4 comments about Japanese Courtyard Gardens: Photographs.

1. I work in 1 inch scale with miniatures and want to start a Japanese Garden Roombox. I found some wonderful details in this lovely book and can hardly wait to reproduce them. In fact, I found exactly what I was looking for. My "Japanese Gardener" and my "Geisha" are waiting patiently for their habitats to be created. These are the figures I found that gave me the idea to do a garden and a tea room. It will be a fine winter's project.



2. This book is by far one the best collections in my library. The pictures alone are worth the money. I can't tell you how much inspiration I extracted for future projects. A definite buy for any gardener.



3. Very beautiful photos. Nicely printed. Each photos has detailed description. Good for someone who loves Japaense culture, or who just loves gardens. I got this for a gift, but I will have to get some more for other friends, and for me!



4. Inspiring book. Both traditional and contemporary courtyards are covered

No comments about Urban structures for the future.

No comments about California Gardens: Creating a New Eden.

1 comments about Kienast Vogt Open Spaces.

1. This book reveals an extraordinary body of landscape architectural work that is at least notably accomplished and, at its best, reflects a comprehensive expression and thorough understanding of the forces and elements that celebrate the confluence of nature and man. It is what Konrad Osterwalder -who selected Kienast as the "founder figure" of the landscape architecture program at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology- acknowledges as the act of entering into nature while retaining an awareness of cultural perceptions.

   Kienast's work is reflective of a marvelous simplicity of which Mies would be proud, and his use of materials -especially plants- manifests a managed and thoughtful approach, almost tender and certainly romantic. Grounded in horticulture and plants like so many European landscape architects, it is through Kienast's measured use of a broader palette of materials common to the landscape that his remarkable talent is most celebrated. Especially revealing are the observations of his peers, presented in short essays, that honor both the technical and aesthetic achievements manifest in Kienast's work. Captured in a variety of images, the seasonal impacts that interplay with Kienast's landscapes are an essential representation that pays just homage to the reflective brilliance of his expressive interpretations.

   The text shares Kienast's view that it is only through variety that a place can acquire an identity. The spirit of such places can emerge and be recognized only through emancipation of a satisfactory (landscape) design, relevant utilization, appropriate care, and healthy ecology: these criteria surelywere essential to the works of many great American landscape architects including Olmsted, Eliot, Farrand, Church, and others. The underpinnings of the bridge between contemporary European and American landscape architecture continue to be sustained through this text.

   This text places landscape architecture on a European meridian of great import to the larger discipline that carries its message well beyond European boundaries. It is an important work on a landscape architect who died too young (age 53, in 1998), with much work still to be accomplished. Perhaps others will follow a path parallel to Dieter Kienast: the landscape would surely be better for it!

1 comments about The English Flower Garden.

1. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN by William Robinson, was first published in 1883 and republished a number of times afterward. The current version available from Amazon is a reprint of the 15th Edition Robinson edited shortly before he died in the 1930s. This new reprint of the 15th Edition contains the "Botanical Revisions" prepared by Graham Stuart Thomas for the 1984 Edition, as well as a Forward by Henry Mitchell, and an introduction by Deborah Nevins.

   The book is set in old style type and contains numerous black and white illustrations--etchings of photos and prints of sketches. Some of them are a bit grainy, but many are not, and even the grainy ones have their good points. The content of each photo is quite interesting, and the sketches provide the "personal" touch one seldom sees in text books these days.

   In one print, taken at Gravetye Manor over 100 years ago, a climbing tea rose clings to a bamboo split-rail post fence surrounded by bush roses. The sunlight reflects from the walkway and warms the flowers and a huge clay pot sitting in a corner. In another photo, pots of 'Chimney Campanula' guard an old Jacobin chest sitting in a hall at Staunton Court. Sketches and photos are used to illustrate flowers all through the last half of the book--a flower dictionary with anectdotal and literary "blurbs" written by Robinson himself.

   Mitchell says Robinson "for all practical purposes invented gardening as we know it." Robinson's garden, 'Gravetye Manor' is a hop, skip and a jump from Sissinghurst, but few know of it's existence. Yet, Robinson is the "grandfather" of Sissinghurst, because Gertrude Jekyll who helped Mrs. Nichols design Sissinghurst, was Robinson's disciple. She literally followed in his footsteps and emulated his style.

   Robinson found most of the gardens of his day deplorable (19th Century Victorian). Those of the wealthy were modeled after the French and Italian formal plan, loaded with clipped Yews and bedded out every spring with ribbons of color provided by geraniums and marigolds. The walkways were lined with ornate scupture and surrounded by towering "imprisoned" evergreen shrubs and trees including clipped Yews which he loathed. He said these gardens reminded him of graveyards.

   His ideal was the cottage garden. He considered the garden a sacred space. He said one had to visit the houses of the poor to find truly beautiful gardens. Henry Mitchell reflecting on this says, "The thing that separates the true gardener from the mere architect or designer (and there is something extremely suspicious in the airs they give themselves nowadays) is that the gardener stands in awe before his violets, while others think of them in terms of [sic] plant materials."

   Robinson's ideas grew out of the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th Century. His designs and thinking were reflected in the Arts and Crafts movement based on the importance of reconnecting to nature. His contemporaries in thinking were Ruskin, Morris, Stickly, Frank Lloyd Wright, and others we identify with this movement. If you're a Stickly, cantilevered, picturesque kind of person, you'll like this book.

No comments about John Claudius Loudon and the Early Nineteenth Century in Great Britain: [Papers] (Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture// Papers).

1 comments about The Stream Garden: Create Your Own Natural-Looking Water Feature.

1. The Stream Garden is a truly inspirational book designed to help the gardener design and create a stream garden. The photographs are superb and excellent examples. Clear direction is given for building the stream and there are plenty of plant suggestions to make the stream look natural. This book complements Water in the Garden by James Allison - which in my opinion is the best pond book on the market. Both of these books combine inspirational photographs with practical knowledgeable directions.

1 comments about Culinary Gardens: From Design to Palate.

1. This book is a great idea, but lacks the particulars needed to actually do the gardens it outlines. Specific dimensions are missing in the individual designs. The knot garden for example gives an overall dimension ... but you just sort of have to guess how big the circles and paths are and how large the corner beds are.
   
   There's no real indication how many plants to use, so developing a shopping list and thus a cost estimate is a nothing but a guess.
   
   Plant locations on the design are indicated by varying shades of often similar colors. One design for example has 7 shades of greens. It's impossible to tell which green is which plant in the design.
   
   The majority of the book is devoted to descriptions of the various plants and rambling history or other material on the different garden types. There are few tips on how to actually construct the design. Like how do you lay out a perfect circle of plants? When should you do the shaping and pruning, the harvesting, and when should the plants go in the ground for the best look of the particular garden? Most of the plant descriptions do not include light requirements or other such practical considerations. In short, a good idea, very poorly executed. Advanced and intermediate gardeners won't really need a book like this, and beginners will just be frustrated.
   
   The best part of the book are the recipes, which salvages an otherwise mediocre book, and earns it three stars instead of one.

3 comments about Home Planners Complete Book of Landscape Plans: 50+ Garden Designs to Transform Your Yard.

1. This book is great for garden ideas. Plenty of interesting designs shown in graphic form, plus an artist's illustration. Lists of plant material have to be ordered. Some may find this a shortcoming. In our case, it's great as most of those lists contain plant material that is inappropriate for our region.



2. While this book does not have comprehensive information on each plan, it still provides some interesting ideas. Additional information such as comprehensive blueprints as well as plant and material lists customized to your region is available for purchase, but I found this useful without having to order the additional material. The different plans provide a wealth of ideas and act as a catalyst in designing your own landscape. You won't get substantial information on the plant life itself, in fact in most cases you don't get anything but a picture, but this allows you to substitute a more appropriate item suited to your tastes and region. This is by no means a "how-to design a landscape" book, but if you are looking for some ideas and basic landscape plans then this book delivers.



3. I bought this book expecting the 50+ garden design plans they promised. Well, they had 50+ garden designs, all right. You got six for free and you had to pay at least $10.00 apiece for the remaining plans. It is essentially a catalog of plans and you buy the ones you want.

   Not worth the money!!!!

4 comments about Color in Garden Design.

1. This is an excellent book. I am ordering 5 more as reference for my students in Landscape Design. Sandra covers color systems , names, hue, value and saturation in detail. Color diagrams are included for easy understanding of all concepts presented. This is by far the best color book I have seen.



2. I just recently ordered and received "Color in Garden Design". I struggled through the first 26 pages and finally put the book down uninspired and totally uninformed. It's not because I don't have a good working knowledge of color. I do. I have painted with oil paints for many years. I just thought "Color in Garden Design" would give a fresh perspective on color for the GARDENER. Was I wrong. The author goes off in "left field" somewhere when she tries to explain color. The text is very, very wordy, unclear and not concise. I don't know what point Ms. Austin is trying to make. I'm sure Ms. Austin has a wonderful KNOWLDEGE of how to use color in the garden for herself and her clients. However, the problem lies in her trying to TEACH color in the garden to others. This is not a book to learn from. Also, the pictures are very uninspiring. Don't be seduced by the table of contents as I was! Beginners: there are much, much better books out there on color in the garden. Those with a working knowledge of color: don't waste your money nor your time!



3. Ms. Austin has taken the scientific complexities of color and condensed them to the point where almost anyone can understand them. The beauty of this book is that not only is the scientific nature of color explored but also how to apply this knowlege in a physical sense. I enjoyed the discusssion of how light, shape, texture and other physical properties of plants (and really all things) effect how our eyes interpret the colors that we see all around us.
   This knowlege has been very helpful to me personally, not only in my own attempts at landscaping but in other aspects of design.



4. A fabulous book! Reading it is like taking a short course in the study of color. Sandra Austin explains the various ways color has been "harnessed" historically through the use of color systems, and then she proceeds to free your mind to intelligently explore color combinations on your own. I felt enlightened and liberated after reading this book; no longer plagued with insecurity, I proceeded to compose a perenial garden on my one acre with delightful results. Despite a few "typo's", the book is written with painstaking clarity. An intense subject,I found reading a few pages every night was all I could absorb. And that kept me craving more. I look forward to another book from Ms. Austin on the subject of color! How about COLOR IN GARDEN DESIGN BOOK 2?