No comments about The Water Garden: Style, Designs and Visions.

No comments about Wood in the Landscape: A Practical Guide to Specification and Design.

2 comments about Wildflowers Across America.

1. Lady Bird Johnson't words are beautiful. Her love of nature and the cleaning up of Washington DC and the Texas highways are good reading; I could have read for hours. The pictures bring the words to life. This book is a keeper in our library for our duration.



2. This book is a keeper. It's a beautiful coffee table book. It has stunning photography of wildflowers and a very nice personal account written by Lady Bird herself.

No comments about Beatrix Farrand's Plant Book for Dumbarton Oaks (Dumbarton Oaks Other Titles in Garden History).

2 comments about The Botanical Gardens at the Huntington.

1. I visited the Huntington Museum in Pasadena last July not expecting all that much but was most impressed. I particularly enjoyed the scope and variety of their botanical gardens and so bought this book to remind myself of what I'd seen and also to learn more about the background of the gardens and how they came to be.

   I was disappointed in no respect. The book provides historical photographs as well as an account of how Henry Huntington both earned his wealth and used it to establish this marvelous place. It goes on to provide sumptuous photographs of all parts of the gardens, covering both what's there and how they were established. Detail on the desert section and the Japanese section (my two favorites) were particularly appreciated. My only quibble is that a chapter on the notable trees is saved for the end, rather than covering the trees along with the location they belong to. This seems rather odd but is a minor note.

   All in all, this book is a splendid souvenir and resource for the gardens of Huntington.




2. As author you have listed the photographer instead of the writer. The author should be Walter Houk, as you will discover on the title page.

No comments about Visions of Arcadia: European Gardens from Renaissance to Rococo.

No comments about China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century (Dumbarton Oaks Reprints in Landscape Architechture).

1 comments about Landscaping Illustrated (Gardening & Landscaping).

1. We bought a fixer-upper. There were a couple of anchor trees, but we did not know what to do. We consulted a couple of landscape architects, but they were giving us common, canned ideas. With this book, we were able to tell them what we wanted and then the architect we chose was able to give us a plan we loved! Thank you Sunset!

2 comments about Gardens of Longevity In China & Japan.

1. Gardens of Longevity is a beautiful book which illustrates why some landscape design immediately looks spectacular and feels "right", while most landscape design feels dead. The book relies upon the iconography of landscape paintings and gardens in Japan and China, but the principles apply to all types of design (painting, sculpture, architecture, as well as landscape).
   
   By analyzing original works of art and comparing them with western copies, the author explains the principles of allowing the dragon through. Those familiar with some branches of fung shui will understand that this means, in crude imagery, letting the good "chi" through and deflecting the bad "chi." However, what sounds like trendy gibberish to most scientific types, actually finds visual proof in this book.
   
   I am a successful practicing architect, who marries the design of landscape with my buildings and urban designs. This book comes closer to explaining how to do this, and why some landscapes (natural and human-made) are so spectacular and most are humdrum or worse than any other book I know of on this subject.
   
   The book also contains many examples to explain Chinese landscape painting to westeners which give us the aesthetics to "see" and then value an aesthetic tradition different from that of western Europe.
   
   Incredibly, one example from the book, on a larger, geological scale, illustrated by the river drainage of China, explains why the country is killing the dragon which has sustained it for thousands of years, by damming and polluting the Yangtze, Yellow, and other rivers.
   
   I can't say enough good things about this book. It's just marvelous. I have gone back to it many times to refresh my knowledge and to review the examples.



2. I would like to read the digist about book. I am interested in rock in garded in China.

No comments about Architecture and Nature: Creating the American Landscape.