1 comments about Victorian Gardens.

1. The British Victorians were masters of geometrically formal nineteenth century gardening characterized by bright, elegant, seasonal bedding to create lush, exuberant outdoor spaces where they met, played, and dined. These were verdant landscapes enhanced with carpet beds, topiary, statuary, sundials, marble and stone walkways, as well as classical architectural ruins, fountains, and pools. In "Victorian Gardens", garden historian and expert Caroline Holmes showcases many restorations and recreations of Victorian gardens ranging from the Osborne House on the Isle of Wight (Queen Victoria's country home), to Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire, and Down House in Kent (which was home to Charles Darwin). More than two hundred beautiful color photographs, in addition to illustrations, diagrams, and layouts of restorations, provide the reader with a visual and intellectual perspective on the Victorian approach to estate gardening, landscaping, and outdoor beautification. Informed and informative, a joy to simple browse through, "Victorian Gardens" is especially recommended for gardening and landscaping enthusiasts, and would be a popular addition to any community library's Gardening resource and reference collection.

No comments about Foundations of the Planning Enterprise (Critical Essays in Planning Theory).

No comments about Miniature Gardens (Gardener's Handbook, Vol 4).

No comments about Royal Gardens.

1 comments about 35 Garden Blueprints: Beautiful Possibilities for Designing Your Garden.

1. This is a good book for getting planting ideas for your garden. If you are new to gardening, this book offers almost no information on the basics of gardening (plant selection, soil preparation, etc...) It does offer quite a few garden plans with a complete plant list and notes on what to expect from each plan. Most of the plans are small scale plans but there are a few larger scale plans for those of us with bigger yards. Also some of the plans seemed like they could be combined well with other plans in the book to create a larger gardening area. Overall a really good resource for planning a garden if you already know the basics.

No comments about 10 Preserving Modern Landscape Architecture.

No comments about A Dictionary of Landscape Architecture.

No comments about Ponds & Fountains (Quick Guide).

2 comments about The Enclosed Garden.

1. The Enclosed Garden fills a needed gap in publishing. I don't know of any other book that covers the history of small contained gardens as well as this one. In fact, it is rare to see a gardening book of any type that has such detailed illustrations. The sections, plans, and elevations are incredible. They are interspersed with photographs and aerial photos that complement the text and are essential to any serious study of the topic. This historical treatment is especially relevant to landscape design today as urban environments increasingly demand solutions for small spaces. The publisher and author should be commended for producing such an attractive and useful book.



2. The graphic design of this book and some of the woodcuts are quite beautiful. The written text however leaves much wanting in terms of both content and direction. Most disappointing yet endlessly entertaining, is a rather cursory treatment of the middle ages---lines such as "The birth of Europe was a chaotic affair" or, "The contrast between the dark early Middle Ages and the height of civilization attained by the Roman Empire weighed heavily on the minds of medieval folk", makes the book a delectable first read, although not necessarily for the right reasons. An insertion of a reference to the Song of Songs, a critical text in terms of literary allusion to the enclosed garden, is wittily inserted within a paragraph on the hortus ludi---leaving this reader bewildered yet curiously fascinated at the literary "ludi-labyrinth" from which the authors themselves appear to have difficulties emerging from. A glossy if somewhat glossed over book , beautiful to put on the coffee table, as long as left unopened. Given the richness of contemporary study of enclosed gardens, this book provides a welcome reminder of just how precious thoughtful scholarship, critical writing and good editing is...elsewhere.

No comments about Nature and Art: Dutch Garden and Landscape Architecture, 1650-1740 (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture).