2 comments about The Complete Guide to Landscape Design, Renovation, and Maintenance: A Practical Handbook for the Home Landscape Gardener.

1. Cass Turnbull has written a wonderful book for the homeowner who has no idea what to do with the yard, but wants to do it right. She begins with the basics of yard maintenance, and very clearly explains pruning, weeding, renovation, and design of home landscapes. Her irreverent style is a pleasure, and her examples and diagrams are extremely helpful. She explains why topping a tree always backfires, why leaving the tree can actually improve your view of the mountains, what to do with a tree that is "too big", and how to renovate a mature landscape that you have just bought. I recommend this book to every first-time homeowner and to any experienced homeowner who still gets bored every spring and chops at the bushes at random "to tidy up".



2. I am a professional horticulturist with a Masters degree in Horticulture from Penn State and I highly recommend this book as an easy-to-follow and accurate reminder of "how to" do landscape maintenance, like pruning. I will buy it and loan it ot my untrained friends so they can learn how to do it right ("teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime"). I highly recommend it. Plus, it's written by woman! A rarity in the field of landscape maintenance.

No comments about Long Island Landscapes and the Women Who Designed Them.

No comments about Great Little Gardens.

1 comments about Jacob Weidenmann: Pioneer Landscape Architect.

1. Emigrating to the United States from Switzerland in 1956, Weidenmann did his early work in landscape gardening (as it was called at the time, later to be called landscape architecture) in a Staten Island estate project. He had gotten his academic training in Europe; while travels to California and Central and South America in his younger years gave him an appreciation for the natural environment. His education and curiosities gave him the unique combination of knowledge and abilities in art, architecture, engineering, and horticulture. These are evident in illustrations of his general plan for a project as well as details of locations and features and in designs for mausoleums and other structures. Weidenmann quickly moved on to the major projects of Bushnell Park and Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford. There is some question as to whether Weidenmann was chosen only after Frederick Olmstead, the landscape architect credited with the design and creation of New York's Central Park, declined the job. But this only shows the high regard for Weidenmann to be placed in the company of Olmstead. Though never achieving the fame of the native-born Olmstead (born in Hartford), Weidenmann manifestly had an equal vision, talent, and standards. The two major, lastingly influential landscape architects of the decades of the mid-1800s in fact had a 19-year-long collaboration.
   
   Weidenmann's reputation and ambitions carried him as far as the Midwest. Works of his can be seen in Iowa and Illinois. Weidenmann put more into articulating and instituting professional standards than Olmstead, and is regarded as the inspiration for university programs in the field.
   
   Favretti's book places Weidenmann on his own ground, independent of Olmstead and association with any single outstanding project. Biographical in nature, it charts the course of the landscape architect's life concentrating on his works and drawing connections between them with a minimum of details from his personal life and analytical critique. The challenges Weidemann faced with clients or the nature of a project are recurring subjects which illuminate the architect's imagination and abilities. The plentiful, varied, and pleasingly-toned visual matter especially evokes an appreciation for this giant in the field of American public landscape. Favretti was a professor of landscape architecture at the U. of Connecticut for over 30 years; and he has been involved in several landscape preservation projects, including Jefferson's Monticello and Washington's Mount Vernon.

No comments about Seashore Paspalum: The Environmental Turfgrass.

3 comments about The Garden in Winter.

1. I bought this book in 1989 shortly after it was first published. I still read it and find it fresh and inspiring even now, 17 years later.



2. A number of years ago, I made my first trip to Europe during the off season--the colder months. The days are shorter, but the museums are less crowded, you can usually find a reasonable air fare, and the Europeans have returned to their cafes and pubs giving them an ambiance missing when too many tourists are about.

   I enjoy photography, and I particularly like shooting architecture and gardens. I've taken plenty of shots when the foliage and flowers were in full bloom, but until I made my first trip to Amsterdam one December, I had never realized churches, cathedrals, and fine old houses and gardens have an entirely different look in winter. One can see and photograph the structures of buildings and the "bones" of gardens when foliage dies back. "Bones" of course are the underlying design of the garden beds, plus trellises, porticos, arbors, paths and pots. Not only can one see more of the archtecture of the garden in the middle of winter, but the well constucted garden is not dead. I came to understand what the European Christmas carol, "Lo, a rose er'e blooming" was about after a visit to a garden in the middle of winter--the Christmas rose is a type of Hellebore, and Hellebores can bloom all winter long.

   But Hellebores are not the only interesting plant. As Rosemary Veery says in her book, THE GARDEN IN WINTER, some plants such as the Rosa chinensis, Viola, Bergenia, Anemone, and Cyclomen, bloom intermittenly throughout the winter, and there are "characteristic" winter-bloomers such as many types of bulbs, Camellias, Arbutus, and Buddleja.

   Veery says beauty in the winter garden is not restricted to flowers. Plenty of trees, bushes, and grasses provide color, form, and texture thoughout the winter winter months, and some of them are stunning in a snowfall. Depending on your growing zone you may have Holly, Viburnum, Nandina, Pyracantha, and Barberry covered with berries for the birds. Many trees have beutiful bark that shows best in winter including Crepe Myrtle, Sycamore, Birches, and Red-Twig Dogwood (Cornus alba 'Siberica'). Other trees have interesting shapes that can only be appreciated when the foliage is spent, such as Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. And, there are grasses in every size, shape and texture, and ground covers that stay green or red or brown throughout the growing seasons.

   Veery is one of the premiere gardeners in England, and although you may find some of her suggestions beyond your pocketbook or the space you have available (box topiary anyone??) you will find many interesting ideas and wonderful photographs that are sure to inspire you to begin thinking about gardening all year round. You might also be inspired to visit some of the gardens Veery pictures in her book, or other gardens closer to home in winter. My favorite is garden is Sissinghurst, one of the most beautiful sights around in the middle of winter or anytime of year.




3. Most gardeners put away their tools and forget about their gardens until Spring, especially those of us who live in snowy winter locations! But Rosemary Verey brilliantly shows that there's no reason to ignore winter as a flowering season. This book proves that every garden should have a winter corner to enjoy by showing us that there are so many treasures to brighten up the dreariest season. Beauty can be found in any weather! This book is also a lovely reminder of gardening in the UK.

No comments about Great Gardens (Best of Fine Gardening).

No comments about Robert Murase: Stone and Water (The Land Marks Series , No 3).

2 comments about Dictionary of Landscape Architecture and Construction.

1. I was extremely disappointed with this book. It was unavailable for preview at my local library, so I took a chance.
   
   First, there are no pronunciation guides. Granted, several of the words are common ones, but still, shouldn't a dictionary have them? Particularly in an Appendix that offers a selection of Latin-derived adjectives frequently used in a plant's botanical name?
   
   The back cover states that "300 illustrations illulminate both definitions and methods." Hmmph... Several of them are poor quality photographs of items one learned to identify in pre-school. To wit: bench, statue, pickup truck, hard hat, and the like. You're out of luck, though, if you'd like to see an illustration of something less common like a sheepsfoot roller. Plant-related drawings are adequate. Drawings used to illustrate mechanics are frequently too small, or poorly drawn, to offer much detail.
   
   At least this book's format is consistent: if it takes too much effort, don't bother. Caveat emptor.



2. This book is exactly what its title announces. It is an excellent source for students and professionals of design. Plenty of terms, well explained. I truly recommended. It is very useful for the foreign designer, for it explains technical terms one finds in lanscape books and doesn't understand. Very good.

No comments about The Architecture of Western Gardens: A Design History from the Renaissance to the Present Day.