know was quite a bit of it wasn't native. Instead, much of what I thought of as typically tropical was brought in from somewhere else. That's why today's Latin America has bamboo, bougainvillea, citrus, hibiscus, mango, oleander, poinsettia, sugarcane and tamarind!
   
   When did this happen? Jill Casid pinpoints the SOWING EMPIRE activities of the 18th century. During that time, England and France built rival empires in the Caribbean. The English in Jamaica and the French in Saint-Domingue quickly controlled labor, land, technology, trade and transportation. How? They moved things, plants and people around in ways tying Caribbean colonies to the English and French mother countries. They brought some equipment to cut down forests, clear land, and build roads and plantations. African slave labor did the rest. Everything was held in place by non-native plantings and plantation landscaping.
   
   Sugarcane from Java and Tahiti became big cash crops for the Caribbean. Elm, lemon and oak trees lined roads and marked off plantations. Gardens grew and town markets sold apples, artichokes, beans, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, figs, lettuce, melons, onions, peas, radishes, strawberries, and turnips. None of all this was native.
   
   Successful plantation owners also owned land in their native countries. They hired landscapers to clear these lands, plantation-style, for artificial lakes and such non-native greenery as banana, cherry and pineapple trees. The most famous English landscaper was Lancelot Brown. Colonial landowner, imperial fortune-holder, and English title-holder became one through the Caribbean sugarcane trade. So Brown tried to mix foreign and familiar, non-native and native so comfortably it was as if the English landscape always looked that way. But the result was the same as in the colonies. Having money meant changing the landscape and planting costly non-native greenery. It also meant ordinary people lost their land and their forest and water rights.
   
   The writing style's a bit academic. But the author organizes the facts, the examples and her interpretations well. She includes helpful diagrams, as well as telling art from the times. It's interesting how beautifully non-native plants fit into the Caribbean. It's also interesting how scientists, planters and landscapers became so sure of what should be grown when, where and why. The book's history. But its concerns can still be timely. For don't we worry about what to grow when and where? In our case, though, isn't the why more in terms of current and future diversity and well-being?

No comments about Baroque Garden Cultures: Emulation, Sublimation, Subversion (Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium Series in the History of Landscape Architecture).

1 comments about Vito Acconci: Diary of a Body 1969 -1973.

1. The book is good but should be updated to include newer work. It provided much insight into an architect and artist who I knew little about.

No comments about O'Donnell + Tuomey: Selected Works.

3 comments about The Color of Cities: An International Perspective.

1. As a colorist for the last twenty years, specializing in exterior building color I was sorely disappointed to read this book. Basically everything she had to say of import could have be said in an essay. The author has a wonderful vocabulary but after wading through all the prose one finds there is liitle said that isn't entirely obvious. I was left with the impression that this book was concieved as a great excuse to travel to the world's really wonderful places. You will note that she not traveled to Lubbock or Erzerum.



2. As a colorist for the last twenty years, specializing in exterior building color I was sorely disappointed to read this book. Basically every she had to say of import could have be said in an essay. The author has a wonderful vocabulary but after wading through all the prose one finds there is liitle said that isn't entirely obvious. I was left with the impression that this book was concieved as a great excuse to travel to the worlds really wonderful places. One is aware that she not traveled to Lubbock or Erzerum.



3. The is a somewhat remarkable book, worth the high price tag. Swirnoff tackles an unique issue: the role of color/light in forming a particular city's identity. She cites (and sites) examples from New York to Santa Fe to Venice to Mexico to Paris to the Caribbean to Stockholm to Japan and many others, too. The book has many photo examples, both black-and-white and color, as well as quite thought provoking written discussion.This is a much-needed book, focusing on an important issue of local identity at a time when globalization challenges the specifics of space and place. The book would appeal to travellers, visual artists, architects, sociologists, urban planners and many others.

No comments about Ecological Planning: A Historical and Comparative Synthesis (Center Books on Contemporary Landscape Design).

1 comments about Out of Nowhere: Disaster and Tourism in the White Mountains.

1. Author Eric Purchase makes the case that New Hampshire's tourism industry took off after an 1826 tragedy in which the entire Willey family, who ran an inn in the Crawford Notch area, was killed trying to outrun an avalanche that left their home untouched. Along the way, we also learn a lot about America of the early 19th century -- tourism, literature, commerce and science -- all are discussed in this interesting literary portrait of a time before nature became romantic.

   Lots of b&w photographs and illustrations, notes, references and an index.

2 comments about Elements of Planting Design.

1. This book covers ecology, process of planting design, the use of plants, and graphic presentations of planting plans. It also covers soils, climate and local requirements as well as color, forms and seasonal effects of plants. A good attempt to achieve the balance between technical issues and aesthetic considerations.



2. This book was great help in working on a planting design for a client. I got a few ideas just flipping through the pages. The plan graphics at the back of the book were also a good resource for ideas.

No comments about Landscapes Estimating & Contract Administration.

No comments about Marylyn Abbott's Thoughts on Garden Design: Inspiration, Style, Structure, Colour, Planting.